Carrot and cinnamon Christmas tree cookies: dairy free, egg free, soya free, sugar free weaning recipe

This recipe is based on my Sweet potato biscuit stars, but carrot based and with different spicing for the festive season.

Since making the Sweet potato biscuit stars I've repeated the bake many times, most recently with a savoury twist - carrot and ground coriander, and parsnip and garam masala which were both huge hits. However a few things happened today - I had the last of our veg patch carrots to use up, Harry had a friend to play this afternoon and I'm all about Christmas as there's only a month to go. So even my husband can't be Scroogey about me mentioning it ;-) I decided to use the same spicing as I've used in the Christmas cake which is in the oven as I type.

Part of me wanted to make something Christmassy as lots of our baby groups are gearing up for the festivities and I'd like to make sure that I have an easy, allergy friendly something I can make of a morning and bring with us so that there's something safe for Harry to eat with his friends.

Harry and his friend helped to knead the dough, and they made round biscuits whilst I managed the Christmas tree shapes as the cutters are quite sharp. As this dough is just flour, dairy free spread, carrots and spices I wasn't at all worried at the toddler take on kneading which heavily involves the mouth.

 Carrot and cinnamon Christmas tree cookies
Dairy free, egg free, soya free, sugar free
Weaning recipe

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Carrot and Cinnamon Christmas cookies

by Penelope Reader November-25-2015

Dairy free

Ingredients

• 200g Carrots, boiled/ steamed until soft
• 360g Plain flour
• 60g Dairy free spread
• 1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Ground cloves
• 1 tsp Ground nutmeg

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC 2. Line a cookie sheet with greaseproof paper 3. In the bowl of your food processor blitz the cooked carrots, flour, dairy free spread and spices until the ingredients come together in a smooth ball of dough that leaves the bowl clean(ish) 4. Alternatively you can mash the carrots and beat the rest of the ingredients in by hand 5. Roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thick and cut out the Christmas tree shapes 6. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes (or until very lightly browned)

Details

Prep time: 10m Cook time: 35m Total time: 45mYield: Makes 40 small cookies

I haven't yet tried these with cornflour to make them gluten free, but as I'm anticipating this batch will disappear fairly promptly, I'll have another go next week.

Roasted beetroot houmous: a dairy free weaning recipe

Houmous is such an easy win when weaning a CMPA baby, naturally dairy free, high in protein, and every baby I meet who's being weaned loves it. I make it at every opportunity (not least for the egg replacer aquafaba - as seen in my meringues) for Harry as it's such a favourite of is. He loves it mixed with grated carrot in sandwiches, on toast for a quick and easy post swimming lunch, with veggies dipped in, or simply in a bowl to grab handfuls of (when I'm pretending not to look).

I make a few variations of houmous: roasted, or sun-dried tomato, aubergine - but hadn't tried anything else until lately when the beetroots in my Seed Pantry veg patch were ready to be harvested. M got me my Seed pantry box for my birthday, and I have to say I wasn't enamoured to begin with (ungrateful wife that I am), but it was awesome. I loved planting my seeds and growing my veggies - I still have some late French beans and spinach to pick before I need to dig our little raised bed over. My trip to River Cottage cemented just how much I've changed my opinion on growing veggies - talking to their Head Gardener and making my mental list of seeds for next year, I'm excited already.

My Barbabietola di Chioggia beetroot was beautifully candy striped, which did however, mean that the humous wasn't the vivid pink I'd initially expected, rather a muted, Instagram filtered type of pink. It had a delicate earthy flavour, which worked beautifully with some pre roasted garlic and a light olive oil. 

We enjoyed this with my home made dairy free flatbreads - the only problem about making food from your veg patch is that once the veggies have gone you can't make any more! 

This is one recipe you really do need a food processor or blitzer of some sort for. 

