Baby Led Weaning

There’s lots to like about this recipe, not least the taste, which I’m sure is fabulous judging by the photo of Minky enjoying her lamb. However, I’m most drawn to it for the phrase ‘grease of your choice’, which made me splurt my tea all over my keyboard.

Fry one chopped onion in the grease of your choice (we tolerate sunflower oil).
Coat 450g of diced lamb in flour (rice flour for us), add to the onion and brown.
Add two chopped carrots, 400g of chopped tomatoes, 200g of dried apricots and 50g of sultanas (or raisins – what is the difference?).
Chuck in a bit of water (200ml?) and simmer until the lamb falls apart. I left it for an hour and a half because I fell asleep. Ahem.

Minky had this with buckwheat pasta but feel free to choose your own carbohydrate. Couscous might be nice.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Moomin is avoiding dairy and wheat, amongst other things, for her daughter Minky, a fact that forces her to be a bit more inventive when it comes to BLW cooking, I am glad to say. Luckily, she is pretty generous with her findings and we all benefit from her investigations.

Seriously, though, my pal was showing me the other day how difficult it is to exclude dairy. You wouldn’t believe it, there is milk powder in jars of organic ratatouille…

Recipe for chickpea burgers:
Whizz together 1 tin of chickpeas, 110g gram flour, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 4 spring onions, 4 garlic cloves and a bit of water. Shape a bit into a patty and fry on each side for five mins. Makes about 8, so I freeze the leftovers (7!) and they’re good for taking out with us. I slice them in half lengthways so Minky can get a good grip on them. My husband reckons they’re a bit bland but they do have a pleasant texture.

As I mentioned, we have a very allergic-y family (name a food group, I’ll find someone that can’t have it). I’m avoiding wheat, dairy, citrus, fish, berries, nuts. It does make life a bit more difficult. However, we are doing okay at finding alternatives. Have got some recipes for corn tortillas, buckwheat pancakes, onion bhajis and potato scones. I’ve only tried potato scones so far and they’re good if you want to get away from the normal potato wedges, boiled potatoes etc…

Recipe for potato scones:
255g mashed potato, 1tsp baking powder, 55g rice flour, 1/2 tsp salt (eeek – I guess you could leave this out). Mix together, roll into a ball and roll out into a 5mm thick circle. I cut bits out of it with a pastry cutter and then fried until brown. You can add butter and milk to the mashed potato if you’re normal.

I am normal and I love potato scones, so I will go mad and add both. In sunny Scotland, home of the tattie scone, though, what we do is use plain flour (if we aren’t avoiding wheat) and rather than using pastry cutters you can just roll out a thin circle of dough on a floured surface to fit the size of a small frying pan. Making sure that there was a good shoogle of flour on the circle I would then dry-fry it, as this makes the trademark dark brown spots appear on the potato scone and they add to the flavour (and they then look spookily like the ones you buy in the shops). Plus, I’m thinking that if you dry-fry them they might keep better. Technically, tattie scones are an excellent way of using up leftover mashed potato but it’s academic in our house as such a thing rarely occurs.

And I reckon that some salt sprinkled on mummy and daddy’s chickpea burgers will sort out the blandness issue. Gram flour is, of course, just chickpea flour and readily available from Asian stores. Thanks for the recipes, Moomin.

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Moomin is avoiding dairy and wheat, amongst other things, for her daughter Minky, a fact that forces her to be a bit more inventive when it comes to BLW cooking, I am glad to say. Luckily, she is pretty generous with her findings and we all benefit from her investigations.

Seriously, though, my pal was showing me the other day how difficult it is to exclude dairy. You wouldn’t believe it, there is milk powder in jars of organic ratatouille…

Recipe for chickpea burgers:
Whizz together 1 tin of chickpeas, 110g gram flour, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 4 spring onions, 4 garlic cloves and a bit of water. Shape a bit into a patty and fry on each side for five mins. Makes about 8, so I freeze the leftovers (7!) and they’re good for taking out with us. I slice them in half lengthways so Minky can get a good grip on them. My husband reckons they’re a bit bland but they do have a pleasant texture.

As I mentioned, we have a very allergic-y family (name a food group, I’ll find someone that can’t have it). I’m avoiding wheat, dairy, citrus, fish, berries, nuts. It does make life a bit more difficult. However, we are doing okay at finding alternatives. Have got some recipes for corn tortillas, buckwheat pancakes, onion bhajis and potato scones. I’ve only tried potato scones so far and they’re good if you want to get away from the normal potato wedges, boiled potatoes etc…

Recipe for potato scones:
255g mashed potato, 1tsp baking powder, 55g rice flour, 1/2 tsp salt (eeek – I guess you could leave this out). Mix together, roll into a ball and roll out into a 5mm thick circle. I cut bits out of it with a pastry cutter and then fried until brown. You can add butter and milk to the mashed potato if you’re normal.

