Baby Led Weaning

“Great Nanna Peg’s/Nanny Annie’s potato cakes

This recipe is actually the Nome’s great granny’s, but her Nanna makes a mean version. They are a lighter, fluffier and altogether more comforting version of tattie scones. I grew up eating them with bacon as a lovely Friday night tea – thought that they might make usable fist food, and a good vehicle for other flavourings, and the Nome shoved them into her mouth as fast as her little paws could go.

Potatoes – fluffy mashable kind
butter – unsalted, ideally
flour – I use plain, but can’t see SR doing any harm

Peel, chop and boil potatoes until cooked enough to mash. Drain, and mash with a knob of butter until most of the lumps are out – don’t overmash. (Add extra ingredients at this point – see below for suggestions). Add flour little by little until the dough just stops feeling sticky, but is still light and fluffy. Place on a floured board, and pat into a circle about 1 1/2 cm thick. My mum usually cuts this into wedges, but I went all posh and used a scone cutter. A complete waste of time, as the Nome rearranged them into the abstract shape of her choosing, and then shovelled them in. Anyway, put a very small amount of butter in a hot frying pan, let it lightly cover the pan, and then fry on both sides until golden brown – it’s very quick.

Suggestions for additions – a good Lancashire cheese met with N’s approval, and I’ve also made them with spinach and herbs. They’d make a good fishcake as well, I reckon, and bits of other veg would also work.

The great thing is that you can collect up the bits that litter the high chair tray, squish them together, and if your child is as laid back as mine, they’ll just treat it as a brand new potato cake. I think it’s good “early BLW” food, as it’s very handleable, but soft enough to bite and manipulate easily for the novice baby.”

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“Great Nanna Peg’s/Nanny Annie’s potato cakes

This recipe is actually the Nome’s great granny’s, but her Nanna makes a mean version. They are a lighter, fluffier and altogether more comforting version of tattie scones. I grew up eating them with bacon as a lovely Friday night tea – thought that they might make usable fist food, and a good vehicle for other flavourings, and the Nome shoved them into her mouth as fast as her little paws could go.

Potatoes – fluffy mashable kind
butter – unsalted, ideally
flour – I use plain, but can’t see SR doing any harm

Peel, chop and boil potatoes until cooked enough to mash. Drain, and mash with a knob of butter until most of the lumps are out – don’t overmash. (Add extra ingredients at this point – see below for suggestions). Add flour little by little until the dough just stops feeling sticky, but is still light and fluffy. Place on a floured board, and pat into a circle about 1 1/2 cm thick. My mum usually cuts this into wedges, but I went all posh and used a scone cutter. A complete waste of time, as the Nome rearranged them into the abstract shape of her choosing, and then shovelled them in. Anyway, put a very small amount of butter in a hot frying pan, let it lightly cover the pan, and then fry on both sides until golden brown – it’s very quick.

Suggestions for additions – a good Lancashire cheese met with N’s approval, and I’ve also made them with spinach and herbs. They’d make a good fishcake as well, I reckon, and bits of other veg would also work.

The great thing is that you can collect up the bits that litter the high chair tray, squish them together, and if your child is as laid back as mine, they’ll just treat it as a brand new potato cake. I think it’s good “early BLW” food, as it’s very handleable, but soft enough to bite and manipulate easily for the novice baby.”

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…continuing the pulse or bust theme of the recipes section, we now have the hummus burger. I think they sound great, actually.

“I know the list of ingredients is a bit long
but it’s honestly dead easy to make. It’s fine to add
the fresh chilli as long as you take the seeds out, I
promise – the result is tasty rather than spicy. But
you might not want to squeeze extra lemon on the baby’s
burgers.
On a personal note, may I add that I live in South
China where the lychee season is in full swing.
Apparently Annabel Karmel’s books haven’t been
translated into Cantonese yet. It’s a tragedy waiting
to happen.

200g hummus
1 cup soft fresh breadcrumbs
2 tbsp tahini
half tsp ground cumin
3 spring onions, chopped
1 small red chilli, deseeded, very finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaf
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice (plus wedges to squeeze
over cooked burger)
2 x 400g cans chickpeas
1 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp dry breadcrumbs
1 cup greek yogurt
2 tbsp virgin olive oil
1 tbsp chopped coriander

Put hummus, fresh breadcrumbs, tahini, cumin, chilli,
garlic, coriander, juice, 1 can of chickpeas in a food processor and whizz till it forms a thick paste. Scrape into a bowl, and stir in the chickpeas. Shape into 8 burgers (you may need more breadcrumbs to get the right texture). Mix dry crumbs with sesame seeds, roll burgers in the mixture, and fry in olive oil on both sides till nice and toasty looking. Stir the yogurt, virgin olive oil and coriander together and serve the burgers with the yogurt sauce, lemon wedges and toasted pitta bread.”