Roasted beetroot houmous
Dairy free
Serves 4-6 adults or 8 babies

1 tin chickpeas (brine drained and saved for egg replacer duties)
2 medium beetroot
2 cloves garlic
4 sundried tomatoes
Olive oil - I used 4 tablespoons, but it'll depend on your ingredients and personal taste. You may want more or less.
1 tablespoon tahini (optional - don't buy it specially - just add extra olive oil)
Juice of half a lemon
If making for adults, add a teaspoon or so of salt

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees
Scrub, and chop the beetroot into eighths, peel the garlic and drizzle with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil
Wrap in foil and bake for 45 minutes to an hour - or until the beetroot is soft
Leave to cool
Drain the chickpeas and sun dried tomatoes, and put in the bowl of your food processor
Add the cooled beetroot, garlic, and olive oil left in the foil parcel and blitz until a rough puree
Add another couple of tablespoons of olive oil, the lemon juice and the tahini if using, and blitz until slightly smoother - if making for adults add salt now

Flatbread recipe to follow when I manage to take pictures - I keep forgetting and we eat them warm!

When you're happy with the texture, you're done. I store this in a tupperware in the fridge. Much like home made pesto I make sure the top layer is covered with some fresh olive oil.

Sweet potato biscuit stars: a dairy free, egg free, sugar free weaning recipe

Sweet potato biscuit stars have been a hands down winner in our house this week - little mouthfuls of lightly spiced, naturally sweet biscuit are an ideal accompaniment to a midmorning beaker of oat milk, or as a pudding to go with some coconut yoghurt. Dairy, egg, soya and sugar free they are wildly simple to make, and for a bubba in his seventh week of a streaming cough and cold and his second week of cutting canines they were one of the only foods he didn't fling heavenwards.

I made these using the food processor, but a decent masher or ricer would mean they would easily make by hand. Similarly, I've used coconut oil but Pure dairy free spread, or Vitalite would work, as would gluten free flour. The biscuits keep nicely in an airtight tin, and I tend to view a portion as two of the little stars.

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Sweet Potato Biscuit Stars

by Penelope Reader October-10-2015

A dairy free, egg free, sugar free weaning recipe

Ingredients

• 150g Cooked Sweet Potato
• 180g Plain flour
• 60g Coconut Oil
• ½tsp Ground mixed spice
• ¼tsp Ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC 2. Line a cookie sheet with greaseproof paper 3. Peel, chop, and boil/microwave/bake your sweet potato. Allow to cool 4. Put the sweet potato into the bowl of your food processor (or mash thoroughly and mix the rest of the ingredients by hand). 5. Add the flour, spices and coconut oil to the food processor bowl and pulse until the dough comes together into a ball. 6. Liberally dust your worktop with flour, and roll out the dough until it is about ¼" thick. 7. Cut out the shapes, and put them on the lined cookie sheet 8. Briefly knead the leftover dough, reroll and cut out shapes. Repeat until you have used all the dough. 9. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. 10. Cool on a wire rack.

Details

Prep time: 10m Cook time: 35m Total time: 45mYield: 20 small biscuits

Whatever you do, don't turn your back while trying to take photos or this might just happen...

Puff Pastry Pizza Pinwheels - a dairy free, baby led weaning recipe

Puff Pastry Pizza Pinwheels are such a quick and easy dairy free lunch for a weaning baby. Harry loves them - despite a streaming cold that's seen him off his food entirely he ate two today. Even I've managed a couple *cough*

Before any CMPA mummies panic - this isn't home made puff pastry (outside of the Bake Off tent who makes their own on a regular basis really? No need to wade in and tell me you do). Jus Rol is definitely dairy free - although as M will tell you I read the packet about 17 times and made him do the same. I haven't checked supermarket own brands yet, but will do.

Regular Violife in the block doesn't melt as such unless it's sandwiched between things - so these are ideal as the cheese melts nicely in the pinwheels. As you can see from the photos it doesn't melt on top in the same way. You can now get Vioife for pizzas that apparently does melt, but nowhere near me seems to stock it.

