Lets talk about baby & food

I prolonged as much as possible the day she should start eating solids. Two simple reasons. The first, its better for her because at 6 months old she is too young to fight any allergic reactions that might happen if a certain type of food doesn't jive with her system. Secondly, I get more time to rely solely on my breast milk; it's good, it's full of antibodies and it's the best for baby. There is a third too, I am just too lazy to cook for her. All the experimenting and cooking in small quantities only to have it spat out. Ouch!!!
B for Baby, Breast & Best

Finally at about 7 months, the inevitable had to take place.
I put on my chef hat and armed myself with Anabel Karmel's New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner and began on a new culinary journey.

Sad to say, she disliked most of what the book had to offer. To name a few, Cauliflower Cheese, Baked Sweet Potato with Orange, Fillet of Fish in Cheese Sauce or Orange Sauce, and Baked Apples with raisins. There were a few hits too like the French Toast Cut outs, Popeye Pasta, Napolitana Pasta Sauce and Chicken Stock. Not wanting to give up, I turned to soups. This time with The Soup Bible by Debra Mayhew. That turned out to be a Mayhem. So much work and ingredients down the drain. Well, not entirely true. Luckily for me, my second daughter loved my experiments with the soup.

S-I-M-P-L-E
Still insistent. I called my mother. She said keep it S-I-M-P-L-E.
So that's what I did. Made chicken soup with vegetable like carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, potato, water chestnut, turnip, watercress and baby spinach. Of course I didn't put all these vegetable at one serving. It would be a mix of two vegetables with the chicken bones.
This worked! I was elated and very happy.
The good thing about this was that, I could cook for all my kids and it required only a pot. My One-Pot Meal.

Recipes

To date I have managed to make and feed her successfully with these few recipes:

 

1. Chicken porridge:

1/2 cup rice
1 stalk celery + some leaves
150 gm cauliflower.
150 gm chicken carcass
2 cups water (don't let the water dry out, add more if needed)
Method :
Rinse chicken in hot boiling water. Chop up all vegetables.
Put chicken and water in a pot and bring it to boil. Remove any fat formed. Add vegetable and let it simmer on low heat for 20 minutes or till the vegetables are soft. I don't use any seasoning for the baby but if you want to then just add salt & grounded white pepper.

 

 2. Chicken soup:

Same as Chicken Porridge but omit the rice and add:
1 stick carrot diced
1 small potato skinned & diced
Once soup is ready remove chicken & blend for younger babies. For older babies (9 months ) I just mash it with a fork to give them some texture.

 

3. Vegetable Minestrone:

1 tomato skinned & diced
75 gm cauliflower
1 stick carrot diced
1/2 celery stalk, diced
1 small potato boiled (optional)
1 small onion chopped 
2 garlic clove chopped
1 tsp Dried Italian herbs
1 tsp fresh parsley
1 tbs tomato paste/puree
1 tsp sugar ( to cover the sourness taste of this soup)
50 gm baby pasta or any suitable pasta
2 cups water (Chicken stock adds more flavour and body to this dish)
Method
Use heavy sauce pan. Fry onion & garlic in some butter/oil till fragrant. Add tomatoes, carrot & cauliflower and fry further 5 minutes. Add paste, herbs & potatoes. Add water and pasta, and let it simmer for 20 minutes or until all ingredients are tender.
Serve with grated cheddar cheese & garlic toast.

The feeding

Now that we are armed with a few recipes, it's time to tackle the feeding. I am going to share with you an interesting feeding set.

Oxo Tot Feeding Set (details)

This feeding set is just fantastic. When I first received it from Bloom & Grow  I thought it was just another fancy baby product put on the market to burn an unnecessary hole in my pocket. However, that changed after seeing my baby using it to feed herself with so much ease. It does exactly that it says. The contoured spoon & fork makes it easy for her to scoop and feed herself. I too get to feed her better with it.

Then there is the bowl with the lid. Fantastic for traveling as lid stays in place.
The plate, is another genius by its own. The upper ring which is curved inwards helps push food onto the spoon & fork.They even made sure fussy mummy like me gets the best out of this by ensuring the upper ring comes off for proper cleaning. I.e no more food stuck in the plate.

I must confess, baby no. 3 gets to experiment with so much more than the other two ever did. So I have no qualms letting this OXO Tot burn a hole in my pocket.

Forewarning: self-feeding involves a lot of mess

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