Pages

Baby Food

Starting Solids


When starting my boys on solids, I did as the books advised and started them on cereals - rice, then oatmeal, barley and mixed cereals, waiting at least four days in between in case of allergies as the books advised.  At the boys' next check-up, my doctor advised me that because their father and I do not have any allergies, there is no need to wait the four days between new foods; she says that the chance of allergies is low (due to no family history of them) and if they were to have an allergy or an intolerance to a food, it should be apparent fairly soon after eating.  So, I track everything that the boys eat and introduce new foods without a waiting period between. 

After introducing all stage one cereals without an issue, I started giving the boys veggie purees.  The ones that they liked best were sweet potato, squash and carrots.  My boys at this stage were not fans of any texture, so they disliked peas and green beans (I couldn't make them smooth enough).  Once a few veggies were mastered, I made my first fruit purees - apple, pear, banana, blueberry, avocado, papaya, mango and peach and found that the boys love the sweetness that fruit has to offer.  A favorite meal at this stage was banana and avocado mashed together; this is super easy, as it is no-cook!  Once the boys had a good handle on cereals, fruits and veggies, I started offering poultry, meats and fish.

Some of my boys' favorite foods are listed below:

Fruits/Veggies


Tip - I find it easier to offer a variety of fruits and veggies to my boys by keeping frozen fruit/veggies on hand.  Broccoli, spinach, peas, beans, corn, mango, strawberries, blueberries, peaches and cherries are available in the frozen food section of most grocery stores. 


Cherry/Banana

1  banana
12 sweet cherries, fresh or frozen

If using frozen cherries, thaw overnight in refrigerator or defrost in microwave.  Place banana and cherries in food processor or blender and process to desired consistency.  Use rice cereal to thicken if desired.


Spinach and Sweet Potato

1 large sweet potato
2 cups bagged spinach leaves

Preheat oven to 400°.  Wash sweet potato and pierce several times with a fork.  Bake at 400° for 45 minutes or until tender.  Cool 45 minutes or until cool enough to handle.  Peel sweet potato and place in a food processor.  Place spinach in a vegetable steamer and steam, covered for 3 minutes or until spinach wilts.  Reserve cooking liquid.  Add spinach to sweet potato in food processor; process until smooth, adding cooking liquid, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you reach desired consistency.

Adapted from Cooking Light - First Foods

Roasted Beets

Bunch fresh beets
Water

Preheat oven to 400°.  Remove greens from beets and wash thoroughly.  Wrap each beet individually in tin foil and bake until tender - approximately one hour.  Let cool and remove peel, cut beets in half and put in food processor.  Process until desired consistency.  Suitable for freezing. 

Brown Rice and Carrots

3/4 cup uncooked long-grain brown rice
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices

Prepare rice according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.  Place carrot in a vegetable steamer.  Steam, covered, 15 minutes or until very tender.  Remove carrot from steamer, reserving cooking liquid.  Place carrot in a food processor and process 30 seconds.  Add rice, and process until desired consistency, adding cooking liquid 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed.

From Cooking Light - First Foods

Meats/Poultry/Fish


Chicken with Sweet Potato, Leek and Apple

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 to 2/3 cup leeks (white and light green part only, sliced and washed well)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 apples, peeled, cored and cubed
Approx. 2 cups chicken stock (either homemade or no salt added prepared stock)

Heat butter in a saucepan, add leek and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the chicken and sauté until the chicken turns opaque (a couple minutes).  Add the sweet potato and apple and pour in stock (enough to cover).  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Puree to desired consistency.  This makes a large batch that is suitable for freezing.

Adapted from Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel

Pork/Brown Rice Dinner

1 lb. ground pork
1/4 teaspoon ground sage
1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
1/4 cup leeks (white and light green part only, washed and sliced)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce or apple puree
3 cups spinach leaves
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Water, apple juice or chicken stock

In a skillet over medium heat, melt butter and add leeks; cook 2 to 3 minutes.  Add pork sage and cook until browned, stirring occasionally to crumble.  Place spinach in a vegetable steamer and steam until spinach wilts, about 3 minutes. Place pork mixture, rice, spinach and applesauce in food processor; process to desired consistency, adding water, apple juice or chicken stock one tablespoon at the time.  This makes a large batch that is suitable for freezing.

