Baby Led Weaning

Growing healthy babies with healthy appetites

Tuna and Cucumber Sandwich

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

Loved it. Home-made, of course, from canned tuna and shop-bought bread and, urm, organic cucumber from a supermarket. The Husband and I were eating them at the time, so we gave Babybear a bit off the side and she enjoyed peeling it all apart before going on to eat the constituent parts separately. We had to pile and re-pile the tuna up into the middle of her high chair tray a couple of times as Babybear’s inclination is always to spread her food as thinly as possible across whichever surface is available to her. She managed fine, though, and really enjoyed the thinly-sliced cucumber.

As with the smoked salmon, however, she did absolutely honk of fish afterwards. I don’t know why I find this so disconcerting… possibly because we don’t yet use soap with Babybear so the fishy memory lingers on for quite a while?

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Toasted Cheesy Pitta Fingers

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

Now obviously you’ve all been doing this since the clock struck six months but I’ve only just realised today that if you cut a pitta in half to make a pocket, slide some thin slices of cheese and a bit of chopped tomato into it and then stick it in the toaster then it makes a pitta melty thing that can then be left to cool down a bit (a bit? they’re thermo-bloody-nuclear) and cut into fingers. It was great as it wasn’t too messy so could be eaten standing up, which is how Babybear likes to lunch these days. A stick of carrot in one hand and a pitta finger in the other, very virtuous. And so very quick.

Okay, tell me. Am I the last person on earth to realise that this is a quick and easy lunch? what other things could we jam into the cheesy mixture that wouldn’t then fall out? Spring onions? Do they actually have any nutritional benefit?

Oooohoooh, these are really coming into their own now that the sun is out. Which as you may be bitterly aware, means over the last two days in the UK.

Now as you may know I’m not a huge one for the whole disguising of vegetables thing, but one of my favourite sandwich fillings ever is grated carrot, hummous and raisins. I think it would be revolting in these, needless to say.

However, grate one carrot and some cheese into a bowl (I used the Microplane grater but a fine setting would do the trick) along with some spring onions and a half teaspoon of either cumin or sweet paprika and they are lovely, all cheesy and melty and sweet from the carrot. You could add tomato too but Babybear seems to have an allergy so they’re off the menu for us for the moment.

You’re not tricking anyone, I promise, but if you do have any reluctant veg-eating siblings in the family I’d have to say that you can’t tell there’s carrot in there once the cheese has melted around it. And for BLWers like myself who sometimes wish to cut down on the amount of cheese and ‘up’ the veg, they are great. My husband has eaten them for lunch for the past two days, if that’s any indication. Made them himself and everything…

I have actually done a bit of tuna mayo and cheese in a tuna melt pitta pocket style-y. Not quite as mess free but went down a treat with the pumpkin. Not sure abut the nutritional value of spring onion but I’d wager it would be quite tasty.

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Adad’s Lentil Bolognese

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

At least this time he admits to copying it… I have to say that I can’t imagine making a mousakka with mince now so I do know what he means. And we do love a lentil on this site. Personally I’d want to have a look at the salt content of the cans but of course you could just use dried ones, and I tend to add salt/soy sauce to taste. Puy lentils take bout 30 mins to cook from raw so I’m guessing brown lentils are about the same.


Lentil Bolognese

This is based on a Carol Timperley recipe this one. Makes a decent quantity so you can put some aside for your little one and then season up the remainder a bit more for adult palates. We love this and there’s no way I would make one with mince now.

Makes 8 adult portions

Gently fry:

1 x large chopped onion
1 or 2 chopped carrots
1 or 2 sticks of celery
1 x red pepper
2 cloves of garlic
oregano
bay leaf

Then add chopped mushrooms. Once they wilt a bit, add:

tomato puree
150ml red wine
15 ml soy sauce
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 cans brown lentils (or about 800g).
Parsley.

Let it all come to the boil for a bit (this will burn off the alcohol), then cover, turn down, simmer for 40 mins

Blend to consistency you want – nice to have some bits left in.