I am normal and I love potato scones, so I will go mad and add both. In sunny Scotland, home of the tattie scone, though, what we do is use plain flour (if we aren’t avoiding wheat) and rather than using pastry cutters you can just roll out a thin circle of dough on a floured surface to fit the size of a small frying pan. Making sure that there was a good shoogle of flour on the circle I would then dry-fry it, as this makes the trademark dark brown spots appear on the potato scone and they add to the flavour (and they then look spookily like the ones you buy in the shops). Plus, I’m thinking that if you dry-fry them they might keep better. Technically, tattie scones are an excellent way of using up leftover mashed potato but it’s academic in our house as such a thing rarely occurs.

And I reckon that some salt sprinkled on mummy and daddy’s chickpea burgers will sort out the blandness issue. Gram flour is, of course, just chickpea flour and readily available from Asian stores. Thanks for the recipes, Moomin.

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This stew is absolutely delicious, its really easy to make just chuck it in a pot and leave for a hour or so. The only hard part is chopping all the vegetable, you may want to enlist the help of a friend. You do need a fairly healthy spice cupboard but trust me these combine to make such a lovely fragrant flavour.

The stew is made from chunks of vegetables so its perfect for eating with your baby lead weaning wonderstar.

I serve this with pitta bread and dollops of yoghurt, and also some chopped parsley if you are feeling real posh.

Ingredients
VEG
Chopped onion
2 garlic cloves – chopped
couple of sliced carrots
one sweet potato or butternut squash cut into chunks (or both if you have the biggest pot in the world)
one aubergine cut into chunks
1 green pepper cut into strips
couple of sliced courgette
2 large tomatoes chopped

SPICES
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon paprika

add last –
1 can of kidney beans or butter beans
½ cup raisins
pinch saffron

Fry the onions in a large stew pot , add in all the spices and garlic and fry for a while, always stirring. Add the vegetables in the order above so that the starchier vegetables cook the longest. Sauté each vegetable so that its colour deepens before adding the next vegetable. Stir in the beans , saffron and the raisins. There should be liquid at the bottom of the pot from the vegetables but if the stew is too dry add some water or the liquid from the beans. Cover the pot and let it simmer until all the veg are tender.

I have been know to leave this on a really low heat while going out for the day – it creates an absolutely wonderful smell to return home to on a cold day.

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It’s hard to refine my mushroom risotto recipe for publication, really, as I have made it so often over the years that I just tend to fling in whatever I have in the house. Including frozen peas, which I appreciate would technically make it a pea risotto but let’s not be picky.

For the three of us, but with plenty for second helpings and a bit left over for the next day to spread hot onto buttered french bread (o-ho yes…)

One medium onion

A couple of cloves of garlic

Butter and olive oil

Half a pack of Arborio or Carnaroli risotto rice, probably about 225g or so.

Home-made chicken stock, if you’ve got it. Roughly a litre to a litre and a half. If not, some Marigold reduced salt stuff or half of one of those no-salt Kallo cubes which I personally think taste disgusting. Or if you’ve got the heel of a piece of Parmesan floating around the fridge you can use that as a stock, that’s what I often do, to be honest.

A good slug of white wine or Madeira (optional)

One tbsp porcini mushrooms soaked in warm water (also optional)

As many mushrooms as you can get your mitts on. I usually use at least one supermarket pack (if I haven’t bought them elsewhere) so that’s probably about 250g but often I’m using up scabby old ones so loads more go in. Roughly chop into halves or quarters, so they are easier for the babies to pick up.

A good two tbsp of chopped up Parmesan cheese

Gently fry the chopped onion and garlic in a puddle of olive oil and butter. The butter is for flavour, if you leave it out you will notice I reckon. When the onion is clear, throw in the rice and keep it moving around the pan for a few minutes so it can soak up some oil. I use a wide-based pan for risotto. Put in the mushrooms, and fry them. If you think you need more oil or butter, chuck it in. If you have porcini, rinse them, drain them, shop them and fling them in as well at this stage.

Then spoon in some warmed-up chicken stock bit by bit, until it is all absorbed and the rice is sticky-slidy and cooked through and looks like little white pebbles. Well, that’s what recipe books tell you to do. I tend to fling in about three-quarters of the stock or some water and a heel of cheese, along with the Parmesan, cook it for a while until the baby’s portion is done. Can’t really be doing with all the bit by bit business.

Then I take Babybear’s out and whack up the heat, adding the rest of the liquid with the dissolved stock cube, wine, Madeira until it disappears. If this whole thing takes much longer than 20 minutes you are in trouble, as risotto should really be fast food, not taking much longer than the onions and rice to cook.

