Baby Lead Weaning Support Thread - Part 7

[*Ali*]

Have bought some red lentils for DS to try. Anyone got a good recipe I can try to make it into finger food?

[Lola's Mum]

Cadie's Mum, these are two recipes I got from the BLW website. I've not tried them yet but have been meaning to. They're finger foods, rather than a dish, as such. Might be worth trying?

Carrie and Xavier's lentil cakes...
•   1 tbps olive oil
•   1 onion
•   125g red lentils
•   400ml veg stock or bouillon
•   85g bread crumbs (stale or oven dried is possible)
•   Flat leaf parsley to taste (or other herbs - optional)
1.   Gently fry onion in olive oil until soft.
2.   Add the lentils and stock to the onions and bring to the boil.
3.   Simmer for 20-25 minutes.
4.   Mix with breadcrumbs and flat leaf parsley (optional).
5.   Shape mixture into small patties for little hands to hold. If your mixture feels a little sticky add more bread crumbs.
6.   Brush with oil and place on lightly oiled baking tray - cook for approx 7 to 10 mins on gas mark 6 (I did for about 12 I think)
I freeze them to keep them fresh and use them as and when I need them - although not as popular as the fish cakes, Xavier likes them a lot - I think to make them more interesting you could add different herbs/spices.


Lentil and cheese wedges

8 oz red lentils
3/4 pint water
1 large onion
1 oz butter
4 oz grated cheese
1 tsp mixed herbs
1 egg
1 oz breadcrumbs
salt & pepper - for adults!!
 
Cook the lentils in the water until soft, and all the liquid is absorbed
Chop the onion finely and fry in the butter until soft. 
Combine all the ingredients and press into an oiled 9" tin. 
Bake at Gas 5 for around 30 minutes. 
Allow to cool slightly then cut into wedges
 
These might be even tastier with a bit of garlic in?"

[*Ali*]

Cheers Sophie. I'll give these a try and let you know how they go.
I made some cheese sauce today and DS ate it with spaghetti. He really liked it. He was eating it in his baby walker whilst at my mum's and my two 1yo nephews were also there. The 2 nephews were hovering round the plate like wasps at a bbq and I ended up feeding half of it to them two in between replenishing DS's bits. Good thing I had made plenty.

[~inbalance~]

There is a recipe for lentil croquettes in the Finger Foods for Babies and Toddlers book by Jennie Maizels. 

[Lola's Mum]

CM, Does he eat a lot of the actual pasta or suck the sauce off. I've given pasta to Lola but she doesn't really consume much of it, if any. Potatoes on the other hand. She's like me. Scoffs them!

Martina, would you recommend the book. I've not seen it before.

By the way, it's a way off and we may well just be feeding our LO's what we're eating, but in November there's a BLW recipe book coming out by Gill Rapley. A lot of the recipes, I believe, came from mum's on the BLW forum. Wish it was out now.

[~inbalance~]

Martina, would you recommend the book. I've not seen it before.

You know, I never ended up making much out of it, but the recipes are really good and I've heard great things about it.  I think I'm just lazy.    But will give it another go with F gets older I think.  I did make the lentil croquettes and they turned out well, T kinda liked them, but I found they were a lot of work!

[*Ali*]

Thanks Martina.

CM, Does he eat a lot of the actual pasta or suck the sauce off. I've given pasta to Lola but she doesn't really consume much of it, if any. Potatoes on the other hand. She's like me. Scoffs them!

He doesn't suck the sauce off at all actually. I cut the spaghetti into about 1cm lengths once it's cooked so he just grabs a handful of pasta and sauce and mashes it up in his mouth. He still doesn't have any teeth BTW. He doesn't really like potatoes. Has one or two mouthfuls and then he's not interested. Have only really tried mash and chips (which he will suck) so far though.

[*Ali*]

Cadie's Mum, these are two recipes I got from the BLW website. I've not tried them yet but have been meaning to. They're finger foods, rather than a dish, as such. Might be worth trying?

