RECIPE: #InstaWeanTeamChallenge - Frozen Yoghurt & Strawberry Fingers

Despite repeated attempts, Little Dude has never really taken to strawberries. He tends to give them an exploratory lick then looks mightily disgusted and chucks them on the floor. The Very Hungry Caterpillar week has given me an opportunity to try serving them in a different way... and it worked!

 

 

Since giving him these he's actually eaten TWO chopped, uncooked strawberries. Perhaps the penny is starting to drop on just how yummy they are (they're my favourite fruit too)

YOU'LL NEED:

60g porridge oats

20g chopped walnuts

A few generous spoonfuls of natural yoghurt

Splash of whole milk

5 medium strawberries

Optional - additional sweetner such as honey, dates, or sugar

 

METHOD:

1. Chop the walnuts and add to a bowl along with the oats (keep a few walnuts back for decoration). Pour in enough milk to make a thick porridge mixture but keep it fairly dry. 

Note - Adding a spoonful of honey, some chopped dates, or a little sugar at this stage would sweeten the fingers up a little as they come out fairly savoury. We liked them that way though :)

2. Press the oat mixture onto a lined baking tray then cook at Gas 5 for 5-8 minutes.

3. Set the oat base aside to cool

4. Once cooled, spread a thick layer of yoghurt on to the oat base

5. Decorate with chopped strawberries (I made ours into heart shapes) and walnuts.

6. Put the baking tray into the freezer for 2-3 hours until the fingers have set hard

7. Slice the fingers then return to the freezer, remove each one a few minutes before serving.

 

Thanks to Ezpz who provided the Happy Mats we used for this week's challenge.

Check out what the rest of the team made by visiting our Facebook Page

RECIPE: #InstaWeanTeam Challenge - Walnut and Date Cereal Bars

Anyone who follows my Instagram feed will know I'm a big fan of putting lunchboxes together. Filling them with varied, healthy food can be a bit of a challenge, especially when it comes to snacks. This week I decided to make something I've tried before but not perfected: homemade cereal bars. I totally revamped my recipe and was really pleased with how these turned out - they are soft, sweet fingers of pure deliciousness!

To make these...

YOU'LL NEED:
5 Medjool dates (I used organic ones)
70g walnuts
25g sultanas
70g porridge oats
15g dessicated coconut
1 beaten egg
Coconut oil or unsalted butter for greasing the baking tray

METHOD:
1. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and grease very lightly with coconut oil.
2. Finely blend the nuts then tip them into a large glass bowl. Add the sultanas, coconut, and porridge oats then stir.
3. Blend the dates into a sticky paste - throw in a handful or two of oats if they start to gum up the blender like mine did.
4. Put the dates into the bowl then using a thumb and forefinger, rub them into the oat mixture as if you were making crumble. Continue until the dates are distributed evenly into the mixture.
5. Stir in the beaten egg.
6. Press the mixture onto the baking tray in a rectangular shape about 2-3cm thick.
7. Bake for 15 minutes at Gas 5, ensuring the egg is cooked.
8. While still warm, slice into finger shapes with a sharp knife. I used a pizza cutter which was the perfect tool for the job.
9. When cooled, peel the cereal bars carefully off the greaseproof paper. I will keep mine for a few days in a sealed Tupperware container... if they last that long!

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the InstaWeanTeam are making this week by visiting our Facebook Page

 

Healthy eating out and about...

Little Dude and I went shopping today. My plan to make a quick dash to get him some new shoes turned into a casual jaunt round a dozen shops and before I knew it, it was 11.30. I'd packed some snacks - raisins and a Nom Nom Kids smoothie pouch filled with kiwi, banana and apple - but nothing substantial enough for lunch. The smoothie was still half frozen at that point anyway - excellent planning Mama!

Usually when we eat out I pack a full homemade lunch box to take with us. Quite honestly, kids menus at most cafes and pubs make me cringe; the majority of them don't seem to extend beyond fish fingers, chicken nuggets, and burgers. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to serve the odd thing like this in moderation (white chocolate buttons are a particular weakness for both of us!) but I'd much prefer to do it when I can read the packet myself and check out the salt content, amongst other things.