Obviously you can use any flavourings you like for this - I was using up some leftover pasta sauce that I'd got out of the freezer and forgotten to use so blended it smooth before spreading it over.

Puff Pastry Pizza Pinwheels - dairy free, soya free, weaning recipe
Serves 15

1 sheet Jus Rol puff pastry
Tomato sauce - I used about 240ml of blended tomato and butternut squash pasta sauce
Violife block cheese - I used about an inch, grated
1 tsp dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C
Roll the pastry out so it's about a third bigger than it comes out of the packet

Spread the pasta sauce over the top
Sprinkle with oregano
Cover liberally with grated Violife

Roll up the pastry into a sausage shape and cut slices at about an inch thick

Lay these out on a lined baking sheet and cover with more grated Violife
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown

Butternut squash & tomato pasta: A dairy free, soya free CMPA weaning recipe

Butternut squash & tomato is a lovely combination for weaning, sweet and flavourful and one of Harry's favourites. I make this in batches, usually while he naps, and freeze it in portion pots for quick and easy lunches along the line.

This is also the sauce I use on his 'cheesy' polenta chips, and I also use it with chicken meatballs I make him. Harry seems to prefer his food to be a bit wet so this is a great moist-maker (to quote Ross Geller) 

I also make an adult version of this with salt, pepper, a pinch of chilli and lots of crispy bacon: Dairy free Butternut squash and bacon pasta

Butternut squash & tomato pasta

Dairy free, soya free - suitable for CMPA

Weaning recipe
Makes 20 baby portions

1 Tbsp Olive oil

1 red onion finely diced

2 cloves garlic diced or crushed

1/2 tsp dried thyme 

1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped into a 2cm or so dice

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 carton passata

1tsp tomato puree

Oatly cream

Violife cheese - I use 2 slices of the Mozzarella style, finely chopped

In a large pan, warm the oil and add the onion, garlic, butternut squash and dried thyme - cook gently over a medium heat for 10 minutes, until the onion starts to go translucent

Add the tin of tomatoes, pasta and tomato puree. Fill the tomato tin half full of water and add that to the pan too

Bring to a gentle simmer, pop a lid on the pan and cook for 30 minutes

Remove from the heat - and add 2 tablespoons of Oatly cream and stir through the sauce

Add the Violife cheese and stir through.

If you are doing purees as your weaning method, then let this cool down before blitzing. If you're doing baby led weaning then you can serve it as is.

I make up a batch of this, leave it to cool, portion it off and then freeze so it's ready to go for a quick lunch or supper. I use this from Nuby as initially one, now 2 of these is a perfect Harry sized portion.

If you find prepping butternut squash a faff - you have a couple of options. Tesco and Waitrose/ Ocado both sell it frozen. Or, have a look at this post for my super easy way to prep it. 

Dairy free & egg free hake Fish Fingers

I've got this far with the weaning process largely without resorting to convenience food. To be honest it's less of a choice and more of a case that most pre made food items seem to have a wealth of dairy in them. I thought I'd have a go at some home-made fish fingers - working on the basis that there's no need for the coating to have dairy in them and that there must be a way of finding a non egg based way of getting everything to stick together. I tell you, I may not be working at the moment, but my brain hasn't stopped!

 I've said to bone and skin the fish, but that makes you a bit nervous, you can always ask the person on the fish counter to do that for you.

Cornish hake fish fingers - dairy free, egg free

300g Cornish hake (Coley would work well too), skinned, boned and chopped into baby hand sized chunks
100ml of Oatly cream
50g polenta/ cornmeal
50g plain flour
Vegetable oil

Pour the Oatly cream into a dish
In another dish mix the polenta and flour
Cut your hake into chunks - and soak it briefly in the Oatly cream - we're talking a couple of minutes
then roll each chunk of fish in the polenta/ flour mix so that it's well coated
Heat up some vegetable oil in a frying pan and when it's hot, in small batches fry the fish until it's brown on both sides. I find it takes a two lots of a couple of minutes on both sides

As always you can freeze these - although I do find the coating goes less crispy when you reheat. You could fry them off, but I tend to ping them just for ease. I find that 2 is enough for Harry, and this made 14.

