Adventures in Weaning: Recipe Ideas

Baby B is thoroughly enjoying his adventures in weaning and gobbles up everything we give him. He’ll happily be spoon fed but really enjoys getting his hands dirty and feeding himself. At the moment he’s experimenting with squeezing everything. Especially cherry tomatoes.

So the challenge for me is to keep finding, new , interesting and healthy things to give him. We tend to do a BLW lunch where B and I sit in the garden and eat the same, and dinner tends to be something mainly spoon fed from a stash of batch cooked meals in the freezer. Worried it was getting a bit samey, I asked around for recipe ideas and here is our collection.

Spoon fed meals (or really messy BLW ones)

Pasta Sauce

Dice and saute a leek or red onion, clove of garlic, carrot, courgette, pepper, or any other veg, until soft.

Add a jar of pasata and fresh herbs if you’ve got them. Picking them and smelling with your baby is a really nice sensory activity. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Puree to a smooth sauce. This can be frozen in ice cubes.

To add protein chuck in some cheddar cheese, parmesan or cream cheese.

Serve with pasta - we like the giant tubes for picking up or mini pasta stars for spooning.

Orange White Fish

Chop a sweet potato into wedges, drizzle with olive oil, roast for about 45 minutes.

Put a piece of white fish in an ovenproof dish with the juice of orange and a little bit of butter. Put in the oven with the sweet potato for 20 minutes.

Mash it all together. Can be frozen in ice cubes.

Also nice with salmon but without the orange juice.

Serve with peas to pick up and asparagus to hold and wave around.

Lovely Lentils - tasty, cheap, full of protein and iron, and keeps their tummy moving!

Dice a leek or small onion, a carrot, a few sticks of celery - gently fry until soft.

Add 50g split red lentils and a peeled, chopped sweet potato or butternut squash.

Add about a pint of stock - homemade if you’re a domestic goddess, using a baby friendly stock cube if you’re human.

Simmer for 20 minutes.

Puree or mash, depending on what consistency your baby likes.

It’s so tasty that you can water it down a bit to make a lovely soup for you.

Thai Green Curry

Fry up some strips of sandwich steak, baby sweetcorn, mange tout, tenderstem broccoli and pepper with a small teaspoon of thai green curry paste. Stir in a few spoons of coconut milk. Serve with pieces of naan bread.

Cottage Pie

Brown 200g beef mince (or lamb for shepherd’s pie).

Add finely chopped onion, garlic, grated carrot and grated courgette and soften for 5 minutes.

Add a carton of pasata and simmer for at least 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil some potato then make mash (I do mine with a spoon of creme fraiche).
Layer mince then mash to make one big or several mini pies. (The glass jars from Gu puddings are perfect and it's a good excuse to eat them!)
Top with grated cheese and bake at 180 / gas 4 for about 15 minutes for the minis, maybe longer for a big one.
The mini ones are perfect for freezing.

BLW Finger Food Ideas

Nomlettes

Basically an omelette cupcake - perfect for grabbing, dismantling, dropping off the highchair tray and throwing at the cat.

Whisk 3 eggs and chuck in whatever you have lying about: grated cheese; cooked, shredded chicken; tuna; tinned sweetcorn; pepper; wilted spinach; mushroom; tomato; peas; etc.

Pour into cupcake cases - I like the silicone ones.

Bake for 20 minutes on gas 4,180.

They keep well in the fridge and are nice after a 30 second blast in the microwave.

Pinwheels

You know you’ve prepared a good snack when you steal some for yourself. Pinwheels are lovely straight out the oven - crisp and crumbly.

Buy ready made puff pastry. Slice about a third off the roll otherwise you will have a crazy amount of pinwheels to eat and they go soggy quickly.

Dust the worktop and rolling pin with flour and roll out a bit thinner.

Spread with a thin layer of pesto or tomato puree for savoury pinwheels. Fill with whatever takes your fancy. We like grated cheese, ricotta, parmesan, ham, chicken, mushroom, pineapple, spinach, pepper, tomato. Just recreate your favourite pizza.

For sweet you could spread with jam or make your own sugar-free fruity jelly by steaming blueberries and strawberries, blending and leaving in the fridge to set. Fill with small pieces of fruit. Raspberries are especially good.

Starting at the narrow end, roll as tightly as you can and stick the end down with whatever you spread on it. Using your sharpest knife, slice 2cm thick pieces and place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for about 25 minutes until golden and crispy.

Sandwiches

Favourite fillings are peanut butter and mashed banana, cream cheese and avocado, tinned mackerel, hummus.
B really struggles with normal bread - it just turns into a claggy lump in the roof of his mouth. The mummies suggested these alternatives: pitta bread, brioche rolls, crumpets, sandwich thins, flat breads.

Flat breads

Mix 350g self raising flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 350g of natural yoghurt into a dough. Add a bit of milk if too dry. 

Make into golf ball size then roll out to 2 - 3 mm thick. 

Cook on a high heat in a heavy based pan or griddle for 1 minute on each side, no oil needed.

Cauliflower cheese biscuits

Cook and mash 75g cauliflower. 

Mix with 75g grated cheese, 150g plain flour, 75g unsalted butter and an egg until it forms a dough. Roll out to 1cm thick and cut with biscuit cutters - use fun shapes if you have them. 

Bake on a lined baking sheet for 15 minutes at 180 / gas 4, turning half way through.

Sweet potato scones

Roast a sweet potato until soft. Scrape the inside off the skins into a bowl. 
Mix with 150g self raising flour and 70g softened butter until it forms a dough. 
Roll out to 1cm thick and cut with scone cutters. 
Bake on a lined baking sheet for 10 - 15 minutes on 190 / gas 5.

Sweet potato and cheese flapjack

Steam and grate 300g sweet potato.

Melt 100g of unsalted butter.

Add 300g porridge oats, 250g grated cheese, 2 beaten eggs and the sweet potato.

Spoon into a greased, lined tin.

Cook on 180, gas 4, for 20 minutes. Cool and cut into slices.

Enjoy!