"Real" Baby Food

[duckker]

Since our scamps appear to mastering this whole chew/swallow thing, I thought it might be useful to have a gathering place for baby-friendly recipes. (No salt, no sugar, finger-friendly). I'm especially interested in getting stuff made for her to have at daycare--they have a ton of purees in the freezer, but she's gotten pretty agile at home and I'm hoping if she splits her lunch purees and finger foods, she will keep getting better...

I'm going to post the recipes I talked about in SPAM separately because I need to up my count.

[duckker]

Just kidding... Forgot that I found those on a British site and had to do all of the weight/volume conversions. Plus I made some changes. I have it all written in my recipe notebook at home and will post them tonight.

[duckker]

But, I am going to make these spinach quiches tonight when I get around to making my Starbucks wraps. Apparently this recipe makes 7. So we will taste test for dinner and if she likes them, I'll throw the other six in the freezer to go to daycare this week. I'm really trying to get more protein into her during the day.


Ingredients

1/3 chopped onion
1 handful of shredded cheese
1/2 bag of baby spinach
1/4 cup of milk
4 eggs
a bit of butter for cooking

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Sautee chopped onion in a little butter, then add spinach and cook to wilt. Whisk eggs in bowl and add ingredients from the pan. Spray muffin tin or wipe w olive oil (The OP recommended not using paper liners, since they stick to the quiches.) Pour mixture into 7 cups (I generally will fill the other cups 1/2 way with water. I can't remember why, but my grandma always did that.) Bake around 25 minutes, till cooked through and golden on top.

Got this from Baby Led Weaning Ideas, which had some good suggestions for things to send to daycare and several recipes I found interesting. I might mess with the recipe a little tonight, because I have a really hard time leaving well enough alone.

[kaydee0402]

Love this idea!

[lilyelayne]

One change I need to make is switch to unsalted butter.

[taberbtb]

Great idea duckker ! Let me know how the wraps turn out. I also made the "imitation" wraps and froze them but found they got soggy when I reheated them.

I haven't made any baby food yet but need to since some days I have a salad for lunch and she's not that into it. When TCF used to have a BLW board I found this site and it has a lot of great ideas

mylovelylittlelunchbox.com

[duckker]

Oct 19, 2015 12:23:01 GMT -5 taberbtb said:

Great idea duckker ! Let me know how the wraps turn out. I also made the "imitation" wraps and froze them but found they got soggy when I reheated them.

I haven't made any baby food yet but need to since some days I have a salad for lunch and she's not that into it. When TCF used to have a BLW board I found this site and it has a lot of great ideas

mylovelylittlelunchbox.com

That's a great site! I found some good ones from Pinterest and am just sorting through options. Figured I'll make a couple tonight and a couple tomorrow and see what goes over well.

[lilyelayne]

The smock featured on that lovely little lunchbox site is hilarious. Also I was just saying how I need a baby poncho for mealtime!

[pitdigger]

I've got a couple of cookbooks I'm looking forward to getting in to soon. I'll post recipes as I use them.

[kaydee0402]

taberbtb, love the lunchbox site!

[taberbtb]

Also, here's a recipes I am trying out tonight for some baby cookies. We aren't dealing with any allergies but are a great idea for those who are! I will report back how they turn out.

www.littlehouseliving.com/sweet-potato-toddler-snacks-gf-nut-free-dairy-free-soy-free-corn-free.html

[kaydee0402]

lilyelayne, you seem to be the resident expert on BLW. I gave DS spaghetti last night and I cut it into smaller pieces thinking it would make it easier to eat. He kind of ate it, kind of smeared it all over his plate. Should I have left it in bigger pieces to encourage him to eat more?

[lilyelayne]

Oct 21, 2015 12:19:02 GMT -5 kaydee0402 said:

lilyelayne, you seem to be the resident expert on BLW. I gave DS spaghetti last night and I cut it into smaller pieces thinking it would make it easier to eat. He kind of ate it, kind of smeared it all over his plate. Should I have left it in bigger pieces to encourage him to eat more?

Uh, expert I am not.


DS is just now becoming successful with food in small pieces. Large pieces worked much better for him because he had a bigger margin of error - manipulating a small piece of food into & out of his hand, and into his mouth, is something he's just getting good at.
But it's likely a trial and error, what works best for your kid sort of thing. There's a lot of little skills involved in self feeding (recognizing food, picking it up, waving it around, bringing to mouth, taking a bite - to name just a few) so don't expect LO to figure it all out in one go.

Maybe try the same food in various sizes - so some long pieces of spaghetti, medium cut, diced and see what he goes for?

I read that a baby sized portion is about a baby sized handful. Remember most purées are thinned with water/BM/formula/fruit juice so the volume vs density ratio is different than solid food.

[lilyelayne]

I think crispywheats and MapleMomma have been doing BLW as long or longer than I have, though they don't post often anymore. Either of you ladies around & have anything to contribute to the solid food / finger food discussion?

[kaydee0402]

Figuring out BLW is hard work! But Little Man definitely seems to enjoy foods he can eat on his own

[kaydee0402]

Also, lettuce. Anyone have any experience with it yet? Ate dinner with friends the other night with DS in my lap and he plucked a piece of iceberg lettuce off my plate and started going to town on it. I can't find anything in regards to when it's okay for them to eat lettuce.

Sorry I'm spamming up the board. This is my last question for today, promise.