We served these as a nice light lunch - I had them with a spinach salad, Harry had them with some strips of pepper, cucumber sticks and chopped cherry tomatoes.

Photos are missing today because we ate them and I forgot! I'll add them when we have the portion I've frozen.

Switching the Fish with Sainsburys - a dairy free Cornish hake fish pie

I don't know about you, but I get stuck in a rut with buying fish. I tend to stick to the same types for the same dishes: cod, haddock, mackerel, sardines and salmon. As far as Harry's concerned I first tried him with haddock, and then moved on to salmon - but haven't been more adventurous thus far. Well, until now. Sainsburys contacted me to ask if I'd be interested in switching the fish I use. Of course my thoughts turned to Harry. 

Apparently 80% of fish sales in the UK are made up of salmon, tuna, haddock, cod or prawns. So to inspire the nation to enjoy a wider variety of fish, between the 10th - 23rd June if you ask for one of those at the fish counter you will be offered a portion of one of four alternative fish for free! The alternative fish are Sea bass, coley, hake or loch trout. According to my cousin Mark (the newly appointed fish guru for the Pantry - he of Leleu and Morris) coley and hake have the stronger sea fish flavour and go well in fish pies or fishcakes. Sea Bass is more delicate - so is one to fry off and serve as it is - perhaps with a fresh green salad? Loch trout is a bit more earthy. I chose hake after a quick chat with him. 

I thought I'd make Harry fish pie to try - he likes food that's wetter, as he seems to find it easier to chew, this meant working out if a roux would work using almond milk or Oatly cream - which fortunately it did. As you can see from the picture, the fish pie was a definite success. He had it for supper tonight, and I've frozen the leftovers in silicone cupcake cases so that we can just get one out of an afternoon and warm it through.



Now I know a fish pie is a fish pie is a fish pie - it's one of those things that the internet is awash with - but this one is specifically dairy free and has a slightly sweet flavour from the Oatly and the nutmeg which appeals to a baby's taste buds. Well, it certainly appealed to Harry's.

Dairy free, Cornish hake fish pie

300g Cornish hake - boned and skined
250ml Oatly cream
1/4 cup frozen sweetcorn (or half and half peas and sweetcorn)
1 carrot finely diced
1 small red onion finely diced
2 handfuls fresh spinach, stalks removed and finely shredded
1 handful flat leaf parsley finely chopped
500g potato
Vitalite (or similar dairy free spread)
Plain flour
Nutmeg
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C
Peel, chop and cook the poatoes - then make mash, using Vitalite
In a saucepan poach the hake in about 100ml of the Oatly cream and 100ml of water
Add the carrot, sweetcorn (& peas if using). Simmer for about 10 minutes or untilthe fish is cooked through. I find if you give the pan a good stir a few times whilst it's cooking the fish breaks down into nice small flakes
Once this is cook, pop in a separate bowl while you use this pan to make a roux
Melt a dessert spoon of Vitalite, with the same amount of flour - mix over a low heat until it starts to sizzle - then add the rest of the Oatly cream.
Take off the heat and use the warmth of the pan to cook out the flour, stirring all the while to prevent lumps.
Add the fish and vegetables back in and give a good stir before adding a small grating of nutmeg and pepper.
Put the fish mixture in an ovenproof dish, top with the mashed potato and bake for 20 minutes until the top is crispy

I let this cool for about half an hour before serving Harry some up as we're still not keen on hot food as yet. He had this by itself - tipped on his tray and eaten with gusto. As you can see above.

So will you be switching your fish this month? Let me know if you do and if so what you cook with your free portion - I'm interested to hear!

This is a sponsored post in conjunction with Sainsburys

Dairy free puddings for a CMPA baby - rice pudding recipe

I've previously written a post on breakfast ideas for a CMPA baby - but lately our head scratcher has been puddings.