L tends to nap after lunch so I figured it was worth braving it and ordering a couple of things for us to share, rather than let him fall asleep on the way home and go to bed with an empty tum. Mama needed coffee so we headed to Starbucks and I picked a cheese and ham toastie and a chicken salad. The food selection was obviously aimed at adults but both of these seemed suitable enough for the pair of us. I figured Little Dude would be all about the carbs but he surprised me by merrily munching through a handful of sugar snap peas and bravely sampling a huge slice of lime. It's just a shame I didn't capture the faces he pulled on camera - he went back for several tastes though so must have liked it!

This got me thinking... where else can I find decent children's menus? I generally really enjoy putting a lunchbox together for him but it'd also be handy to have more places that I can visit on a whim without stressing about what there is for him to eat. I'd love to hear from other Mamas about their favourite places to take little ones for decent, healthy food. Let me know your recommendations here or on the BLWMamaUK Facebook page and I'll put a list together for us all to share.

RECIPE - #InstaWeanTeam Challenge - Watermelon Kebabs

I chose a simple summer dish for my watermelon #InstaWeanTeam Challenge – fruit kebabs with natural yoghurt and chia seeds. This took 5 minutes to prepare and about 5 seconds to devour! The sweet watermelon works really well with the creamy yoghurt and I used a flower shaped vegetable cutter to make it a little more appealing – still not enough to convince L to eat fruit unfortunately but it worked for the grown ups!

YOU’LL NEED:

¼ Watermelon

½ Mango

10-15 White and Red Grapes

Kebab Sticks

Natural Yoghurt

Chia Seeds (optional)

METHOD: 

1. Slide a knife along the rind of the watermelon to remove the tough skin. Slice the melon into strips. Using a cookie or vegetable cutter, cut out some pretty shapes :)

2. Same deal with the mango - remove the skin and slice into cubes

3. Slice the grapes in half lengthways (this reduces the choking hazard)

4. Thread each piece of fruit onto a kebab stick until it's full.

5. Service dipped in yoghurt with chia seeds (you might want to remove the stick for younger children)

RECIPE - #InstaWeanTeam Challenge - Cheesy Quinoa Bites

Finding savoury snack foods is hard. Little Dude isn't keen on veg that he can see and identify as veg, if you know what I mean. He'll happily munch tomatoes, courgette, broccoli, peppers (basically anything) in a casserole but a stick of raw carrot won't get much more than a  lick before it's chucked in the floor. I do buy pre-prepared baby snacks sometimes but most of them seem to be sweet - carrot cakes, yoghurt raisins, biscotti. This week's #InstaWeanTeam Challenge inspired me to try a savoury snack idea; something we could take out and about with us in our snack tubs. Quinoa is another ingredient I've never cooked with this challenge (I'm starting to think I've led a bit of a sheltered life...) so these were a bit experimental but turned out really well.

YOU'LL NEED:
50 g Quinoa
200ml Cold Water
1/4 Red Onion
2 Savoy Cabbage Leaves
1/8 Tsp Chia Seeds (optional)
Handful Grated Cheddar Cheese
Pinch Mixed Herbs

METHOD:
1. Cook the quinoa according to the instructions on the packet - I washed mine thoroughly then added to a clean pan with the water and herbs, simmering for 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the pan to make sure it doesn't run dry but you want all the water to have soaked in by the end.
2. Finely chop the onion and savoy cabbage then saute for 3-4 minutes in a little unsalted butter until soft
3. Add the cooked quinoa to the veg and stir.
4. Add the chia seeds and cheddar, mix well.
5. When the mixture is cool enough to handle, shape it into small balls (I made 9) and place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
6. Bake at Gas 4 for 35 minutes until firm and starting to crisp

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the team made for Quinoa week on the InstaWeanTeam Facebook Page!