I put so much Parmesan into the rice that I don’t need any more on top, just a grind or two of pepper finishes this off for me. We serve it with salad, or just by itself if we are feeling lazy. Babybear’s, having cooled down, can be eaten from a spoon if I can be arsed loading it up, but I generally just give it to her on her tray and she grabs it with her hands, chewing the mushrooms for a while before spitting most of them out. (Honestly, though, try the bread thing the next day. Truly, Babybear thinks this is the best bit.)

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…requires a breadmaker. Which would be fine chez nous, were it not for the fact we recently gave ours away because we just weren’t using it enough. Typical.

I think the spinach and cheese topping sounds particularly delish and may yet find myself experimenting using my old student standby – the tortilla wrap as pizza base. That and 10p noodles kept me going through the lean years, let me tell you.

Here’s the recipe. This makes two 11 inch pizzas, which Daniel (9 months), me and DH all enjoyed. And there’s nearly half left still, so quantities could be reduced.

Dough
225 ml warm water
1 and a half tbsp oil
325g bread flour (I used white, but could do a 50/50 white/wholemeal mix)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp dried yeast
Topping (pizza 1)
Half a tube of tomato puree
Lots of grated cheese (I used cheddar)
Selection of your choice vegetables (I used 2 shallots – chopped and fried, 2 cherry tomatoes – skinned and sliced, broccoli – finely chopped, sweetcorn)

Topping (pizza 2)
A tub of cream cheese
6 cubes of frozen spinach (defrosted)
1 tsp fried shallot (taken from that prepared for pizza 1)
A pinch of mixed spice
Small amount of grated cheese
Put water and oil in breadmaker. Cover with the flour. Put sugar in one corner. Make indentation in flour for yeast and make on dough setting. (Adapt this stage to do by hand, if you haven’t got a breadmaker). Grease two 11inch circular pizza tins and preheat oven (220 deg for fan oven). Once dough is ready, divide in half between the 2 tins. Press to a flat round shape to fill tin (best to cover your hands in flour to avoid dough sticking to your fingers). Cover with oiled clingfilm for 15 mins.

Then do the toppings.
Pizza 1 – cover base with tomato puree nearly to edge. Then distribute the veggies over. Finally, top with loads of grated cheese.
Pizza 2 – cover base with cream cheese nearly to edge. Mix the spinach, shallot and spice together. Spread the mixture over the cream cheese.Sprinkle a little grated cheese over the top.
Put the pizzas in the oven for about 15 minutes until golden and sizzling (probably a little longer if not a fan oven). Serve immediately for adults, but let it cool a bit for babies. And cut babies’ portions into pieces about 1-2 inches. (I didn’t give Daniel any of the crust, but it would be nice and chewy for teething).

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…requires a breadmaker. Which would be fine chez nous, were it not for the fact we recently gave ours away because we just weren’t using it enough. Typical.

I think the spinach and cheese topping sounds particularly delish and may yet find myself experimenting using my old student standby – the tortilla wrap as pizza base. That and 10p noodles kept me going through the lean years, let me tell you.

Here’s the recipe. This makes two 11 inch pizzas, which Daniel (9 months), me and DH all enjoyed. And there’s nearly half left still, so quantities could be reduced.

Dough
225 ml warm water
1 and a half tbsp oil
325g bread flour (I used white, but could do a 50/50 white/wholemeal mix)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp dried yeast
Topping (pizza 1)
Half a tube of tomato puree
Lots of grated cheese (I used cheddar)
Selection of your choice vegetables (I used 2 shallots – chopped and fried, 2 cherry tomatoes – skinned and sliced, broccoli – finely chopped, sweetcorn)

Topping (pizza 2)
A tub of cream cheese
6 cubes of frozen spinach (defrosted)
1 tsp fried shallot (taken from that prepared for pizza 1)
A pinch of mixed spice
Small amount of grated cheese
Put water and oil in breadmaker. Cover with the flour. Put sugar in one corner. Make indentation in flour for yeast and make on dough setting. (Adapt this stage to do by hand, if you haven’t got a breadmaker). Grease two 11inch circular pizza tins and preheat oven (220 deg for fan oven). Once dough is ready, divide in half between the 2 tins. Press to a flat round shape to fill tin (best to cover your hands in flour to avoid dough sticking to your fingers). Cover with oiled clingfilm for 15 mins.

Then do the toppings.
Pizza 1 – cover base with tomato puree nearly to edge. Then distribute the veggies over. Finally, top with loads of grated cheese.
Pizza 2 – cover base with cream cheese nearly to edge. Mix the spinach, shallot and spice together. Spread the mixture over the cream cheese.Sprinkle a little grated cheese over the top.
Put the pizzas in the oven for about 15 minutes until golden and sizzling (probably a little longer if not a fan oven). Serve immediately for adults, but let it cool a bit for babies. And cut babies’ portions into pieces about 1-2 inches. (I didn’t give Daniel any of the crust, but it would be nice and chewy for teething).

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