We mainly give Harry fruit for pudding - it's naturally dairy free, because I'm doing Slimming World we always have lots in and he is happy with it. However, because of our tricky start with weight gain owing to the undiagnosed CMPA fruit isn't great in terms of calorie density. Over the past 6 months I've experimented with the following:

• Refined sugar free banana muffins - I thought they were too dry, Harry loved them
• lots of coconut yoghurts - as per this post Coyo has been our favourite, but the poor love seems to have been coconut yoghurted out! 
• The occaisional rusk - I know they're full of sugar, but they're dairy free, portable and before Harry's teeth came through (oddly since the top 2 came in he's lost interest in them) he loved that he could suck them
• Fresh fruit - chopped up grapes, bananas (slightly constipating), dried prunes soaked in apple juice or water, blueberries, kiwi fruit, apple and pear slices have all been favourites. 
• Stewed fruit - prune, apple and pear is his absolute favourite - I've stirred this into yoghurt lots for him. I don't add sugar to this.
• Homemade wholemeal toast with almond butter and mashed banana

All of these can either be given as a loaded spoon, heaped onto the highchair tray to be eaten with fingers, or are already finger food.

Just lately a growth spurt and the onset of cruising and an odd, head-led crawl have meant that Harry's weight gain has slowed again. Keen to avoid the wrath of the Health visitor (a well known phenomenom in these parts) I thought we'd better up those calories so have been making individual portions of baked rice pudding.

We use Oatly creamy oat for rice puds - it has a mild taste and although the packet says it works like single cream, I've had no problems with it splitting.

Dairy free rice pudding (makes 4 baby-sized individual portions)

50g short grain or pudding rice
250ml carton of Oatly creamy oat (found in Waitrose or Holland & Barrett)
100ml almond milk (or whatever you use as a dairy free milk substitute. I have made this with nutramigen and whilst I thought it was disgusting Harry ate it quite happily)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Lots of grated nutmeg on top

You could add sugar, but I didn't as I prefer to not add sugar - if Harry had hated it I'd have made it again with about 10-15g but as it was, he was very happy with this

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees
Wash your rice until the water runs clear. I would never do this normally, but when I was asking around for recommendations everyone said to wash it!
Lightly oil (I used coconut) small individual pie pans - I use these ones from Lakeland 
In a jug, mix the rice, almond milk, Oatly and vanilla extract.
Separate the pudding between the four individual pans
Grate lots of nutmeg over the top - I have to say I went with my tastes on the nutmeg front and luckily Harry loved it- you might want to be a bit more cautious! 
Bake in the oven for half an hour, or until set with a bit of wobble

Allow to cool, tip out of the tin and either slice or break up as a baby led weaning pudding, or spoon feed if that's how you do things. I sometimes top it with some stewed fruit - but it does make a lot of mess! 

Next up on our pudding journey is going to be an attempt to recreate an amazing dairy free ice cream I had at a Lakeland summer event. I think I've found the recipe. I'm not sure I'll be sharing it with Harry though!

Weaning update #4 - our essentials

Weaning is going well in our household - from brocolli to bolognaise sauce, parsnips to pancakes most things are explored, worn, and eventually eaten. As is the way with baby led weaning, I'm not entirely sure how much is going in, and I'm OK with that. When I worry, I remember that he still has all of his breastfeeds that he did before (and sometimes some extra) and "food is fun until they're one"

I googled furiously before we started weaning, and put together a little kit of our essentials so thought I'd detail them below, in case they're useful to you. 

What I have noticed though is that we have some things that I have come to totally rely on - they've all been bought by us and I've whittled them down here to our essentials. Before you write a list or start shopping there are some other things we've had to develop too...

An aversion to mess - Seriously. If you don't have this. Develop it. If you're the sort of person who lives in a show home - be prepared for some serious cleaning. Although I'm typing this and someone will tell me just how clean and tidy their baby is at weaning and it'll be just mine who grins massively and lobs steamed sweet potato fingers at the newly decorated wall.

