Baby Led Weaning

This was something I made up for a picnic as an accompanying dish to the Breaded Chicken.

Ingredients

Star pumpkin – halved and cored to make bowls
Flageolet Beans – a handful cooked (either from dry or from a tin)
Asparagus – steamed and cut into baby led weaning lengths
Green Beans – steamed and cut into baby led weaning lengths

Pumpkin – chunks from the pumpkin (bowls) boiled/steamed
Chunks of Feta (not sure about allergies and feta, so could be substituted)
Sweet Red Pepper – cut into baby led weaning size chunks

Directions
Mix all the ingredients and dress with a ‘Greek salad’ style dressing i.e. lashings of olive oil and loads of good quality dried oregano. Fill the pumpkin bowls with the salad , wrap in foil and take to the park. Boomer got bits from the bowls and she played with the pumpkin bowl later.
This was something I made up for a picnic as an accompanying dish to the Breaded Chicken.

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This was something I made up for a picnic as an accompanying dish to the Breaded Chicken.

Ingredients

Star pumpkin – halved and cored to make bowls
Flageolet Beans – a handful cooked (either from dry or from a tin)
Asparagus – steamed and cut into baby led weaning lengths
Green Beans – steamed and cut into baby led weaning lengths

Pumpkin – chunks from the pumpkin (bowls) boiled/steamed
Chunks of Feta (not sure about allergies and feta, so could be substituted)
Sweet Red Pepper – cut into baby led weaning size chunks

Directions
Mix all the ingredients and dress with a ‘Greek salad’ style dressing i.e. lashings of olive oil and loads of good quality dried oregano. Fill the pumpkin bowls with the salad , wrap in foil and take to the park. Boomer got bits from the bowls and she played with the pumpkin bowl later.
This was something I made up for a picnic as an accompanying dish to the Breaded Chicken.

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We were in Edinburgh the other day enjoying some culcha (actually The Jim Henson Muppet Show which I may have enjoyed more than Babybear) and when we went to buy lunch I noticed that the Italian deli place had some breaded chicken pieces ready to put into sandwiches.

I hardly need point out that despite doing this baby led weaning business with a pure heart and therefore knowing that I could just buy something to eat when we got there, I had packed enough provisions to sustain Babybear through a journey to the North Pole.

Nevertheless, I just had a sneaking feeling that besides all her porridge pancakes, bread sticks, peaches, banana and cheese, she might enjoy a spot of fried chicken in breadcrumb. I mean, what’s not to like?

So I get home, tell The Husband and his beady wee eyes light up… we’re going to get to eat fried chicken? He’s liking baby led weaning more and more…

So here is my version, which I made and froze yesterday and ate tonight with great success.

Find some manky old bread and whizz it to make breadcrumbs. We had the ends of an old multigrain, which contains all sorts of seeds and therefore plays fast and loose with potential allergens but it was all I had and I was in the mood for experimentation. Fling in a couple of cloves of garlic and a teaspoon of sweet smoked paprika (fast becoming my flavour enhancer of choice now that salt is off the menu) and whizz some more.

Slice up some chicken breast pieces to a goujon-ish size (or finger/chip-sized if you will) and dip them in the breadcrumbs. I thought that I might need some egg to make it stick but it was fine.

I layered them in a tupperware between greaseproof paper and stuck them in the freezer because I didn’t want to eat them immediately and I knew that my chicken pieces were fresh and tonight I heated the oven up to 180 degrees, oiled a baking tray with my trusty oil squisher then put them in for about 25-30 minutes (after another wee squish on top with the oil.)

Serve with loads of lemon juice on top and some peas and sweet potato chips and you are laughing (particularly at the baby, who still doesn’t have much of a pincer grip and spent much of the time chasing petits pois round her highchair tray.)

If anything, they were probably a bit overcooked by the time they came out but I was feeling a bit paranoid about that woman sallymonella at the time, so if you are doing this recipe I’d check to see if they are piping hot in the middle by eating one at about 20 minutes in.