RECIPE - Banana Choc-o-Nut Pancakes

Yes, I'm still on my one-woman mission to make every possible type of pancake! Today I adapted the standard two ingrediant banana pancake recipe to make a Saturday treat to take to my sister's house. These are handy for lunchboxes because they make minimal mess.

YOU'LL NEED:
1 large banana, mashed
1 medium egg, beaten
1 tsp cocoa powder (I used Green & Black's Organic powder)
2 tsp almond butter
Handful porridge oats
Few sprinkles of dessicated coconut
Coconut oil (or unsalted butter) for frying

METHOD:
1. Mash the banana in a medium sized bowl.
2. Add the beaten egg and stir well.
3. Add the oats, almond butter and cocoa and stir well (again).
4. Melt a little coconut oil in a heavy frying pan. Keep the heat very low if you have a lighter pan as it helps stop the bottom and edges of the pancakes from burning.
5.  Dollop the mixture into the pan, each one should be a little smaller than the palm of your hand.
6. Sprinkle a little dessicated coconut on top of each pancake so it sinks into the mixture slightly.
7. Once the bottom has started to cook but whilst they're still too soft to flip (after about 3 minutes), pop them under the grill for 2 minutes or so.
8. Once the top has started to cook, flip the pancakes over for another 2 minutes or so until they're cooked through.
9. Leave to cool for a few minutes then serve. 

This makes about 5 small pancakes, just double the quantities if you want enough for the whole family!

RECIPE - #InstaWeanTeam Challenge - Crispy Baked Green Beans

A real challenge this week - green beans! These are one of my favourite veggies actually (unfortunately for Mr BLWMamaUK who doesn't share the same affinity for them that I do) but never one I've thought of as being particularly versatile.

Still, I knew the other ladies would come up with something brilliant so didn't want to let the side down. I have two weak points when it comes to baby food - savoury snacks and desserts. I decided to tackle the former and make something we could take out and about with us. As it happened, I made so many that we also had them for dinner with grilled salmon and rice noodles. Those little green beans are pretty versatile after all :)

YOU'LL NEED:
1/3 Packet Green Beans
Panko Breadcrumbs (approx 1/4 packet)
1 Beaten Egg
2-3 Tablespoon of Plain White Flour

METHOD:
1. Trim the beans at both ends
2. Get three bowls and put the egg in one, the flour in another, and some breadcrumbs in another
3. Roll the beans in flour until it is lightly coated.
4. Drop the beans into the egg and coat on both sides.
5. Roll the beans in the breadcrumbs, making sure it is completely covered
6. I baked them at Gas Mark 5 for 30-40 minutes until they were starting to go golden and the beans inside were soft/wilted. You could probably speed up the process by boiling the beans in hot water for 5-8 mins first but this didn't occur to me until mine were already in the oven!

For a snack, team the crispy beans with some creme fraiche or hummus. Delish. 

Don't forget to check out what everyone else made for Green Bean Week on the #InstaWeanTeam Facebook Page 

Snack tin is by Replay Recycled

RECIPE - Baked Chicken Bites

I can't believe it's taken me so long to make these because they were SO yummy. Crunchy, chickeny (surprise, surprise) and pretty healthy because they were baked, unlike the pre-prepared breaded chicken you can buy. I've been meaning to try something like this for a while so when the I spotted a pack of Panko Breadcrumbs in the supermarket this week I decided it was time to take the plunge. My only worry now is that I'm going to start breadcrumbing everything in sight now I've realised how easy it is. These took about 12 minutes to prepare and another 25 to cook. And the verdict from my most important taste taster? 'Nom. NOM!'