Antibacterial spray and j-cloths are your friend (Milton spray is currently on 3 for 2 at Sainsburys). Also, wipe things up while they're soggy if you can. For some reason steamed carrot sticks weld themselves to any available surface, and porridge becomes concrete like when cold. Seriously - it could be used as a building material on Grand Designs

Enthusiasm - whilst it might not seem thrilling if you or I happily chew on some apple, or suck enthusiastically on a strip of roast chicken, I think it's important that my baby knows how well he's doing. We also make sure to include Harry in conversation at mealtimes (when possible we all sit up to the table together). It's probably too early for much of it to sink in, but it's a habit we wanted to get into straightaway.  We also eat pretty much the same thing as Harry which I think helps him understand about eating as a family - it does mean that poor M is dairy and soya free when he doesn't have to be, but I encourage him to eat pizza when he can to make up for it.

Resilience - there are days when Harry refuses my lovingly cooked pancakes, or the dairy free yoghurt I've searched high and low for. And it's not personal, nor is it permanent. Much like you or I, Harry has days where he's just not as hungry and sometimes he needs to try things a couple of times. Sweet potato is a case in point - he hated it first time, but loves it now. In fact the only thing he repeatedly refuses is Weetabix.

Camera - your baby will dye himself purple with blueberries (yes, really. And I gave them to him twice because I didn't learn the first time) Or smother himself with bolognaise with such gusto that a jetwash inspired bath seems likely to be the only way to get him clean.  Whilst you might not want to share these with the world, I implore you to think ahead to the baby's 18th birthday and what wonderful decorations these will make.

Highchair - Originally we were going to get the Ikea Antilop highchair, but were able to choose a Christmas present, and decided to future proof a little way, with this chair from John Lewis that adapts to a toddler chair and table. Whatever you buy, make sure it's easy to clean!

Bowls and spoons -As I didn't have any plastic bowls we picked up some of the Tommee Tippee Explora ones - although marked as for 7 months plus, we've used them since the beginning. To be honest I mainly use the tray of the highchair, but rely on the bowls for porridge, porridge fingers and when we have stewed fruit.

Spoons - I initially got wrong - as we weren't going to do purees, these ones were a silly purchase as the handles are too long for Harry to use himself - I pre load spoons of porridge, bolognaise etc for him to aim at his face mouth. I ended up buying these ones, which are much easier for him to use.

Bibs -We were given lots of bibs when Harry was born that we hadn't really used, but quickly discovered that little bibs are of little or no use - the only way forward when your baby is intent on dying himself and everything around him purple is a long-sleeved, coverall bib.  Have I ever written on here about how much I love Aldi -  their baby event had 2 long sleeved bibs  for £2.99 - until then I'd only found them for £4.99 each.

Beakers -  Harry is a little baby and has difficulty lifting his beaker when it's full of water as it's too heavy and if it's half empty he struggles to lift it high enough to get the water out. He's not managing a Doidy cup yet either - although he is very good at watering the wall/ splash mat with it. We've implemented a hack to get around this and pop a mini tupperware container with it's lid on inside the beaker, then fill it up with water and put the lid on. Harry can then lift the cup and happily drinks without difficulty. I'm sure that bigger babies might not have this issue, but if you have a littly like me, it might just be useful. The hack comes courtesy of M - I knew there was a reason I married an engineer!

Splash mat -We didn't buy a splash mat - a few years ago I picked up an end of roll peice of pink oilcloth from Cath Kidston. It works perfectly. As would an old shower curtain, waterproof tablecloth... anything really. I guess what I'm saying is look around at what you have before you shell out for something expensive that's labelled up as a splash mat. 

They're our hints and tips - I'm no expert, and might be way off the mark for other babies, but these work for us and hopefully they'll work for you too.