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So, what did you do with the bones and carcass of your lemony roast chicken from the Finger Foods section? Boiled them up for half an hour with an onion, a stick of celery, a carrot, a couple of bay leaves, some peppercorns and a clove of garlic, did you? Mah-velous, then we are ready to make baby led weaning chicken soup.

Okay then, it’s basically just normal chicken soup, so do whatever you usually do (in my case sweat an onion and some leeks if I have them, sling in a couple of sliced carrots and some sliced sticks of celery, add the stock and possibly some low-salt Marigold bouillon to taste and if I feel like it throw in some rice or pasta near the end).

But the smarty-pants thing to remember is to cut some of your veggies in the chip-sized manner (or finger-sized, if we wish to be understood by our New World cousins) and to drop them into the soup while it is cooking.

After a while you are left with the most delicious soft carrot and celery (and whatever else you fancy) which has been poached in chicken soup and can be taken directly from the parental bowl and handed (after a bit of blowing and cooling down) to the baby. Which they love, let’s face it. I also find that Babybear likes to eat crusty bread dipped in soup and wrung out like a wee sponge so it isn’t too soggy.

Post Script

We’ve been putting a good handful of barley into our chicken soup recently and Babybear loves it. She can feed herself a few grains of barley at a time on a spoon (I load it up) and also if you put some crusty bread into the bowl to soak up the soup then press down hard you will simultaneously squeeze the liquid out and pick up lots of barley and veggies. She eats these like an open sandwich, her face wreathed in smiles and carrots.

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We’ve all just returned from holiday and needed a quick dinner plus we had some pears looking a pit peaky.Boomer took the pieces of toast and obviously the pear slices fell off but she just picked them up once she had finished with the toast.

Ingredients
Slices of wholemeal bread
Pesto (I used red pesto as that’s what we had in the fridge)
Slices of pear
Slices of cheese (whatever type you like we had a selection of whatsleftinthefridgeous variety)
Some fresh basil leaves (admittedly we didn’t have this tonight but I’ve used it before and it’s delicious)

Directions
Lightly toast the bread (either on one side under the grill or quickly in the toaster). Slice the toast half to create smaller pieces to create a couple of
Spread the toast with a slather of pesto, place a slice of pear and a leaf of basil on top and finish with a thin slice of cheese. Place under the grill until the cheese is nicely melted.

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Boomer ate almost as much as me when we dined on this at grandpa and grannies house. Boomer liked eating the same as us and she grabbed my spoon to get at it (see tattie soup photo)

Ingredients
equal quantities of leeks and potatoes
olive oil
vegetable bouillon powder

directions
Clean and chop the leeks into small pieces and sweat in the oil, over a medium heat, for about 3mins. Peel the potatoes and chop into small cubes, then stir in with the leeks for 2mins. Mix the stock to a strength that suits and add sufficient to just cover the leek/potato mixture Bring to the boil then cover and reduce to a simmer for 12/15mins. Liquidise but don’t puree – lumpy bits are interesting. Serve with crusty bread for the baby to dunk and season to taste for the grown-ups.

If you want Cream of Leek & Potato, then before serving stir in some milk, cream, or yoghurt.

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Who knows?

Anyway, this is delicious and easy and a standby in our house. I buy those little packs of cubed pancetta from Sainsbos, two packs for a pound. (Actually because I am so rarely in a supermarket I buy loads and freeze them but that’s another matter).
1 pack pancetta, cubed
Frozen peas
4 eggs

So gently fry the pancetta, so that the fat is released and greases a small frying pan. I do them on a low heat for about ten minutes, actually, because I like it a bit caramelly. Then throw in a layer or two of frozen peas, give them a stir and then put the egg mixture in (4 eggs does me, DH and Babybear easily).

Cook it for a bit, medium-low heat again, until you see the sides come away from the pan a bit, then under the grill to do the top and hey bingo, you’ve got a store-cupboard lunch.