YOU'LL NEED:
300g Diced Chicken
Approx 5 Tbs Plain White Flour
1-2 Beaten Eggs
Packet of Panko Breadcrumbs
1/2 Tsp Smoked Paprika
1/2 Tsp Cumin
1/2 Tasp Black Pepper

METHOD:
1. Get three bowls and put the egg in one, the flour in another, and some breadcrumbs in another - start with one egg and about 1/3 packet of breadcrumbs, you can always put more in if you run out.
2. Add the spices to the breadcrumbs and stir well.
3. Using tongs (or your fingers if you're brave, I hate touching raw meat!), roll a piece of chicken in flour until it is lightly coated.
4. Drop the chicken into the egg and coat on both sides.
5. Roll the chicken in the breadcrumbs, making sure it is completely covered
6. Transfer the chicken to a baking tray greased with a little unsalted butter
7. Repeat. Lots.
8. Bake the chicken at Gas 5 for around 20-25 minutes until it is cooked through.

Enjoy - don't forget to take me on Facebook or Instagram if you try this one out :)

RECIPE - #InstaWeanTeam Mexican Challenge

Mmmm, Mexican food! I was pretty spoiled for choice this week because I love this kind of grub. Old El Pasa fajitas tend to make an appearance in our house when I'm having a lazy chef moment but still fancy something tasty with plenty of veggies. Although I was tempted to make a baby-friendly version of this old fave it's something I've done before so I chose to mix it up with a new dish - pulled pork burritos. 

I roasted the pulled pork at the weekend so kept some aside knowing I had burritos on the menu later in the week. This is a great one for using up whatever leftovers you have; chicken, beef or pork would work just as well. Same deal for the veg, you can't really go wrong once it's wrapped in a tortilla. Go nuts!

 

YOU'LL NEED:

Leftover Pulled Pork

1 Red Pepper 

1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes

1 Tin Kidney Beans

1/2 Tsp Oregano

1/2 Tsp Cumin (x 2)

1 Tsp Smoked Paprika

1/8 Tsp Low Salt Soy Sauce

1/2 Cup Wild & Basmati Rice

Handful Grated Cheddar Cheese

4 Kos Lettuce Leaves

3 Tortilla Wraps

Chilli Flakes (optional)

METHOD:
1. Put the rice in a pan, cover with boiled water, add the 1/2 tsp of cumin and simmer until cooked (mine took 25 mins), then drain and set aside.
2. Empty the tomatoes, rinsed kidney beans, spices (including the other 1/2 tsp cumin), soy and oregano into a pan.
3. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 10 minutes until the mixture has reduced slightly. 
4. Take off the heat, mash slightly with a fork and leave to cool
5. Slice the pepper into thin 'sticks' and set aside
6. Warm the tortilla wraps in the microwave for 30 seconds (it helps them bend)
7. Take a deep breath - you are ready to roll your burritos! :)
8. Lay out a sheet of foil, slap a tortilla on top, then a lettuce leaf.
9. Add a couple of spoonfuls of rice, bean mixture, some pork, and 4-5 peppers
10. Sprinkle a little cheese and some chilli flakes on top then carefully wrap the whole burrito into a sausage shape using the foil the seal it together at both ends.
11. If the filling has cooled too much, pop the burritos in the oven for 5 mins to warm through.
12. Serve (roll the foil down as you eat to stop it falling apart).If you have extra filling, just stick it on the plate as well.

Note - young children will need the foil removing for them. I served Little Dude a de-constructed version of the burrito with all the separate parts laid out on his tray for him to explore but it coulsd just as easily be cut into slices for a baby or toddler. The photo on the right shows the version for myself and Mr BLWMamaUK. It looks a bit like an explosion in a burrito factory but boy, was it good!

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the #InstaWeanTeam made for Mexico Week by visiting our Facebook Page.

An introduction...

Hello and Welcome! 

It's now June 2015 and we're almost a year into our weaning journey! I recently re-wrote this post for Yummy Mummy's World so I'm posting the updated version here....

Little Dude has always had his own ideas when it comes to food. Our breastfeeding journey was extremely challenging and although we battled through for four months - when he finally decided to stop latching altogether - I still feel a little disappointed that we didn’t get it ‘right’. Introducing solids felt like a fresh start and I was determined to fill my beautiful firstborn’s rapidly expanding tummy with delicious, home cooked purees. Yes, you read that right!

