October 2006 - Baby Led Weaning

Archive for October, 2006

Blackened peppers with cream cheese

Wednesday, October 11th, 2006

Babybear really likes these and they are easy to make so I'm happy to oblige.

You can grill the peppers or oven-bake them but I find the easiest thing to do is stick a fork into the bit where the stem is and then lay it onto the gas ring… I mean, I'm not actually recommending that you do that as it's probably some sort of hellish fire risk so I couldn't possibly… but it's certainly what I do. Turn the pepper round when it starts to soften and bubbles of brown/black start appearing. Should smell LOVELY, by the way.

When it's done all over, stick it in a plastic bag and let the skins steam for a while. I tend to wash/rub off the burned bits under a cold running tap which has the advantage of cooling the peppers down. There was some publicity a while back about burned things having a carcinogenic effect so I am always pretty careful to scrape off any bits that are left.

Don't get me wrong, these aren't completely soft peppers, they still have a bit of bounce to them, but the gas ring thing takes about 5 minutes and really takes the edge off the raw taste which I myself amn't that fond of.

Then, you know, slice the three cheeks of the pepper and then you'll probably be left with one longer thinner bit. Oh god, you know how to cut up a pepper. I think I normally cut the bumcheeks in half (ouch!) so I end off with a good few long pieces.

Anyway, spread some Philly or cream cheese on the slices and there you have it. Babybear likes them and you can leave the pepper pieces in the fridge for a couple of days. God knows I've probably totally over-explained this 'recipe' but the point is that at least it's not more bread and cheese…it's peppers and cheese.

Tags: cream cheese, dinner, lunch, peppers, vegetarian
Posted in Recipes · 6 Comments »

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Wednesday, October 11th, 2006

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Wednesday, October 11th, 2006

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Posted in Photos - Very first tastes of solids at 6 months/9 months and beyond enjoying their food · 1 Comment »

You’ve got 6 months to get this weaning thing cracked…

Monday, October 9th, 2006

So don't sweat it.

It really irritates me that so many Health Visitors I hear about seem to be making a virtue out of the fact that if you feed your babies puree 'you can have him on three meals a day within a fortnight'. Honest, my friend's HV told her that only last week.

I just don't understand what the rush is… is it not true that babies should be getting the bulk of their nutrients from their milk for the first 12 months? Did I pick that up wrong?

Well, I suppose that if I was spoon feeding my child every day while my own meal got cold then I'd be highly motivated to get onto the 'self-feeding' stage, but don't people who are doing baby led weaning get a free pass in that regard? Or is it just me who truly does not give a flying bollock how quickly Babybear takes to solids?

Now, I'm not saying that if she was refusing all food that I would be quite so relaxed, and I do understand that I am fortunate that she is prepared to give most things at least a try before letting them dangle precariously over the side of her highchair in the manner of a gangland boss dealing with a copper's nark. But if you read the BLW FAQ you will see that a lot, really, a lot of the Yahoo Group babies didn't take to self-feeding until they got to 12 months. Which is, not by coincidence I think, the same time as their milk needs to be supplemented…

So if you are new to BLW and freaking out because your friends' puree-fed babies seem to be wolfing down chickenandapricotandsweetpotato mush as fast as their mums can spoon it in, don't worry, your baby will get there when they are ready. To be perfectly honest Babybear rarely has three square meals a day and she's nearly ten months old, but that is I admit largely down to my lack of organisation. I reckon I've got another couple of months before I need to crack it so I'm not at all worried.

Tags: fun, six months, weaning
Posted in Random Thoughts - post your questions here · 51 Comments »

Franny's Home-made Baked Beans

Monday, October 9th, 2006

We gave Babybear some Heinz baked beans tonight with cheese and toast (what's not to like, you'd think) but actually she wasn't that fussed for them. I must say it did occur to me as I was eating mine that they did taste very salty.
So I haven't actually made these before but I've had the recipe for ages. What was holding me up, you ask? Why, the molasses… I've searched high and low, from health food shop to supermarket for it to no avail. However, some Christian soul has finally put me out of my misery and told me that treacle (which I have in the damned cupboard) is the same thing. Durrrr.
Anyway, Franny's recipe and her comments are below. Apparently they are very tasty. I'm not 100% sure about the bean soaking bit as I am rarely that organised so I reserve the right to used tinned haricots.

8 oz haricot beans

1 lb toms, skinned and deseeded (I used tinned and it is ok if maybe a little runny)

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 tbsp molasses

2 tsp mustard powder

3/4 pint hot stock (that's three quarters, not 3 or 4 )

Soak
beans overnight in large bowl covered with cold water. Drain well, put
in sauce pan and cover with cold water by at least 2 ins. Bring to
boil, skim surface, cover pan and cook at rolling boil for 30 mins.
Drain well. Preheat oven to GM 2. Put beans in large casserole and stir
in all remaining ingredients. Mix well. Cover casserole and cook for
2.5 hours. Stir gently and cook for another 35 mins or until tender and
sauce thickened. (normally takes up to 4 hours to get really tender and
not too runny IME).

Freezes well and is popular with dads as well as
children. I normally cook at least double and freeze lots. It has been
pointed out to me that with having to cook them for so long, and with
baked beans being so cheap, that it is probably cheaper to buy them,
but I would far rather have this sort with no salt and no artificial
sweeteners. I think baked beans are a truly healthy food but the tinned
sort normally have a lot of rubbish added. These are easy to make and also
make the house smell lovely.

Tags: baked, beans, lunch, molasses, tea, treacle, vegetarian
Posted in Recipes · 3 Comments »

People around us and their definition of choking

Monday, October 9th, 2006

This post is really more of a rant than a fact or experience or anything useful like that. My current bugbear is the use over-use of the work 'choking'. Relatives are always saying Boomer is 'choking!'.

Choking to me is a severe restriction or blockage of the airways resulting in no air getting in, NOT a slight gulp/sneeze/snivel. She can be quite happily eating bits of food, without even any gagging and people around her are convinced she’s choking. Are there subtleties to the word choking that I am unaware of?

Plus they do that annoying baby ventriloquism to express their views… “Oh she’s saying Mummy, why can’t I have a bit of strawberry tart?”. No, she’s not, she’s trying to eat a paper napkin. And nor would she like a bit of sugar on her fruit to sweeten it up, while we're about it.

Tags: choking, gagging, Mother-in-law, relatives
Posted in The Gagging Thing... · 6 Comments »