Weaning inspiration!

Juicy_Tube

Hi

Hope you can help and come along with some delicious and nutrious recipes for me to try with my 7 month old-preferably ones that we can eat as a family.

Lost my inspiration but am sure you can help;)

Thanks

JT x

Judi101

My DD, also 7 months loves this one.

Caribbean Chicken Hotpot

4 chicken breasts or chicken leftovers
1 medium onion, chopped
750g diced squash (or can use pumpkin)
1 green pepper, sliced
2.5 cm root ginger, grated (I usually put in a teaspoon of the stuff in a jar)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
300 ml chicken stock
60g split lentils
350g sweetcorn
Cayenne pepper
Garlic Salt

1. Fry the chicken until golden
2. Add the onion, squash and pepper and gently fry for a feq minutes until browned.
3. Add ginger, tomatoes, stock and lentils. Season lightly with garlic salt and caynne pepper.
4. Cover and cook 190C/Gas 5 for 1 hour. Add sweetcorn and cook for a further 5 minutes

I usually leave out the sweetcorn for her. Last time I did it in the slow cooker. Squash came out a bit mushy but otherwise was lovelly and she didnt mind as I puree her portions up for her. Freezes fine so just stick some into ice cube trays for their future meals.

My DD also likes home made spaghetti bolognaise. I use a Jamie Oliver recipe for the sauce that has lots of veg in it.

beautifulgorgeous_2

I used to put smash type potato to thicken our food once i had mashed it with a fork as both mine prefered their food "thick" not runny or milupa powered dinner also as a thickener.

broomstick27

I used to just puree (or mash depending what stage baby is at) any food that I made for us as long as it wasnt too spicy or salty. Most things work although i always found it hard to get meat pureed

broomie

x

Juicy_Tube

I think it is me who needs some inspiration in my cooking, without resorting to the odd jar or packet as before!:eek: Need to get back to some basic cooking that works for DS without all the sugar and salt etc.

Thanks so far

JT x:j

HopeElizzy

I used alot of Annabel karmels recipes......I think she has a website. You could try that as they'll be some baby friendly family meals on there. HTH

janeawej

basicaly anything that u all like minus salt and sugar, how about

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cottage pie, casserole any meat and veg, roasts, rice /potato dishes pasta eg macaroni cheese, spag bol, meat ans 3 veg anythin g pureed or mashed

RubyMurray

My two were weened on mashed potato and carrot, broccoli and chicken and gravy mostly (gravy made from meat juices, veg water and cornflour) poached fish and potato, chicken soup with mashed veg, and mashed banana or other soft or cooked fruit with diluted fruit juice or milk. Other than than basically what Janeawej said, whatever you're cooking for yourself but without salt etc. It helps to have a separate small pan on the hob while you're cooking so you can decant suitable portions into it as you go along and then add what you want to the adult pan.

bobsa1

Get an Annabel Karmel book, she tells you how to adapt recepies for all the family. After 12 years I still use the book!

greentomato

I think that until your baby is onto finger food, at this age its just easier to put a bit aside of your food and chop it finely or blend it. For example, if we were having fish, new potatoes, carrots for dinner. I would keep a little bit of the cooked fish aside (carefully removing bones) and the pots and veg, and blend it up for my baby to eat the next day. Just keep away from the salt and hot spices! You can still use herbs though to flavour the food, especially mild ones like parsley, bay leaves, oregano, basil, or mild spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin. And my baby happily eat garlic!

A good tip I read was that if you put a piece of food in your mouth, and you can squish it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue, then your baby will be able to squish it with their gums. Babies gums are quite hard in fact, but it just takes them a bit of time to work out how to manouvre the food in their mouth.

Sorry, I'm not sure if you already have older children so I may be telling you how to suck eggs! Anyway, this may be of use to others with new babies.

A few ideas:

Mashed potato

Lentil stew, with any vegetables - add stock and extra flavourings after you have put some aside for baby, v. cheap and nutritious

Ratatouille

Pasta and tomato sauce or bolognese - pasta will need to be chopped up for baby until they get the hang of it.

Jacket potatoes - put one cooked potato aside for baby and just give them the filling not the skin, with baked beans (no sugar or salt ones) for example, or cheese if your baby has dairy.

Risotto - for example, we do a prawn and pea risotto, and give it to our baby without the prawns.

Polenta

Any stews - can be made more interesting for adults by adding crumble/scone topping. Pulses can be added for protein.

Houmous

The cookbooks mentioned are useful, although my baby hasn't had any dairy yet (history of allergies) and I often find that they use a lot of cheese in their recipes.

HTH, happy cooking and feeding!

chloe99_2

I tried to only use our own food so baby gets used to it - in fact if i ever tried to feed him baby stuff he would refuse.

Cottage pie, rice and lentils, cheese omelette and any kind of casserole are popular. I'm really not a big fan of "change the grown ups' food so baby can eat it" - prefer to just reduce the salt and chillis and offer salt at the table. Baby's really don't mind flavoured food if it's introduced gently. When first weaning I added a bit of baby rice and baby milk to "grown up" food til he got used to it (maybe did this for about 2 weeks or so?).

Plus I never pureed anything, instead mashed it with a fork or (easier but messier!!) squished and squashed with my fingers and fed from fingers (which he preferred at first) or a spoon.

I try to offer our cooked food for at least one meal, cereal/toast for one meal, fruit for a snack (bananas are brill) and a lighter meal such as sandwiches/omelette/scrambled egg/baked beans/jacket potato etc.

Cereals = soggy and toast to begin with I put little bits in a bowl of warm milk and fed them to him when they had softened

Baby at 7 months also liked to eat sandwiches - try tuna mayonise as it is moist and easy for them - break it into small bits and put on their table.

Sorry a bit rambly, have just been jiggling him to sleep on my knee!