It’s starting to get colder over here and winter is definitely coming. Although I love staying in on rainy days, we have been trying to make the most of the weather by going to the park for some of our lunches this week.
One thing that I find hard about on-the-go lunches, is finding meals that aren’t too messy. I’ve had many trials and errors along the way, and I am constantly looking for new ideas. So leave a comment and share your favourite meals for eating on-the-go.
There’s not many meal posts this week because we have had a few park meals (no photos taken) and also repeats meals. Here are few of our meals this week:
Breakfast
Apple and pear pinwheels + figs+ lentil sticks
Almond butter and banana toastie + strawberries
Beetroot muffins + strawberries
Lunch/Dinner
Ricotta pasta + meatballs + strawberries
Fish ‘n’ chips
Spinach and cheese twists + strawberries
Deconstructed pho
Hopefully we will have more foodie pictures for you next week.
Last week Jackson got his second tooth, and he has been moody on and off with his meals over the last few weeks from his teething. There have been some meals he hasn’t touched at all, but most of them he has had a taste of everything on the plate.
I have started to notice some of his personal preferences as well. I’m not sure if it is teething related, but Jackson prefers firm foods over soft foods. And he has loved all the fruits I have given him so far (although banana in its natural form has been a hit or miss- once again a texture thing).
So without further adieu, here are some of Jackson’s meals over the past few weeks.
Hope you’ve all been doing well on your foodie journeys.
Sorry for the lack of posts in the last month. A lot has been happening since Jackson got his first tooth. Where do I start?
One thing that has affected us is that we had just entered leap 6 (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, download the app or google wonder weeks for more info). Since starting the leap, Jackson’s sleeping at night has been a bit hectic. He was waking every 1-2hours and needing help to resettle. Its much better now, but we still have a long way to go to get him sleeping through the night again.
Jackson has also become more mobile. He has been rolling, crawling and now trying to pull himself up to stand. Gone are the days when I could put him down to do something quickly, and he would still be in the same position I left him when I got back. This has made it very hard for me to do much during his awake hours. We are looking into getting a playpen where he can safely roam. But in the meantime, we have been putting him in the highchair or a stationary baby walker that our friend lent us.
Since a month ago, Jackson’s meals have increase to three meals a day and now we are planning to also introduced snacks. Since it has been hard to make his meals while he’s awake, I have had to make them during his short naps or when hubby gets home from work. Hence why I haven’t been posting much.
I have been more active on Instagram though, if you want more up to date information on what I have been feeding Jackson.
I will now aim to post at least once a week (probably at the end of the week) with an update of Jackson’s meals throughout that week, as well as recipes from time to time.
Thank you all for your patience and on going support.
Since getting his first tooth, Jackson’s appetite has come back and he has been more interested in eating than before.
Previously he would do more playing than eating, but now he has started to take mealtimes more seriously.
I dont know if his tooth had anything to do with it or if it is pure coincidence, but I am so happy to finally see two months worth of hard work pay off!
Here I will share a recipe for yogurt marinated chicken which was inspired by mjandhungryman.
For her version of the marinade she uses her creamy yogurt and black bean dip to marinate the chicken.
At the time I didn’t have any black beams or corn kernels, but had some Greek yogurt that I wanted to use up, so I made her recipe with just yogurt and spices. She explains in her posthow by marinating the chicken in yogurt, it keeps the chicken tender and moist, so I hoped that I didn’t need the full recipe to get the desired outcome. And it worked perfectly on it’s own with just few spices.
Ingredients-
4 chicken drumsticks
3/4 cup Greek yogurt (enough to coat the chicken)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
Method-
1. Mix yogurt and spices together
2. Marinate the chicken with the yogurt mixture in a ziplock bag for 1-6 hours
3. Transfer chicken to baking tray or dish and bake for 35-45mins at 200C (you can also add any veggies you want and coat them with the yogurt as well)
4. Once cooled, remove skin and any bones and loose bits.
Jackson absolutely loves chicken. The first time I made drumstick for Jackson, it was quite dry, but Jackson still loved it. He was only sucking the juices then, so I wasn’t too concerned about gagging or choking. But now that he has teeth and is actually biting off bits, I wanted to make sure the chicken remains moist and tender. This recipe definitely gave that outcome.
