Baby Led Weaning

Growing healthy babies with healthy appetites

DanielMummy's Pizza Recipe

…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 particulalry 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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The 'You've Poisoned Me' Face

I just wanted to check… is it just Babybear who, upon eating something, anything, for the first time pulls a face like I've just handed her an arsenic sandwich and actually shivers with revulsion? I'm tempted to give her something really revolting to see if she can crank it up a gear to express genuine horror. That would be very wrong, though, wouldn't it?

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Peas

Well, petis pois actually, because that's what we happened to have in the freezer, but we might buy ordinary-sized peas the next time. Not sure, though. One of my friends (actually the mother of the rather spendid Bubby) pointed out that peas might represent more of a choking hazard. I'll have a think about it, but she is a Canadian and they are born worriers, that lot. If I do buy the normal-sized peas, I was planning to squash them a bit in advance. Your opinions and comments will, of course, be taken into consideration as well.

Oh anyway, she was a hoot with them, though… really the cutest thing. We had microwaved the peas, covered in a bowl with just a splash of water to retain as many vitamins as possible and we served them in the gravy of the rather marvellous beef stew that I've been banging on about. By 'served', I naturally mean 'spooned elegantly onto the highchair tray'.

She grabbed for them then clasped them in her wee fist, flicking them into her mouth like a Pez dispenser. For some reason, prior to picking them up she likes to point at them, move them slowly around the table with her index finger and then make a sudden but deadly  lunge at the pile.

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JennT's Long-awaited Polenta Recipe

Personally, the only way I enjoy polenta is with as much parmesan cheese as it can support without falling apart. It will take years of trial and error on my part to find out exactly how much that is. Be careful as it starts to boil, to give you an idea of how dangerous polenta is just imagine you are cooking with lava straight off the slopes of Mt Etna and you won't go far wrong.


Polenta with Herbs

75g (3oz)
polenta

Either 1 tsp of dried herbs, say, oregano or thyme, or a fistful of chopped fresh herbs, perhaps parsley or coriander? If using fresh rosemary or thyme, probably best to stick to the teaspoonful.

1 tbsp olive oil or
butter.

A whacking amount of parmesan cheese, freshly
grated, say about a fistful again. Or however much you like.

Cook the polenta according to packet
instructions, and stir in the butter or olive oil and then the parmesan and herbs as it starts to thicken. Pour into an oiled baking tray and leave to cool, befor cutting into wedges and grilling or frying until golden on both sides. 


Post Script
We made some polenta the other night but I didn't have any parmesan in and the kind that I bought claimed to have vegetables in it already and therefore didn't need anything extra. Wrong. It really needed cheese.

Anyway, I made it, and in it's plain boiled form it was distinctly unimpressive. Likewise when I spread it out onto an oiled tray and grilled it. However, I left it overnight and cut it up and grilled the pieces and we had some more success. It had started, by this time, to look and taste oddly and not unpleasantly like French Toast. Babybear ate a really big piece of it, as did I, but mine was smothered under a layer of salt. Next time, cheese.

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