Have found it quite useful to serve in giant penne – you can get them really quite big (and therefore easier to grasp!) – and then kind of fill them with the bolognese, quite a lot goes in easilly this way, although if you’re expecting no mess, think again.

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Dizzy's Almost Embarrassingly Simple Chicken Pesto Recipe

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

See, there’s nothing wrong with an easy recipe, is there? I have a similar one that I rather pompously call Chicken Harissa… can you guess how it is made?

“I made this up the other night out of desperation to make something tempting…..not sure it’s really classed as a recipe though, due to lack of ingredients and processes – just how I like it!

Chicken Pesto

Smear pesto over chicken – if you have time to marinate for a couple of hours, bonus! – and cook in a griddle pan, although grill would probably work just as well.

Bubs gobbled this up, and DH declared it a new favourite!”

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Dizzy’s Almost Embarrassingly Simple Chicken Pesto Recipe

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

See, there’s nothing wrong with an easy recipe, is there? I have a similar one that I rather pompously call Chicken Harissa… can you guess how it is made?

“I made this up the other night out of desperation to make something tempting…..not sure it’s really classed as a recipe though, due to lack of ingredients and processes – just how I like it!

Chicken Pesto

Smear pesto over chicken – if you have time to marinate for a couple of hours, bonus! – and cook in a griddle pan, although grill would probably work just as well.

Bubs gobbled this up, and DH declared it a new favourite!”

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Spingle and Nigel Slater's Oriental Fishcakes

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

“These are a bit of a BLW work-in-progress – they don’t hold together like potato type fishcakes, but they are lovely – the Nome liked them at lot, but I reckon they’d be better for older babies who are a bit less interested in the Jackson Pollock approach to eating. Anyway, adapted from Nigel Slater’s “Appetite”. I use 2 biggish fillets of rainbow trout to make enough for me, my husband and the Nome. The seasonings vary every time I make them, depending on what I’ve got in the house. I’d say coriander and lime were my favourite basics.

Put your choice of flavourings into a blender (if you have one! Pestle and mortar may work…). I wouldn’t use ALL of these, necessarily:
2 spring onions OR 1 shallot OR ½ an onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 or 2 chillies (I put these in after I’d mixed the rest and taken some out for Nome. You may be braver)
A couple of lime leaves or I stalk of lemongrass, outer leaves removed, and roughly chopped OR the zest of 1 lime
Thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
Handful of coriander leaves

Blend to a coarse sludge – I added a bit of lime juice first when making this for Nome, as I didn’t want her to get a sudden bite of ginger, say, so I wanted a smoother blend. Mix in a tablespoon of Thai fish sauce (I know it’s salty, but it’s really really good in this).

Empty this into a bowl. Roughly chop the fish, and then put it in the blender and blend to a coarse paste. Mix with the seasoning paste, and shape into small cakes, using floured hands. I think they’re probably best chilled for a while here, to help them hold together. Fry on both sides in vegetable oil or similar until golden brown.

I tried to make sticky coconut rice with this – wasn’t sticky enough, so our kitchen floor was covered, but what she did get it she seemed to enjoy.

Would be grateful to hear of any modifications people make to make these more blw-friendly.”

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Spingle and Nigel Slater’s Oriental Fishcakes

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

“These are a bit of a BLW work-in-progress – they don’t hold together like potato type fishcakes, but they are lovely – the Nome liked them at lot, but I reckon they’d be better for older babies who are a bit less interested in the Jackson Pollock approach to eating. Anyway, adapted from Nigel Slater’s “Appetite”. I use 2 biggish fillets of rainbow trout to make enough for me, my husband and the Nome. The seasonings vary every time I make them, depending on what I’ve got in the house. I’d say coriander and lime were my favourite basics.

Put your choice of flavourings into a blender (if you have one! Pestle and mortar may work…). I wouldn’t use ALL of these, necessarily:
2 spring onions OR 1 shallot OR ½ an onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 or 2 chillies (I put these in after I’d mixed the rest and taken some out for Nome. You may be braver)
A couple of lime leaves or I stalk of lemongrass, outer leaves removed, and roughly chopped OR the zest of 1 lime
Thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
Handful of coriander leaves

Blend to a coarse sludge – I added a bit of lime juice first when making this for Nome, as I didn’t want her to get a sudden bite of ginger, say, so I wanted a smoother blend. Mix in a tablespoon of Thai fish sauce (I know it’s salty, but it’s really really good in this).