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…continuing the pulse or bust theme of the recipes section, we now have the hummus burger. I think they sound great, actually.

“I know the list of ingredients is a bit long
but it’s honestly dead easy to make. It’s fine to add
the fresh chilli as long as you take the seeds out, I
promise – the result is tasty rather than spicy. But
you might not want to squeeze extra lemon on the baby’s
burgers.
On a personal note, may I add that I live in South
China where the lychee season is in full swing.
Apparently Annabel Karmel’s books haven’t been
translated into Cantonese yet. It’s a tragedy waiting
to happen.

200g hummus
1 cup soft fresh breadcrumbs
2 tbsp tahini
half tsp ground cumin
3 spring onions, chopped
1 small red chilli, deseeded, very finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaf
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice (plus wedges to squeeze
over cooked burger)
2 x 400g cans chickpeas
1 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp dry breadcrumbs
1 cup greek yogurt
2 tbsp virgin olive oil
1 tbsp chopped coriander

Put hummus, fresh breadcrumbs, tahini, cumin, chilli,
garlic, coriander, juice, 1 can of chickpeas in a food processor and whizz till it forms a thick paste. Scrape into a bowl, and stir in the chickpeas. Shape into 8 burgers (you may need more breadcrumbs to get the right texture). Mix dry crumbs with sesame seeds, roll burgers in the mixture, and fry in olive oil on both sides till nice and toasty looking. Stir the yogurt, virgin olive oil and coriander together and serve the burgers with the yogurt sauce, lemon wedges and toasted pitta bread.”

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Good to see that the aunties of BLW babies are on the case…

“This is all the way from my sister in New Zealand – with a few UK/BLW tweaks.

Red Lentil & Carrot Cakes

1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/4 tsp mild curry powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 tbs red lentils
3/4 cup chicken stock (but I generally use water or that reduced-salt stuff)
1 medium carrot, grated
150g kumura (NZ veggie) or sweet potato or squash
1/4 -1/2 cup grated cheese.

Fry onion & spice in the fat of your choice. (I do bung in some garlic as well.)
Add lentils & stock. Add carrot and the starchy veg.
Cover and simmer for 15-20 mins
Stir in the cheese.

This is the original recipe which makes a loose-ish mash for spoon-feeders or older toddlers who like to show off cutlery skills.

To tweak to BLW stylee:
I usually add more lentils, a touch more of the starchy veg and a bit more water. I cook covered for about 10 mins and then uncovered for the rest of the time until the mixture is dry before stirring in the cheese. When cool, this will make a mash of a stiff enough consistency to be picked up by hand. It can also be combined with breadcrumbs to stiffen the mixture further and then made into cakes in the usual fashion.

Either way it freezes well.

As suggested elsewhere on this site, this can be combined with spinach & cream cheese for a sandwich spread.

Small is liking this a lot at the moment.

Regards

Lin”

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Good to see that the aunties of BLW babies are on the case…

“This is all the way from my sister in New Zealand – with a few UK/BLW tweaks.

Red Lentil & Carrot Cakes

1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/4 tsp mild curry powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 tbs red lentils
3/4 cup chicken stock (but I generally use water or that reduced-salt stuff)
1 medium carrot, grated
150g kumura (NZ veggie) or sweet potato or squash
1/4 -1/2 cup grated cheese.

Fry onion & spice in the fat of your choice. (I do bung in some garlic as well.)
Add lentils & stock. Add carrot and the starchy veg.
Cover and simmer for 15-20 mins
Stir in the cheese.

This is the original recipe which makes a loose-ish mash for spoon-feeders or older toddlers who like to show off cutlery skills.

To tweak to BLW stylee:
I usually add more lentils, a touch more of the starchy veg and a bit more water. I cook covered for about 10 mins and then uncovered for the rest of the time until the mixture is dry before stirring in the cheese. When cool, this will make a mash of a stiff enough consistency to be picked up by hand. It can also be combined with breadcrumbs to stiffen the mixture further and then made into cakes in the usual fashion.

Either way it freezes well.

As suggested elsewhere on this site, this can be combined with spinach & cream cheese for a sandwich spread.

Small is liking this a lot at the moment.

Regards

Lin”

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Poor Lin has discovered that the next-door flat will be undergoing extensive renovations this summer and therefore anticipates eating in the park A Lot so she has suggested that we all stick our sandwich ideas into one post… She’s a bit giddy, I think, at the idea of having her Very Own Poll so I’ll cut and paste her email below as there are supplementary questions involved.

We do enjoy a bit of tuna mayo in this house, and I find that if you butter both sides in a debauched manner then things such as ham or cheese stay together. She also likes pate, but I’ve only started giving it to her recently, and if we’re having an impromptu picnic I’m not above asking the man in the deli for a selection of bits of ham, salami, and getting him to slice some cheese for us to have on rolls. Oh, the bliss of having a weaned child over one whose salt intake you don’t have to bother about quite so much. Also I personally enjoy a mixture of hummus, grated carrot and sultanas in a sandwich but Babybear has been off hummus for some time now so I don’t get it very often.

