Baby Weaning: fun recipes to try
So the past few weeks we've been weaning the little one. We had some food pouches and finger food donated to us by a neighbour whose daughter has moved onto to bigger food, which has proved very useful when travelling especially. Moreover, the jars have come in very handy - a simple wash and sterilisation and they're perfect for my own creations. It's so much cheaper to re-use glass pots and small jam jars rather than buying those 'baby-specific' pots and tubs that shops flog.
I've been having a lot of fun making baby food recipes up. To be honest I started to read some stuff on baby weaning but, like the only baby book I got, I read about half then realised I've been able to keep baby alive without the book so there's not much point reading it. Just a few simple guidelines on what is appropriate food at various months is really all that's needed.
Basically, it's common sense. Keep food simple, clean, well-blended and then move onto more complex flavours, proteins and textures later on in the weaning journey.
We started with very basic food:
Blended avocado
Blended carrots (with a little water)
Steamed courgettes (blended)
Pureed prunes
Pureed apples
Mashed bananas
Butternut squash
Sweet potato.
Moving onto:
Spinach and apple
Avocado and apple
Apples and pears
Apples and strawberries
Banana and blueberry
Sweet potato and red pepper
Carrots and courgettes.
More complex:
Broccoli, carrots and potato
Mango, strawberry and a (healthy) rusk
Mango and plain natural yoghurt
Pears and cinnamon
Butternut squash, sweetcorn, carrot and turmeric
Pea, cabbage and mint
Sweetcorn, orange pepper and sweet potato.
Stage 2 (c. 8 months or, if you're like mine, you may well be feeding more complex proteins etc early)
Pureed lentils and red pepper
Grilled chicken and blended vegetables (no salt added)
Red pepper, tomatoes, white cod and parsley
Beef, carrot and parsnips.
Finger food/messy snacks
Soft steamed carrot
Roughly mashed banana
This is it so far - apart as I mentioned before for the various jars of 4m+ that our neighbour gave to us.
Kiddilicious do some very good biscotti and flavoured wafers, which have no additives or preservatives in. Farley's rusks are also great - if you are very careful to make this an occasional treat as these do have sugar.
Have fun!