If you want something to keep your little one busy and to have some free time to yourself at the dinner table, try this recipe! Make sure to use chicken drumstick and your little one will be busy for a while.
Last week, Jackson was very irritated and frustrated during meal times and it almost seemed like he was starting to dislike it altogether.
It was hard watching all my hard work go to waste, but I persevered and continued to offer Jackson three meals a day.
At first I thought that I needed to adjust the timing of when I offered him food. Maybe he was too hungry, or too full. So I played around with that a little.
Then I thought maybe I should go back to simple foods and things I knew he loved – such as chicken and corn!
Yep! That definitely helped. He grabbed them and gnawed away without a second thought. Although he didn’t touch anything else on the plate, I was so happy to see him eating again.
Then out of nowhere, while he was happily chewing at the chicken drumstick, he suddenly started crying out.
That’s when I noticed Jackson’s first tooth had cut through.
Finally it made sense why he was so grumpy at mealtimes for the entire week, and even being extra fussy at bedtime; He was going through some stuff!
It happened so quick and we weren’t even expecting it. We kept thinking he was teething for a while, but nothing really came. We also heard boys get their teeth later, so we thought we would have a few more months of gummy smiles. But alas, he finally got his first tooth.
Here are some of the meals I made him last week that he didn’t eat because he was teething –
No only did Jackson get his first tooth, but he also got his appetite back. Suddenly he is eating better than before. He has definitely taken more interest in eating since he has a new tooth to chew his food with.
Even though the eating has gone back to normal (or better even), his sleeping has gone worse. He has been waking more often for comfort feeds during the night. I guess we can’t win them all.
Sorry we haven’t posted anything in a while, it has been a bit busy over here.
Earlier last week I made some baby hummus for Jackson using a recipe from babyfoode.
To make this veggie loaded baby friendly hummus, you will need –
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
1/4 cup canned chickpeas(no added salt), drained and rinsed
Method –
1. Steam carrots and sweet potato for roughly 12-15 minutes or until tender and cooked through. Reserve water.
2. Add carrots, sweet potato, chickpeas and some reserved steaming water into a blender.
3. Blend for 2 minutes or until desired consistency is reached. Add more reserved steaming water as needed for a smoother texture.
I put aside enough for a few days in the fridge and the rest made about 5 baby cubes for my freezer stash.
I served it with some store bought Lebanese bread and leftover hturkey meatballs that I made the previous day.
Jackson has been teething this last week and didn’t show much interest in eating. I was starting to worry that he was going to stop eating altogether, but once his tooth cut through, it finally made sense why he wasn’t eating (more about the teething on another post).
The hummus is quite tasty as is, but there is a toddler version which adds some herbs and spices to this recipe for extra flavour. Head over to babyfoodefor the recipe.
Today I was a little short on time to make breakfast and luckily I remembered a super easy recipe I wanted to try from mjandhungryman – microwave egg oatmeal for babies.
You will need:
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, whisked
1tbs chia seeds (optional)
Method:
1. Mix all ingredients in a cup or bowl
2. Microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes
3. Stir and put back in microwave
4. Microwave for an additional 30-45 seconds
5. Serve as is or add toppings (topping ideas here)
For Jackson, I shaped it into a log so it is easy for him to hold, however it all crumbled everywhere.
I’m not entirely sure if that’s meant to happen or not, but he was still able to grab chunks of it and had no problems eating it. The texture was sticky but not in a messy or unpleasant way.
This is definitely an easy breakfast and it makes enough for mum and baby. I can’t wait to try some other toppings and flavour combinations next time.
Jackson finally had zucchini (or courgette to some people), made into zucchini fritters following this recipe.
You will need:
1 large zucchini, grated
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup mint, chopped
Lemon zest of 1 lemon
1 egg, whisked
1/2 cup plain flour
Avocado oil, for frying
Method-
1. Grate zucchini and squeeze out as much excess juice using a dish towel or muslin bag. (Reserve juices for other recipes or smoothies)
2. Combine all ingredients into a mixing bowl, except flour and oil
3. Sprinkle the flour gradually into the bowl and mix (should be quite thick)
4. Using hands, form patties with the mixture
5. Heat avocado oil in pan over medium heat and pan fry fritters until cooked (roughly 3 minutes on each side; reduce heat if browning too quickly)
Jackson gave mixed signals when eating this. His face turned sour on his first bite, so I thought he didn’t like it, but then he kept taking little bites.