And I know this is a bit fiddly and faffy and therefore against the grain but I very often find myself running a rolling pin over Babybear’s sandwiches and sometimes even cutting off the crusts because she can be a bit of a pain in her determination to disassemble them. I’ve not yet cut shapes out with cookie cutters, for me that’s a Bridge Too Far but go for it if you reckon it’ll work for you.

Anyway, here’s Lin’s starter for ten. Thanks for any and all contributions.

“Dear Aitch

I don’t actually think this merits a Recipe entry but I didn’t want to get it lost in comments – maybe its a poll-type thing.

Small & I shared versions of the same sandwich today – chicken & avocado. I chopped the chicken quite finely, mashed it with the avocado & spread it on her bread. She loved it and they all disappeared. It struck me, that as summer approaches, in warmer weather I eat a lot of sandwich-based lunches and it would be handy to continue this sandwich-sharing lark. However, being without teeth, she needs gummable sandwiches – not yer-standard-slap-a-slice-of-cheese-or-ham-in-bread things. So here are my sandwich fillings of choice to date:

The Basics:
Mashed avocado
Cream Cheese
Houmous (which she loves. She’d bath in houmous if I let her.)

The Variations:
Avocado with Chicken
Tuna with Fromage Frais (instead of mayonnaise).
Mackerel – tinned not fresh – sadly she took against the beautiful fresh one.

So my poll question – now what? What else is gum-friendly, mayonnaise-free, can be spread on bread & will satisfy both mum & babe? Suppliementary question – should I chill out about giving her mayo? Not quite sure why I feel a bit twitchy about it!

(I have also found out that the flat next door will be undergoing renovations throughout the summer so it looks like we will be living at the local park – and therefore dining exclusively on sandwiches!)

Apologies for managing to ask a relatively simple question in an extremely longwinded fashion.

Lin”

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Aaaaah, Quorn. That’s on my list of ‘things we should eat more of.’ Or is that tofu? I get so confused…

Hi there Aitch,

I thought it was about time we had a Quorn recipe on the blog so here is a recipe for veggie meatballs. It isn’t really mine, I have amended it from Jenny Maizels book but the Pumpkin loves these served with a tomato sauce and pasta so I thought I would share it. Be warned though, it can be quite messy.

Veggie Meatballs (but you could use mince and have normal meatballs). Makes about 16

1 small red onion chopped
1clove garlic, chopped
200g veggie mince (I use Quorn)
1tsp dried mixed herbs
1tsp of smoked paprika
2-3 tbsp of passata/tinned toms (I usally use passata but I don’t think it matters much)
1  1/2 slices of bread made into breadcrumbs
1 beaten egg

Heat some olive oil and fry onion and garlic until soft
Add mince with herbs and tomatoes, cook for about 5 mins (until it is cooked through if you are using meat rather than veggie stuff)
Stir in breadcrumbs, leave to cool and then stir in the egg.
Shape into walnut size balls (you can freeze any you don’t want immediately at this point)
Place on a greased baking sheet for about 20 mins (200/400/gas mark 6)

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Freezable, chaps, and quick. Two major pluses in my book.

“Cheesy Vegetable Nuggets

8oz frozen broccoli florets
4oz breadcrumbs
6oz Cheddar, grated
2 1/2 tbsp water
2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Heat the oven to 375 deg F, 190 deg C.
Cook the broccoli, then drain and chop well.
Combine with the remaining ingredients and mix well.
Form the mixture into nugget shapes and place on a greased baking tray, about 3in apart.
Bake for 20-25 mins, turning halfway through the cooking time.
Serve warm.

I tend to make them with frozen mixed veg rather than just broccoli. They do spread out when cooking, I’ve found that making little balls and cooking in mini-muffin tray works well. Warning, they are really moreish and I’m sure I eat more than she does!”

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Freezable, chaps, and quick. Two major pluses in my book.

“Cheesy Vegetable Nuggets

8oz frozen broccoli florets
4oz breadcrumbs
6oz Cheddar, grated
2 1/2 tbsp water
2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Heat the oven to 375 deg F, 190 deg C.
Cook the broccoli, then drain and chop well.
Combine with the remaining ingredients and mix well.
Form the mixture into nugget shapes and place on a greased baking tray, about 3in apart.
Bake for 20-25 mins, turning halfway through the cooking time.
Serve warm.

I tend to make them with frozen mixed veg rather than just broccoli. They do spread out when cooking, I’ve found that making little balls and cooking in mini-muffin tray works well. Warning, they are really moreish and I’m sure I eat more than she does!”

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