EAT > Baby Food Recipes

Finger Foods (6 months+)

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Freya'sMum:
Finger Foods, as the name suggests, are those foods intended to be eaten with the hands rather than using cutlery.  Finger Foods form the basis of the Baby Led Weaning approach to weaning and are introduced alongside purees for the Traditional Weaning approach.
Babies can begin to self-feed with finger foods from 6 months if they are showing interest and readiness, there is no hurry to move on to solids regardless of which weaning method you choose.

If you have any questions please post to the main board rather than here so that readers can access the recipes and tips without a lot of chit-chat to wade through.

Please continue to share your wonderful ideas, recipes and tips for Finger Foods here.
Thank you  :)

(with thanks to Alison for originating this thread)


To start us off...

...steamed/boiled veg such as carrot, parsnip, broccoli, cauliflower, potato, fine beans and babycorn are all good as first foods as they are stick shaped and are still quite firm so can be held in the fist and the end bit gnawed on with or without teeth - these can also be cooked in bulk and frozen, very convenient to reheat quickly in the microwave!

...raw pear, cucumber, mini-ricecakes also serve this purpose

...chunks of banana, avocado and other naturally soft fruits, bread (whichever kind you wish to introduce - wheat can be avoided if necessary), pasta spirals (again, you can buy wheat-free pasta, Tesco's is best in the UK) and steamed/boiled veg (as above) plus others such as yam are all good when the fist-release reflex has developed and food can be mushed into the mouth, again teeth not a necessity

...raw carrot, celery, apple and sweet pepper (red and yellow) are good alternative teething foods to rusks

Over to the rest of you...

Ax

Cornish smiler:
Hi, got a recipe here for potato cakes.  I think it's good "early BLW" food, as it's very handleable, but soft enough to bite and manipulate easily for the novice baby.

Potatoes - fluffy mashable kind
butter - unsalted, ideally
flour - I use plain, but can't see SR doing any harm

Peel, chop and boil potatoes until cooked enough to mash. Drain, and mash with a knob of butter until most of the lumps are out - don't overmash. (Add extra ingredients at this point - see below for suggestions). Add flour little by little until the dough just stops feeling sticky, but is still light and fluffy.  Place on a floured board, and pat into a circle about 1 1/2 cm thick.  They can be cut into wedges or you can go all posh and used a scone cutter.  Put a very small amount of butter in a hot frying pan, let it lightly cover the pan, and then fry on both sides until golden brown - it's very quick.

Suggestions for additions - a good Lancashire cheese and they can also be made with spinach and herbs.  They'd make a good fishcake as well, I reckon, and bits of other veg would also work.

spd:
starting off, we did big chunks, like a quarter of a frozen whole wheat bagel, lightly toasted bread, or a piece of rice cake. we'd give organic O's, and once he could pick those up, we started giving small pieces of other things. i'll bake a sweet potato and cut it into chunks, or roast potatoes or other veggies with olive oil (now we're adding spices). now that he's eating more things, i've made potato pancakes and lentil croquettes (using only the egg yolks not the whites--i use the whites for the grownup ones) and DS digs them. we roast artichokes for us and cut the bottoms into small pieces, and DS loves them. we roll bananas in wheat germ, which makes them not slippery, and DS chows them down. also corkscrew pasta or shells, tossed in olive oil, and sometimes i'll puree or finely chop veggies to toss with it. i roast green beans with sweet peppers, mushrooms, garlic, pepper, and olive oil-chop into small pieces, and he'll eat that too. mostly i try to cook things we like and adapt a portion for DS.

Cornish smiler:
Again, I can't claim for this to be my own recipe, but here's a recipe for some lovely broccoli and cheese muffins which I made on Saturday.  They went down a treat and I'm sure they'd be good for picnic type food:-

Broccoli & Cheese Muffins__Makes 12 regular or 24 mini muffins
200g broccoli (1 small - med head)
1 1/2 cups plain yoghurt  (360 ml)
1/4 cup oil (olive or corn or your choice) (50ml)
1 large egg
50g cheese (I use a bit more than 50g – prob nearly double the qty)
2 cups self-raising flour  (225g)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup skimmed milk if required. (50 ml)

Preheat oven to 200 C or 190 for fan ovens. Put rack just below middle of oven.

Cook broccoli (boiled or steamed until tender).

Mix yoghurt, oil & egg well together. Add broccoli and roughly crumble in cheese. Put mixture in food processor and pulse in short bursts until no large pieces of broccoli left. Try not to puree the broccoli but just chop it finely. (I do it all by hand. I chop the broccoli finely on a chopping board and mix everything by hand, Works equally well!)

Put flour & salt in a big bowl and mix together with a fork. Pour in the liquid mixture and begin to fold together. If you think the mixture looks too dry add the extra milk and fold JUST enough to combine. (The key is not to over-mix it - it should look pretty lumpy and unappetizing!)
Spray muffin tins with non-stick spray. Using two spoons divide the mixture evenly between the pans.

Bake for 12/15 minutes or until golden-brown and centres spring back when pressed. Let the muffins cool in the pans for 2-3 minutes before tipping out.

A yummy adult version or for older kids is to use a creamy blue cheese instead of cheddar.

Cornish smiler:
Another one I snaffled which Sam adored today:-

Creamy Pasta

1 onion
garlic
1 courgette
Fromage Frais
Pesto
Pasta

Finely chop the onion & soften it in some oil with the garlic. Meanwhile grate the courgette & squeeze all of the water out of it. Add the courgettes to the pan and let the whole thing mush down. Stir in some fromage frais (how much depends on how loose you want the mush to be) and some pesto (to baby's taste - I started with a teaspoon and am gradually increasing quantities).  Serve with pasta.

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