I’m guessing if you had a very new baby you might take a look at the pancetta and fret about the salt content, but that bit is up to you. There’s no other salt in the recipe and only you will know what other salty things they’ll be eating that day. Personally, I was always more bothered with the daily intake than one meal, but you guys know what you’re comfortable with. Those of us with children over 1 can be as cavalier as we like…

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Here is my latest BLW success recipe. I ate the soup and gave LO the dumplings. He lurrrved them. The recipe is chunky chickpea and herb dumpling soup.

The recipe didn’t put chickpeas in the dumplings, but I wanted LO to eat some chickpeas, so what I did was put one can in the dumplings, just blended them up in Magimix (I know I know, Magimixes are banned, you could just as well mash them with a fork or potato masher thing), and one can straight in the soup.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 x 300g cans chickpeas
3.5 cups veg stock
2 x 425 cans chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon chooped fresh coriander
1 cup SR flour
25 g butter
2 tablespoons parmesan
2 tables spoons mixed herbs (coriander, parsley chives, whatever)
3 tablespoons milk

To make the oup: heat oil in saucepan and cook onion over med heat for 2-3 mins until soft. Add garlic, cumin, ground coriander, and chilli and cook for 1 min or until fragrant. Add chickpeas (I did 1 can here) stock and tomato, bring to boil then simmer for 10 mins. Stir in coriander.

To make the dumplings: Sift flour into bowl and add the chopped butter. rub together with fingertips until mixture resembles bread crumbs. stir in cheese and herbs (and 1 can blended chickpeas – my addition!) Make a well in the centre, add the milk and mix with flat bladed knife until just combined. bring together into rough ball, divide into 8 portions ( I think I made about 12). Add dumplings to soup, cover and simmer 20 mins or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into centre of dumpling.

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Because it’s a bit of a scorcher here, I made gazpacho for lunch, and because Lottie loved it so much that she actually got most of it in her mouth (and forced her spoon into my hand for help with accessing the tricky bit at the bottom of the bowl), I thought I’d send you the recipe, which is my lazy quick version of one in the New Covent Garden soup book. Put a pint of water in the fridge to chill. Blend together 4 garlic cloves, 6 tablespoons olive oil, 6 tablespoons vinegar and 50g of breadcrumbs. Put the resulting flavoursome paste in a big bowl. Chop 900g tomatoes, 1 or 2 peeled cucumbers, 2 red or yellow peppers, some spring onions (all quite roughly), and some parsley or other nice herbs. Add all of this to the paste. Add the cold water. Blend it all with a hand blender, leaving some lumps in OF COURSE because otherwise I’d be sending you a puree recipe. Hey presto! You’re supposed to serve it with croutons but I couldn’t bear to switch the hob on after making something so raw, so I just gave them bread and cream cheese with it. (and of course a smaller baby could have it soaked into bread)

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Because it’s a bit of a scorcher here, I made gazpacho for lunch, and because Lottie loved it so much that she actually got most of it in her mouth (and forced her spoon into my hand for help with accessing the tricky bit at the bottom of the bowl), I thought I’d send you the recipe, which is my lazy quick version of one in the New Covent Garden soup book. Put a pint of water in the fridge to chill. Blend together 4 garlic cloves, 6 tablespoons olive oil, 6 tablespoons vinegar and 50g of breadcrumbs. Put the resulting flavoursome paste in a big bowl. Chop 900g tomatoes, 1 or 2 peeled cucumbers, 2 red or yellow peppers, some spring onions (all quite roughly), and some parsley or other nice herbs. Add all of this to the paste. Add the cold water. Blend it all with a hand blender, leaving some lumps in OF COURSE because otherwise I’d be sending you a puree recipe. Hey presto! You’re supposed to serve it with croutons but I couldn’t bear to switch the hob on after making something so raw, so I just gave them bread and cream cheese with it. (and of course a smaller baby could have it soaked into bread)

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