We started with traditional weaning when Little Dude was five months old. Despite a healthy appetite for milk his little tum was rumbling between feeds and he showed plenty of interest in what Mama and Daddy were eating so I figured he was ready. Given that he barely ate a crumb for the first two and a half months, he probably wasn’t. Regardless, I lovingly batch cooked all the usual purees - apple, pear, sweet potato, broccoli, parsnip - and steadfastly popped L into his Bumbo twice a day. What followed was several weeks of me desperately waving a spoon in his direction while he even more desperately wiggled out of the way and bellowed at me. You've got to give it to the little fella – he definitely knows his own mind.

I'd heard about Baby Led Weaning and quite honestly I thought it sounded pretty terrifying. Giving real food to my tiny baby who still managed to choke on his milk half the time? No chance. Instead I made a seemingly endless list of excuses: he didn’t like the taste of that particular puree. Maybe it was too cold or too hot. Perhaps I’d used the wrong spoon. He wasn’t comfy in his Bumbo that day. He was too hungry or not hungry enough. He was too tired, too playful, too cuddly. After a month of his complete refusal to be spoon fed, I reluctantly put the cutlery down and picked up my secret weapon: an avocado.

We started very slowly. Although everything I’d read about BLW suggested that babies are physically capable of handling ‘proper’ food from 6 month and up, I was very nervous about the possibility of choking. The gag reflex was unnerving at first but is a completely normal part of the learning process and drastically reduced within a few weeks as he learned to move the food around his mouth. At first I offered sticks or bite sized pieces of soft food like avocado or steamed carrot and things that dissolved in his mouth like sweet potato mash or grated cheese. Certain foods I’d expected to be perfect for starting out didn’t work for us at all – banana was too sticky and made him gag while toast fingers got cemented to the roof of his mouth and stayed there for half an hour while I wondered what on earth I was supposed to do about it. Other foods that I’d expected him to hate seemed to be firm favourites; broccoli, sprouts, and lentils were all eagerly explored. Even my husband won’t eat some of those! 

Every day we both learned a little more and it wasn’t long before I was serving him hearty home cooked food like chicken casserole, chilli con carne and stir fried veg. Even wet foods that don’t seem to naturally lend themselves to BLW are no match for determined little fingers and a carb-heavy accompaniment like pasta, cous cous or mashed potato (to soak up the juice). Sure, my kitchen walls were regularly plastered with mashed potato and there was always Weetabix in our hair but we were having fun. One of the things I credit to BLW is Little Dude’s fantastic pincer grip. He mastered this very early by picking up grains of rice, pieces of pancake, Cheerios… even if it was just so he could drop them triumphantly over the side of the high chair.

It hasn’t all be plain sailing. L was 7.5 months old before he actually started chewing and swallowing his food rather than popping it into his mouth and just spitting it out again. Since then we’ve had food strikes, changing tastes, mess (lots and lots of mess) and the ultimate challenge - eating out without leaving a trail of destruction behind us. It’s been totally worth it though; there is something so wholesome and satisfying about sitting down to a family roast dinner on a Sunday when we’re all eating exactly the same thing. The clue really is in the name – let your baby lead the way and everything else will follow.

Top Tips:

• Research, research, research. ‘Baby Led Weaning’ by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett is fantastic because it explains the different stages babies go through when learning to eat. ‘Weaning Made Easy’ by Dr Rana Conway is another good one for explaining the reasons behind weaning guidelines and recommendations, particularly around what age to start
• Attend a paediatric first aid course so you know how to react in the unlikely event that your baby chokes. I booked onto one run by a Private Health Visitor but my local Surestart Children’s Centre runs them too.
• Dedicate a freezer drawer to baby food and cook in batches. That way you can offer a variety of flavours at each meal without spending hours on food prep – the key is to offer different things and let your baby choose what to eat
• Trust your instincts. If you want to start slowly with bite size foods or just one flavour, do it. You know your baby best.

Some more 'official' resources on weaning:

• NHS - Your Baby's First Solid Food
• Unicef - Weaning 
• Baby Led Weaning