Today Jackson tried two new food: peanut butter and oranges.
Well peanut butter isn’t exactly a new food for Jackson, but it is the first time I have given it to Jackson as food. Have I confused you yet?
One of my friends suggested to put a small amount of peanut butter on Jackson’s mouth a few times before actually giving him peanut butter to eat. I don’t know if it helps to see if your baby has peanut allergies or not, but I did it for peace of mind a few times and today I finally presented it as a food for Jackson.
He didn’t have any reactions, thank god, and he loved it. However, even if baby doesn’t react to something, doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t develop an allergy later on, so it is recommended to continue introducing common allergens regularly and often (but everyone’s babies are different, so make sure to consult with your paediatrician).
Because peanut butter can be quite dry, only apply a very thin layer to the toast and make sure to offer water afterwards or as often as needed.
The second, and truly new food Jackson tried today was oranges. He loved these too.
To safely prepare oranges for baby led weaning, you need to first wash the orange then remove the peel as well as the membrane around each wedge. It is a bit hard to describe how to do that, but there are many videos on YouTube that can show you how it’s done.
Another option is to purchase canned oranges which already have the peel and membrane removed, but personally I prefer fresh oranges.
The oranges were quite slippery, but one wedge was the perfect size for little hands to grasp.
Although you should always always always watch your baby when doing BLW, it is even more important to watch them when they are eating slippery foods that have the potential to block their airway and cause choking.
Jackson did have a little gag when eating the oranges, but recovered quickly and was not discouraged from eating more.
These are both super easy to prepare and are not messy, a big tick in my book. I also really love how versatile toast is. Perfect for when you don’t have time to cook something. What are your favourite toast toppings for your little ones?
Today I made Jackson some rice balls using a new food he hasn’t tried yet – turkey!
The recipe is from mjandhungryman who I have been following lately on Instagram (@kidfriendly.meals). She has so many amazing recipes that I have saved and can’t wait to try.
This was my first recipe from her site, and it was very easy to follow. I did make some adjustments though because the recipe makes quite a lot and I didn’t want to make too many in case, so I estimated one third of the ingredients and ended up with seven rice balls.
You will need (for 7 serves) –
150g turkey mince (lean)
1/4 cup finely minced mixed vegetable (I used broccoli and carrots)
1/4 cup cooked rice (I used white jasmine rice)
1tsp sesame oil
Pinch of garlic powder
Method –
1. preheat oven to 170 degrees
2. Fry up vegetables in cooking oil until soft, roughly 5 minutes
3. Add vegetables, rice, sesame oil and garlic powder to a bowl and mix before adding turkey
4. Add turkey and mix with hands gently and don’t overwork the meat.
5. Using wet hands, roll into small-sized balls (I used an icecream scoop)
6. Place on a tray. Place an oven proof bowl filled with water alongside the rice balls.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping over halfway
8. Once cooled, serve as is or with a dip.
I served it with a white bean dip (really it’s just a white bean purée I had made days before).
This is a pretty mess free meal, until I added the dip. You can go without, but since Jackson isn’t familiar with that texture, I was worried it might be too dry on its own and cause him to gag.
He did gag on the rice ball regardless, but recovered nicely and I was so anxious the entire time, but refrained from interfering and kept a happy face on.
Jackson also had grapes in their natural form for the first time as well. I have offered it to him in the past, but they were so slippery he gave up on them pretty quick. I have previously been giving them to him in a baby feeder and he loves them.
I’m so glad he finally managed to pick up the grapes (quartered lengthways) and feed himself. He did however swallow a big piece after chewing and sucking the juices. I was a bit worried, but I got reassurances from a friend whose baby does that and says he’ll be fine. She usually finds them in her baby’s poop the next day.
This was probably the first meal that jackson gave attention to all the food I offered him. Usually he will be fixated on one or two items, but this time he gave everything a try.
It definitely makes you feel great and worth all the time and food waste that goes into letting baby self feed. I feel like we are finally seeing progress and Jackson is getting the hang of meal times.
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