Carrie and Xavier's lentil cakes...
•   1 tbps olive oil
•   1 onion
•   125g red lentils
•   400ml veg stock or bouillon
•   85g bread crumbs (stale or oven dried is possible)
•   Flat leaf parsley to taste (or other herbs - optional)
1.   Gently fry onion in olive oil until soft.
2.   Add the lentils and stock to the onions and bring to the boil.
3.   Simmer for 20-25 minutes.
4.   Mix with breadcrumbs and flat leaf parsley (optional).
5.   Shape mixture into small patties for little hands to hold. If your mixture feels a little sticky add more bread crumbs.
6.   Brush with oil and place on lightly oiled baking tray - cook for approx 7 to 10 mins on gas mark 6 (I did for about 12 I think)

Hi guys. I thought I would let you know that I made these lentil cakes and they were a hit with DS (as well as DH and I). I actually replaced the stock with water as I didn't want them to have too much salt in. I also left out the parsley (didn't have any) and added in a tspn each of oregano, smoked paprika and cumin as well as some garlic. They were tasty although I would probably leave out some of the breadcrumbs next time as the mixture was a little crumbly. DH and I had them with some tzatziki dip and they were scrummy! Thanks for the idea.

[Lola's Mum]

Mmm, good to know. Think I'll give them a go.

[Mrs Coops]

Cadies mum have you tried boiled or roast potato? DD couldn't get enough of them, waffled too as they can be cut so the LO's can pick them up easily!

DS is getting himself ready, he keeps grabbing my fingers and shoving them in his mouth. I hope he takes to it as well as DD did, she loves her food!

[inoella]

Awww, Marsha - the little Goblins are ADORABLE!!!!

Hadn't thot of boiled potatoes - I'm gonna try that tomorrow.

[~Sarah~]

Ladies, I am just getting the BLW book from the library but have a question now.  DD is sooooo ready it is crazy.

So far i have given her sticks of cucumber, cantalope, and green beans.  She also has had bits of mum mum.  She loves it all!!  The thing is she is still pretty little, is it ok if I give her bits in her mouth or does that defeat the BLW purpose?  Honestly the girl wants more than she can get into her own mouth at this point

Thanks

[Mrs Coops]

Sarah the whole point is 'they' do it themselves. They should pick it up and put it in their mouths when they're actually ready and able. I used to hand DD food that she couldn't quite pick up as it stuck to the tray, but I never fed her anything!
 By putting small bits in her mouth you might be risking choking. With BLW they only get in their mouths what they can pick up so small things will be off the menu for a while yet! Does that make sense?

So DS has had his first solids, not by my choice though! I found DD forcing some chocolate covered rice cake in his mouth a few days ago! Today she was having some toast when she kindly fed him a small piece of crust! I wouldn't mind but he was on his back and could have choked, nightmare!

Thanks Jaci. x

[Meditrina]

Hi ladies!! 

I am looking forward to giving DD some foods she can feed herself!  I just started rice cereal with her and she loves it, tried peas and pears and she eats the baby mum mums. 

Just wondering what did you guys give your lo around 5.5 months?  If I do banana, should be kinda firm or really soft?  and give it too her in a stick?  More ssuggestions would be great.

I am going to see if the library has the book, or can get it, but was wondering of someone could start me off?

Thanks Mary 

[Whatbit]

Hi Meditrina!  Welcome!
When I first started BLW, it was just after DS was 6 months old.  I did bananas as one of the first finger foods I gave him.  It's kind of slippery and hard for them to hold onto.  I know a lot of people on here suggested to break it into thirds and even to role it in rice ceral to give it some grip.  I found sticks of steamed butternut squash worked really well as did steamed broccoli florets.  They were easier to hold.  I also steamed apple slices and pear slices to soften them up.  At first, the bigger the stick, the better your LO will be able to hold on. Now I give all kinds of stuff but some of my staples are still steamed veggies as well as meatballs (I do pork ones, beef ones, turkey ones and today DS had boar!)  I add egg yolks and otameal as binders and add gralic and other spices to keep things interesting.  Mashed potatoes with other mashed veggies and egg can be baked on parchment paper into patties as well and work as great finger foods. 
Have fun and be ready for soem mess