little foodie blog

Jackson eats spinach pancakes + roasted pear purée

Hello little foodies!

Today I made some spinach pancakes using some leftover spinach purée.

I made a big batch of spinach purée back when Jackson started solids, and now that we are having more finger foods, I needed to find ways to use up some of the freezer purée.

This recipe was perfect because not only is it easy to make, I didn’t need to buy any ingredients. I already had everything in my pantry.

The recipe is adapted from YummyToddlerFood 2-ingredient pancakes recipe.

The base recipe is-

1 egg

1/4 cup mashed ripe banana

All you have to do is mix them and then pan fry in butter until cooked through on both sides.

For the spinach version, you just add a handful of baby spinach and blend all the ingredients together before frying.

Instead of fresh spinach, I had frozen purée on hand and just mixed one cube (thawed) into the egg and banana batter.

The pancakes were soft and fluffy, so make sure to be extra careful when flipping them to avoid breaking them.

I served them with some roasted pear purée, which is one of Jackson’s favourite.

He loved both, and I definitely will be making more since there is still a whole bag of frozen spinach purée left.

What do you guys do with your extra frozen purée?

Jackson eats eggy bread AKA baby french toast

Hello little foodies!

Jackson had his first eggy bread today, and it definitely wont be his last. It was so easy to make and he loved it!

Oh, you haven’t heard of eggy bread before? Well it’s basically baby french toast. The recipe I used is here and I just omitted the vanilla extract because I am not comfortable giving it to my baby yet. He loved it regardless.

I served it with some smashed blueberries, but it can go well with any other fruits. It looked so delicious, mama had a plate too. It was admittedly a bit bland for me without the vanilla extract, so I will add it next time when I make it again for myself.

To make this easy eggy bread, you will need:

2 slices of bread

1 egg

A splash of milk (any)

1TBS butter

Fruit to serve

Start by whisking an egg with a splash of milk. Dip bread into the egg mix (with or without crusts, I cut them off) then panfry them in butter until lightly browned on both sides. Once cooled, cut into finger strips for your bub and serve with fruit prepared in sizes appropriate to your baby’s age.

I have only recently started offering breakfast to Jackson, and he hasnt shown much interest, so it was nice to see my hard (easy) work not go to waste. This simple breakfast will definitely be a regular in our household.

Jackson eats roast beef strip + steamed carrot

Hello little foodies!

Jackson loves meat. Most foods he will play with for a while before it makes it to his mouth (if it even does), but so far, whenever we give jackson any meat, it doesn’t take long before it goes straight into his mouth.

He mostly just sucked the juices out, but he did manage to get a little strip off and he chewed on it for a while before he spat it out.

My parents always ask why I don’t purée the meat to give to him since he doesn’t actually consume much of the food. Even if he just sucks the juices, that’s enough for him to get some nutrients out of the meal. At this age, breastmilk (or formula) is his main source of nutrition, and as long as he is still gaining weight, I am not concerned if he actually consumes the solids I offer him.

The introduction of solids is to get him exposed to new tastes and textures so when the time comes that it is important for him to actually consume the solids, he will hopefully be a pro.

Anyway, I had some skirt steak in the fridge and decided to give Jackson some. Skirt steak is quite a lean meat, so I first marinated it in lime juices for about one hour before cooking. It was just roasted in the oven on a low heat for about 45 minutes or until no longer pink in the middle.

I served it on its own first and then gave him some steamed carrots once they were cooled.

The next day he had the same thing again and he went right in and started chewing away since he knew what it was this time. He definitely likes beef.

Jackson eats overnight oats

Hell little foodies!

Today’s new food is chia seeds.

I made a simple overnight oats inspired by this recipe with a few tweaks based on what I had at home.

My version included:

1TBS rolled oats (blended)

1/4 cup greek yogurt

1TBS coconut milk

1TBS chia seeds

Pinch of cinnamon

1 cube pear purée

I mixed everything in a glass container (except for the pear purée), left it overnight in the fridge, and then added the pear purée right before serving. This make enough for about 4 servings for a baby or 2 toddler servings.

I was having chia pudding with some strawberries at the same time and I added a strawberry into Jackson’s bowl since he likes them. I didn’t add it to begin with because I didn’t want him to be overwhelmed with too many textures at once, but he was okay.

He had lots of fun creating a mess and exploring. I guess having a new spoon also made it more fun for him. We had just received the ezpz tiny spoons a few days ago and Jackson loved it. Although he was using it upside down, but he did get it the right way a few times.

I wanna believe he ate a lot this time, but most of it was mushed into his bib and sleeves. It was very very messy, but none made it onto the floor surprisingly.

I did notice he had a rash around his mouth after eating this. He has tried everything before except for chia seeds and coconut milk. I should have introduced them separately but I heard allergic reactions were very rare for both of them so I though it would be fine. The rash went away after his nap, so I assume it was only a mild intolerance. The next time I will give them to him separately so I can pin point which one actually gave him a reaction.

Has anyone else’s bub experienced a reaction to chia seeds or coconut milk?

Jackson eats lamb + broccoli + Greek yogurt

Hello little foodies!

Jackson tried another new food today… lamb!

We just got back from Busselton on the weekend, and while we were there, we had the most amazing slow roasted lamb shoulder at the Amelia Park restaurant. One of our friends ordered it and shared some with us.

It was so tender and everything about it was on point. It completely outshone our dry aged bone on striploin.