Empty this into a bowl. Roughly chop the fish, and then put it in the blender and blend to a coarse paste. Mix with the seasoning paste, and shape into small cakes, using floured hands. I think they’re probably best chilled for a while here, to help them hold together. Fry on both sides in vegetable oil or similar until golden brown.

I tried to make sticky coconut rice with this – wasn’t sticky enough, so our kitchen floor was covered, but what she did get it she seemed to enjoy.

Would be grateful to hear of any modifications people make to make these more blw-friendly.”

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Ironic Turkey Twizzlers – DF, GF, EF, SFF

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

I call these turkey twizzlers and madam likes them with pumpkin wedges….. eggfree too so good for allergies.

I mix a handful of minced turkey with some apple and pear (uncooked so I mash the pear till it’s quite smooth but the apple chopped really finely till it’s kinda shredded), half a teaspoon of cinnamon and rolled the mixture into some sausage shapes (she has them about the size of a chipolata).

Stick em on the George Forman (could grill or ovenbake) for about 20 minutes until very well browned. I leave them to cool for aaages and she eats them cold. They freeze really well too so I normally cook extras.

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Lamb and Spinach Lasagne – SFF

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

Ingredients
2 x 400g packs of lamb mince
2 bags of baby leaf spinach
2 tins chopped tomatoes
3 peppers
2 onions
lasagne pasta sheets
some grated cheddar
cheese sauce packet
a few chives
squidge of tomato puree

Chop and gently fry the peppers and onions. Remove from the pan, (a VERY big pan), and then brown the mince. Replace the peppers and onions and a bag of the spinache, both tins of tomatoes and the squidge of puree. I usually add a bit of cayenne pepper or chilli powder too at this point.
Let it all simmer and make up your cheese sauce and grate the cheddar.

Grease a huge lasagne type baking thing (I have a big oval glass one that lets me see my layers).
Place pasta sheets followed by mince mixture then the raw spinach. Follow for two or three layers.
Pour the cheese sauce on top followed by the grated cheddar, a few spinach leaves for decoration and some chives.

Place in the oven for a few hours on about 180. (or when it looks done, just test with a fork).

I always make one this big so that I can freeze portions for dd2 as it’s her favourite.

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Elizabeth's Kidney Bean Kievs

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

Because Elizabeth took a look at the recipe section of this blog and thought ‘you know what it needs? More recipes involving pulses, that’s what…’

We are forever in her debt, of course. All the more so because this is a recipe that she actually made Before Having A Baby, which is promising in the extreme.

“These are really delicious, we ate them way before baby came along, but they are nice and easy BLW’ing type patties.

2 tins red kidney beans
1 leek
parsley
around 100g breadcrumbs
1 beaten egg
100g butter
2 or 3 garlic cloves

Beat together the butter, crushed garlic and a handful of parsley to make garlic butter. Officially you are then supposed to shape it into a roll and chill it, but I never bother with that stage!

Slice the leek thinly and saute gently for 5-6 minutes until very soft

In the meantime, drain and mash the kidney beans in a bowl or whizz them up in a food processor and mix together with half of the breadcrumbs. Add to the pan and heat through.

Take the mixture off the heat. For an adult-sized portion, divide this into 4 large balls – for baby ones obviously make them smaller! Stick your finger into the middle of each ball and fill the hole with as much garlic butter as you can pack in. Squeeze the sides of the hole together over the butter. I usually then squash the balls to make them more of a pattie shape and dip them in beaten egg, then coat in breadcrumbs. For extra crispy ones, repeat for another layer. You can then fry them if you like, but they are equally as good baked in the oven (around 200 degrees) for about 15 minutes or until brown and crispy. They also freeze really well and cook from frozen if you make them into quite a flat shape.”

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