Infants' recipes

[big_mama]

Hi all,

Does anyone have any favourite recipes that their DS or DD loves that you don't mind sharing?

Vivian, my 7.5-month daughter doesn't like lumpy food very much, she takes too long to eat very little of it, and I'm hoping some interesting recipes would solve this problem. If I give her smooth and pureed foods, she's fine.

Also, how do you know how much is too much food? And generally, how many solid feeds do you give?
At the moment, this is what I'm giving Vivian (all servings are 110g)
-breakfast: cereal or muesli then 1 hr later* either fresh fruits or baby fruit
-lunch: homemade rice, fish & veggies porridge then * yoghurt
-dinner: homemade rice, fish & veggies porridge then * custard
and before bed and through the night, I would breast feed

Is that too much food for an almost 8-month old baby?

[MariaO]

Hi Big_Mama,

My 7.5 month old is not yet too keen on vegatables and has not yet had any meat or fish. I tend to add pureed pear to some of the veggies to convince her to eat them. She does however, like Avocado and Banana blitzed together, sometimes with a little yoghurt - it tasted quite nice to me as well, but I may well have lost my reason.

One I will try is Chicken, Zucchini and parsnip puree from teh AWW baby/toddler recipe book (if parsnips are in season - I have no idea)

1 single chicken breast (170g) chopped coarsely
2 small zucchini (180g) chopped coarsely
1 small parsnip chopped coarsely
1.25 cups (310ml) water

Place ingredients in a small saucepan: bring to a boil. Boil, uncovered, until vegetables are softened and cooked through.
Blend or process mixture until smooth.

Please note I have not yet tried the above, but I thought that the parsnip was a sweet enough vegatable for it to appeal to most babas.

[andrewsmum]

You could simply just put through the blender a combination of semi-cooked sweet potato/carrot/potato, this is what my son used to eat around that age. It's messy but its actually delicious! :D

I think what you are feeding your kid is fine, just try and make lunch meals different to dinner meals. Also, make foods a bit more lumpy when your kid gets used to the different textures. :)

[wattle]

I know this sounds weird but tonight ds had couscous and sultanas. he loved it!

[cobysmummy]

another weird one:
sweet potato and apple
i got it from the Wyeth recipe book from my CHN...

[big_mama]

Thanks for your ideas guys, I'll try them for variety.
Anything to ease constipation by the way? Or food to avoid? My DD strains until she's red in the face, yet expel very little at a time. I've been giving her mashed ripe paw-paw which I've been told should help.

[MariaO]

Aoife likes an apple and prune mixture (babynat organic range - cheating I know) - that seems to keep things moving along

[Elfin]

My children all liked chicken and tuna in cheese sauce. It was their favourite.

Boil some chicken, vegies like broccoli, zuchini, carrots, corn etc, puree then make a white sauce I just used a bit of cornflower, milk, boil till thick remove from stove then add a bit of grated cheese, mix through puree and voila. You can subsitute chicken for tuna.

[razzle]

Eloise loves tuna so I do a bit of mashed potato, peas and corn (mushed a bit) and tuna with a bit of butter and mozzarella cheese mixed through it. She loves it. It's basically the same mix I use for tuna patties, without making them patties iykwim!

[Mamaduke]

I agree with Maria, both my boys just looved the avocado and banana mixture (I didn't think it was bad either!!!)
To big_mama: when my son was constipated my mum simmered some prunes in a little water and then used the juice diluted with a little water in his bottle. WHOOAHH...watch out, it all starts to move after this!!!!
Carly

[big_mama]

Thanks all, I'll try each of your suggested recipes and see how my DD like it. Carlyb, I put your suggestion to the test, and it worked wonders :) I've even experimented with pureeing the simmered prunes, and mixing it with Heinz apple and banana cereal, and DD loved it!

Just wondering, is it okay to make prunes a part of their daily feed, or should only be fed to cure constipation. Any harm in giving it to them everyday?

[stormanet]

Chicken Risotto

1 tblspoon olive oil

200g chicken breast, skinned, boned, rinsed and cubed ( I use chicken mince... easier and yummy!)

Half a small onion finely chopped

200g risotto rice

250g butternut pumpkin peeled de-seeded and diced

2-3 stems fresh sage(haven't used sage... tastes great without it)

1 litre chicken or vegetable stock or filtered water
(I use the Campbell's salt reduced chicken)


Heat oil in a saucepan. Cook the chicken and onion for 5 mins or until lightly browned.

Add the rice and continue frying 1-2 minutes or until rice looks transparent, then add butternut, leaves torn from the sage stems and mix together. Pour over half the stock, stirring frequently. Bring to the boil, then cover, lower the heat and simmer for about 20 mins, stirring frequently and topping up with remaining stock until all liquid is absorbed and the rice is creamy and soft or desired consistency is reached. Puree in a blender.

Just a note… if you do freeze it, it turns into cement when you defrost it so you have to add water...

I'm also adding mushroom nowadays as it increases flavour for us.

My son loved this as his first venture into protein. NOw he is basically eating what we are :)