Basic Beef Dinner

1 large butternut squash
1 lb. lean ground beef

Preheat oven to 400°.  Cut squash in half lengthwise.  With a spoon, remove seeds and membrane.  Place squash, cut sides down on a foil lined baking sheet and bake until tender, about 45 minutes.  Let cool enough to handle.  While squash bakes, cook beef over medium heat in a non-stick skillet until well browned.  Drain and place in a food processor.  Remove skins from cooked squash and place in food processor with beef.  Process until desired consistency.  Makes a large batch suitable for freezing.

From Cooking Light - First Foods

Fish & Potatoes with Cheese Sauce

2 large baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 lb. white fish (haddock, cod, sole or other mild white fish)
Water

Cheese Sauce:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Place potatoes in a saucepan, cover with water and boil until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and reserve cooking liquid.  Let potato cool 10 or 15 minutes.  In another saucepan, add water (about two inches) and bring to a boil; add fish and reduce to a simmer.  Simmer, uncovered until fish flakes easily with a fork, 5-10 minutes.  Place potatoes and fish in food processor and add cooking liquid 1 tablespoon at a time.  Potatoes will become very starchy in food processor, so it may be necessary to add quite a bit of cooking liquid. 

Melt butter in a saucepan, stir in flour to make a smooth paste and cook for 1 minute.  Gradually stir in milk, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for a few minutes until thickened and smooth.  Stir in grated cheese until melted.  Stir desired amount of cheese sauce into fish mixture.

Tips:  I freeze the fish mixture without the cheese sauce.  I make the cheese sauce on demand and would not recommend freezing.  Also, the fish mixture can be served on its own, combined with carrot, sweet potato or another other veggie you wish.  The cheese sauce can also be used with a broccoli/potato mixture.

Finger Foods

After having prepared purees for a couple months, I could not wait to move on to finger foods.  It is fun experimenting and seeing their reactions to different foods.  However, I get stumped quite frequently with what to give them, as I like them to have a lot of variety in their diet.  Some go-to foods for my boys are:

Breakfast
Pancakes (plain, oatmeal or fruit pancakes)
Carrot/zucchini muffins (recipe at http://naturallycuriouschildren.blogspot.ca/2012/03/zucchini-carrot-applesauce-muffins.html)
Cheerios
Toast and scrambled or fried eggs
Cheese and fruit
Yogurt
Toddler cereals

Lunch
Grilled cheese sandwiches
Toast with hummus or mashed avocado
Tuna sandwiches, using mashed avocado instead of mayo
Mini cheese pizzas made with English muffins
Quesadillas

Dinner
Chicken meatballs
Mac & cheese (homemade, not KD!)
Fresh pasta with cheese, tomato or meat sauce
Fish - white fish fillets baked or grilled and flaked

Notes: 

I find it very convenient to cook ground beef/pork/chicken and freeze - it is easily to defrost and can be added to pasta sauces and other dishes or can be heated and served as is with veggies. 

I sometimes make parchment paper packets with fish that include white fish fillet, potato (or sweet potato), carrots and another veggie, usually beans or asparagus.  I add a bit of unsalted butter and a bit of tarragon.  Great flavour and an easy dinner!

I keep sweet potato on hand for a quick side dish, as it can be cooked in the microwave in 4 minutes.  Frozen veggies are also great - peas just need to be run under hot water for a few seconds and can be given as is and broccoli only takes about a minute to cook in the microwave.

As an occasional treat (or when travelling or when you don't have much time to prep dinner), I will give my boys the Gerber Graduates pasta dinners, but I always look at the sodium content and choose the lowest (the lowest I've found so far are the cheese ravioli dinners).

Snacks
Cheese and crackers
Motts unsweetened fruit sauces (applesauce base with other fruit added i.e. blueberry applesauce)
Fruit/veggies (berries go over very well with my boys)
Mum mums
Gerber cheese puffs (my boys get very excited when they see the can come out of the cupboard!)






No comments:

Post a Comment