[taberbtb]

@kaydee0402 I was wondering the same about lettuce recently

[MapleMomma]

Oct 21, 2015 14:45:29 GMT -5 lilyelayne said:

I think crispywheats and MapleMomma have been doing BLW as long or longer than I have, though they don't post often anymore. Either of you ladies around & have anything to contribute to the solid food / finger food discussion?

Hey! I'm around still, just in the background a lot. I'm much more active on the CD board.

So catch me up- what were the questions?

[lilyelayne]

Oct 21, 2015 17:57:47 GMT -5 MapleMomma said:

Oct 21, 2015 14:45:29 GMT -5 lilyelayne said:

I think crispywheats and MapleMomma have been doing BLW as long or longer than I have, though they don't post often anymore. Either of you ladies around & have anything to contribute to the solid food / finger food discussion?

Hey! I'm around still, just in the background a lot. I'm much more active on the CD board.

So catch me up- what were the questions?

1) any great baby friendly recipes or cooking tips?
2) what size pieces of food do you offer LO (specific question was about spaghetti - baby transitioning from spoon food to finger food)

Also, hi, hope you & yours are doing well

[cougarette]

Oct 21, 2015 14:48:11 GMT -5 kaydee0402 said:

Figuring out BLW is hard work! But Little Man definitely seems to enjoy foods he can eat on his own

YES! DS was really enjoying gnawing on a piece of apple in the mesh feeder. I know he'd love finger foods, but I can't figure out what size to make it and just how soft it should be. I don't think it should be so soft that it disintegrates in his hand when he picks it up, but it has to be soft enough for him to eat (no teeth yet).

[MapleMomma]

Oct 21, 2015 19:38:21 GMT -5 lilyelayne said:

Oct 21, 2015 17:57:47 GMT -5 MapleMomma said:

Hey! I'm around still, just in the background a lot. I'm much more active on the CD board.

So catch me up- what were the questions?

1) any great baby friendly recipes or cooking tips?
2) what size pieces of food do you offer LO (specific question was about spaghetti - baby transitioning from spoon food to finger food)

Also, hi, hope you & yours are doing well

I've never used recipes, I just serve her what we are having. I offer lots of fruits and veggies.

I have found strips of food work best. Like soft pear slices, cucumber spears, etc. specifically for spaghetti, I found spaghetti noodles were hard for her, but rotini noodles worked great.

Also at first, she had a hard time with super soft food like bread. It would mush and get stuck to the roof of her mouth. Bread crust was much easier.

Just start trying things and watching your baby. They learn quickly!

[lilyelayne]

Oct 21, 2015 21:14:04 GMT -5 cougarette said:

Oct 21, 2015 14:48:11 GMT -5 kaydee0402 said:

Figuring out BLW is hard work! But Little Man definitely seems to enjoy foods he can eat on his own

YES! DS was really enjoying gnawing on a piece of apple in the mesh feeder. I know he'd love finger foods, but I can't figure out what size to make it and just how soft it should be. I don't think it should be so soft that it disintegrates in his hand when he picks it up, but it has to be soft enough for him to eat (no teeth yet).

They can manage more without teeth than you'd think. Does he have a favorite vegetable? Carrot, sweet potato?

[cougarette]

He likes both carrots and sweet potatoes. I tried steaming strips of carrots, but it didn't go over well. But I'm not sure if it was the width (they were kind of thin) or the texture or what.

[aggiebug]

Oct 21, 2015 21:32:34 GMT -5 cougarette said:

He likes both carrots and sweet potatoes. I tried steaming strips of carrots, but it didn't go over well. But I'm not sure if it was the width (they were kind of thin) or the texture or what.

Keep offering I would guess it's a change in texture.

[kaydee0402]

Oct 21, 2015 21:14:04 GMT -5 cougarette said:

Oct 21, 2015 14:48:11 GMT -5 kaydee0402 said:

Figuring out BLW is hard work! But Little Man definitely seems to enjoy foods he can eat on his own

YES! DS was really enjoying gnawing on a piece of apple in the mesh feeder. I know he'd love finger foods, but I can't figure out what size to make it and just how soft it should be. I don't think it should be so soft that it disintegrates in his hand when he picks it up, but it has to be soft enough for him to eat (no teeth yet).

My child is a toothless wonder too

[2mrsks (mrs&mrsk)]

a lot of sites suggest beans. i bought a can of black beans. should i rinse then steam then puree? thoughts?

[seamonster]

Oct 22, 2015 9:00:43 GMT -5 2mrsks (mrs&mrsk) said:

a lot of sites suggest beans. i bought a can of black beans. should i rinse then steam then puree? thoughts?

I'd rinse and puree or mash. Microwave portions as needed. This is what I do with pinto bean at home.

[mishka29]

We seem to be doing blw now since LO went on purée strike. We are giving LO whatever we eat. With the newest recommendations that typical allergen food should be introduced earlier we haven't been worrying about what she should or shouldn't have.

Noodles - we do a fusilli or penne bc spaghetti can be tricky bc it's so skinny.

Shapes - LO has a great pincer grasp so we do more small cubes

[cloe111479]

I know it's a New Orleans thing but we had red beans and rice on Monday and she did too. She loved them.

[stephanie]

My go to meal with baby in mind is chicken and veggies with different herbs. She eats what we're eating for the most part but for a quick and easy lunch/dinner I put a couple of frozen chicken breasts, onion, organic frozen veggies (sweet potato, brocolli, asparagus, cauliflower, carrots, peas, etc) and different herbs at different times. Sometimes I make it "Indian" or "Italian" or "Spanish". The broiling method means I don't have to add fats (good for me!) and there's always liquid left in the pot so I use it to make couscous, quinoa or rice.