On our way back home, we stopped by at the Bunbury farmer’s market and we saw they had Amelia Park lamb. No shoulder unfortunately, but we couldn’t stop thinking about the lamb and decided to get the lamb leg.

Hubby did a delicious roast and we gave some to Jackson. He loved it!

It was served with some steamed broccoli and a greek yogurt dip.

Jackson enjoyed the broccoli too, but he still isn’t a fan of greek yogurt. Hopefully I will find one thats Jackson likes. What are some other baby friendly yogurt varieties that I should try for Jackson?

Jackson eats salmon and broccoli quiche

*Salmon + broccoli quiche*
(*Slightly overdone* 😅)

Hello little foodies!

I have been wanting to give Jackson fish for a while now, and finally made some salmon quiche!

The recipe I used is from here.

Instead of canned salmon I pan fried fresh salmon and then shredded/flaked the meat. I also omitted the cheese and peas because I didn’t have any at the time.

I find when I make things in the muffin shape, there is a higher chance that Jackson will have a taste or at least have fun exploring.

This was Jackson’s first experience with salmon, but unfortunately he didn’t really eat it or even taste it.

Luckily, I made enough for a little freezer stash, so we have some ready to try again soon.

Jackson eats green beans

Hello little foodies!

Jackson added a new food to his list today… Green beans!

Nothing fancy to this. Just boiled in water with a bit of olive oil until tender.

This was an easy one to cook and also easy for Jackson to explore.

Some foods he will feel in his hands for a while ~~before~~ if it makes it to his mouth, but this one went straight into the mouth and he kinda chewed on it like he would a teether.

What should we try next?

Jackson eats broccoli egg muffins

Hello little foodies!

In my last post, I mentioned that I was looking for different ways to give egg to Jackson, and today I made another egg recipe. Egg muffins!

You can make it with any vegetables you have in the fridge. Today I made it with broccoli.

You will need a regular size muffin tin.

Ingredients (makes 6)

6 large eggs

Milk

Chopped broccoli

Shredded cheese (any)

Method

(Preheat oven to 200deg)

1. Crack an egg in each muffin cup

2. Using a fork, break the yolks and give the egg a light whisk

3. Add a splash of milk into each cup (roughly 1/2-1tsp each cup)

4. Top each egg with a bit of chopped broccoli and shredded cheese

5. Season if you wish, then lightly mix everything together in each cup

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until egg is cooked through. Cool and serve.

*Another option is to mix all the ingredients together in a bowl first, then pour the mixture into the muffin cups. *

I love how easy it is with the muffin tin. I cannot wait to get creative and play around with the endless topping ideas. Watch this space.

Jackson eats quinoa omelette

Hello little foodies!

Today we gave Jackson a new food to try. Quinoa.

Jackson has been really digging egg lately and I wanted to expose him to it with different textures and flavours.

This recipe, if I can even call it that, was kind of made up. I saw a lot of variations online, but I wanted something easy and quick. This recipe literally has only two ingredients, three if you count water.

Here’s what I did-

Quinoa-

1. Soak 1/2 cup quinoa in cold water for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse in a strainer.

2. Add quinoa to a pot with 1 cup water and cook on high heat.

3. Once bubbling, cover and simmer on medium low heat for roughly 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed by the quinoa.

4. Turn off heat and let quinoa sit for another 5 minutes covered. Then use a fork to fluff.

Quinoa omelette-

1. Whisk three eggs in a bowl and mix in the cooked quinoa. (Add spices if you wish)

2. Pan fry in batches and flip to cook evenly on both sides.

3. Cool and cut into strips for BLW.

Make sure the egg is cooked through and watch for allergies if giving your baby egg for the first time.

You can really add anything you want in this omelette, like veggies, but I wanted to keep it really simple for Jackson and not overwhelm him with too many textures and flavours.

This recipe makes three omelettes (basically one omelette per egg). The picture of the whole omelette below, is only one egg worth.

He created quite a lot of mess (mostly from the quinoa) and I wasn’t sure if he was even eating any of it or just chewing in his mouth and spitting it out.

Luckily, quinoa is one of those foods you can see in your baby’s poop. So I can say say he did consume quite a bit of it.

Jackson eats scrambled eggs + avocado + steamed apples

Hello little foodies!

Today, Jackson had a big breakfast. He had so much fun with it, that most of it ended up on the floor.

Today’s menu was scrambled eggs, avocado, and steamed apples.

The scrambled eggs were pretty straightforward. Scrambled on the stove and made into big fluffy chunks for Jackson to easily grab.

For the avocados, they were sliced (peel and pit removed beforehand) and rolled into ground flaxseed to make the avocado less slippery and easier for Jackson to hold. I tried leaving a bit of the peel on last time, but it was pretty slippery and messy. Even with the flaxseed, it was still pretty messy, but I found Jackson held onto them better this time.

And the apples were peeled, sliced and steamed until soft enough when pressed between thumb and forefinger.

I wasn’t expecting him to finish all of that food. I put more on his plate in hopes that there will be more chances for the food to end up in his mouth than on the floor.

*The aftermath: clean up crew hard at work*

As you can see most of it is leftover after playing, and there’s was more but Opie did a good job cleaning up. (I let him have everything that fell to the floor except avocado, which isn’t safe for dogs to consume)

The reality is, some days Jackson will be very interested in his food and other days its a playing sensory experience. Today was the latter.