When it comes to weaning you baby, there are so many things to factor in. Will you use spoon-led weaning, baby-led weaning or a mix of both? Will you buy jars or pouches or will you make your own?
We decided to do a mix of everything and so far it seems to be working very well. Joseph will have one meal a day whereby he feeds himself, this is usually vegetables, cheese and baby crackers, and then his other main meal (not including breakfast as that’s porridge or Weetabix of some sort) is usually what ever we are having, just puréed up in the blender. Using pouches only when we’re having something that he cannot eat.
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| That face you pull when you realise that dinner is just vegetables! |
So, when it comes to making our own baby food, this becomes another mine field to contend with. What they’e allowed at certain ages, how much of it, what’s bad for them, salt intake and so on and so forth.
For me, I prefer to limit the amount of meat Joseph intakes. I find meat to be a harsh on little tummies and so Joseph will only have it a couple of days a week, other than that, it’s veggie dishes delight and I’ve had to master making these fun and tasty without compromising goodness.
And a firm favourite in our household has been my homemade Spinach & Ricotta Pasta Bake recipe which I have done for all 3 of the boys over the years. What’s more, the kids eat it still, just in an unblended form. Here’s the super simple instructions on how it’s made:
Base Ingredients
100g ricotta cheese
50g spinach
200g fresh pasta
Extra Ingredients
Any other veg, we used peas and green peppers in the recipe below
Cream/milk to get the right thickness for your baby/child
Method
1. Add the pasta to a pan of boiling water and cook until soft (add any other veg here also)
2. Add the spinach to the pan until wilted and the drain the pasta, veg and spinach
3. Place in an oven dish and add the ricotta
4. Bake in the oven at 190c until a crisp top has formed
5. Place into blender and blend till you get the right consistency, adding milk or cream if it’s
too thick
6. Split into portions for your child (this makes 3 portions for Joseph) and freeze
Note: You don’t actually have to oven bake, it can be made without that step but I like to do this for an extra punch of flavour.
As you can see, Joseph loves this recipe and so do I because it is healthy and and super tasty too. Not only that but I can make this base and then add any other flavour I like to give him a bit of a change. Sometimes adding other vegetables, parsnip for a nice sweet flavour or peas and peppers like above with Joseph much prefers.
As I’m part of the Vital Baby Weaning Warriors team, over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing more recipes for the baby food I make and showing how you can make delicious meals at home for your little darlings.
Do you make your own baby food? I’d love to see some more suggestions that I can try out.
Thank you for the recipe! Proof that you can get healthy yet delicious food into the little munchkins!
I have just started weaning my daughter this week, nice to see some recipe ideas
Brilliant recipe! I'm in the middle of weaning at the moment and I was looking for some inspiration. Thank you.
Delicious. We have just finished the weaning and the limitations of the foods which is great. I did a mix of both and it worked great and some of the baby favourites have been adapted for their age now and are still eaten. It's a topic that divides many and puts moms under so much pressure. Looking forward to the rest of your posts in the series.
This looks great, wish I'd had it when we were weaning. Although I think my daughter might eat a non-blended version now, if I can persuade her to try spinach!
Great recipe I would quite enjoy this pasta bake myself and it is healthy too!
He looks like he is getting stuck in! I cooked Baby loads of meals when we started to wean her and she wouldn't eat any of it! x
We have these little orange pots as well 🙂 I started off great but our baby turned her nose up at most of what I made. Sadly we don't cook her stuff as fresh as we should, but she always has what we're eating so gets a good variety as well as her own food.
great idea to batch cook, i used to do that every sunday. I'm sure home cooked is why my little lady has always experiemented with taste and texture and eaten so well.
My friend cooks everything in batches. Its so much easier i suppose when you are looking after a little one too. x
Just started weaning my lil man
what a great healthy recipe for little ones x
'That face you pull when you realise that dinner is just vegetables!' What a priceless photo. Love it!