They become snacks when you're not looking:
Sneaky beetle.
Make-up bag munchies aside we're making some progress with meals. The new high chair we picked up a few weeks ago was just what we needed and no successful escapes have yet been made. It has shoulder straps, a waist strap and a between-the-legs strap; all of which were initially very unpleasant for baby-must-wiggle but have been begrudgingly accepted.
Now that everyone is sitting at meal time I'm hoping to transition to more and more finger foods and self-feeding. Sometimes this means being able to offer small well-cooked bits of what we're having when we're having veggie burgers or stir fry or pasta. For all those other times (which is most times), I've been putting together a go-to list of baby-finger-feeding-friendly foods that I can reference before heading to the store each week.
Kiwi Banana
Avocado Baked tofu
Ripe pear Ham Cubes
Cucumber Cheese Cubes
Veggie burgers Sweet potato fried
Cooked carrots Cooked broccoli
French toast strips Whole grain muffins
Multigrain cheerios Dried apple pieces
Dried prune pieces Pasta and tomato sauce
Hard boiled egg pieces Banana Berry Smoothies
Bread with cream cheese and fruit puree
Brown rice overcooked (to make sticky) and formed into balls
We've also tried raisins which were acceptable to the bug's refined palette (ahem, weren't immediately spit out). Raisins received mixed reviews in other internet places - from recommended to not recommended as they might pose a choking risk. Frances is getting much better at chewing (or chewing slash gumming) her foods and much much better at not putting too much in her mouth. She only has her finger foods when she's strapped in her high chair (important) and when she's supervised (super important) and we haven't yet had any raisin troubles. We're giving them a sticky thumbs up.
Another big winner - broccoli cheese nuggets. This kid loves broccoli. Which is odd since no one else living here does. She's been have two to four of these as an appetizer with lunch and dinner and I've yet to find a single one mashed into the high chair once I lift her out. From Wholesome Baby Food:
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs (I used wheat germ instead because it was in the cupboard and sounded a bit healthier than bread crumbs)
1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 large eggs or 5 egg yolks (depending on if baby is old enough for whole eggs)
1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil and set aside.
3. Combine all remaining ingredients and mix well.
4. Add seasonings if you like - garlic powder or pepper and a fruit or veggie puree to substitute for the eggs if desired.
5. Shape mixture into nuggets and place on baking tray. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turn nuggets over after 15 minutes.
I used fresh broccoli rather than frozen (I didn't even know you could buy frozen broccoli) and sort of eyeballed how much to use. The recipe (with this modification) yielded about fifty nuggets which I popped in a freezer bag and into the freezer. Now we just have to heat them up for twenty seconds and we're brocking.
No comments:
Post a Comment