Weaning breakfasts for a CMPI baby - pancakes, porridge fingers and frittatas

That's a bit of a mouthful for a post title, but to coin a phrase, it does what it says on the tin. I've been asked a few times lately what I give Harry for breakfasts given his allergies (dairy and soya). These are our go-to baby led weaning breakfasts at the moment, so I thought I'd do a summary post as a kind of touch point for anyone looking for inspiration generally or for CMPI babies specifically.

Harry is still breastfed, but following an appointment with the paediatrician where he commented on how run down and exhausted I looked, it was suggested that I give myself a break and instead of expressing every day, supplement with nutramigen. Anyone who knows me will know that I railed against mixed feeding in hospital - I really wanted to exclusively breastfeed, but after 6 months something had to give and supplementing with one bottle a night, and using formula for Harry's food hasn't been the end of the world. I'm still a bit sad and wish things were different, but he's doing really well and that's what's important. Not what I want, what's best for him.

I am now completely dairy and soya free, and the formula we're using is Nutramigen which we get on prescription. Harry is still sick on the formula, but nothing like he was before I was dairy free and he's rarely sick on breastmilk now.

Anyway, onto meals. Breakfasts are my favourite meal to do for Harry. I tend to stick with porridge and fruit for my breakfast so it's nice to be a bit creative with his. We rotate his options as I try to keep things interesting for him. Yes, I know I'm probably overthinking this.

Easy breakfasts: 

• Toast (read the ingredients) with Pure spread
• Fruit bread (read the ingredients) with Pure spread
• Ready brek made up with Nutramigen and half a small banana mashed in

 Cooked breakfasts:

• Porridge fingers - I've already posted the recipe I use for these. Harry loves them. Loves feeding himself with them and seems to really enjoy the variations. I've done sultanas, blueberries, just banana, and spiced them with cinammon, sweet mixed spice, or a little nutmeg. Again, we're using Nutramigen for these.
• Pancakes - I've posted the recipe I use for these on Instagram but see below for the details
• Frittatas - these are completely dairy free, and I pop in whatever we have in the fridge, so little bits of chopped ham (obviously watch salt intake if you're using ham), or cooked mushrooms are Harry's favourites. If I had some peppers I'd lightly fry those too. Recipe to follow in the next post. I'll add the link here.

 Fruity additions:

•  Half a banana - I think that Harry's not always keen on the taste of banana, but likes holding it and chomping on it.
• Pear slices - with pear I make sure it's nice and ripe, and I leave the skin on so he can hold it as Harry doesn't eat the skin, just sort of sucks the pear away from it
• Apple slices - I tend to eat Granny Smiths, or if I can find them at this time of year, Russets - Harry likes both of these, but likes to suck and chomp on Granny Smiths when his teeth are hurting him.
• Lightly stewed mixes of any of the above, but left lumpy so he can feed himself if I pre-load the spoon.  If I'm stewing the fruit I tend to do so in a little water and add some chopped prunes as apples especially can be quite tart and as I know that Harry has a sensitive tummy I don't want to aggravate it. He loves anything with prunes in!

Baby breakfast pancakes

I make a batch of these (around 11 from this much mix) at a time and freeze them, separated by squares of greaseproof paper so that I can grab one in the morning and pop it in the microwave to defrost while I drink my coffee and Harry and I have a little play.

For this recipe you will need: 

1 mug - any mug will do, but you need to use the same one
Frying pan - I use a non-stick one
Spatula
Whisk/ beaters/ stick blender

1 mug self raising flour
1 mug oat/ almond milk or your babies formula/ breastmilk
1 apple or pear grated
1 egg

In a big bowl, add the flour, milk, grated fruit and egg
Whisk together until bubbly
Put your non stick pan on the heat (I spray with fry light to get it started) and when warm add 2 tablespoons or so of mixture. I can fit three pancakes of this size in my pan
Cook until the top is bubbly, then use your spatula to flip them over, and again cook until bubbly.
I often cook each side again for a minute or so to make sure they're cooked through

Variations - we've added blueberries, slices of banana, and sultanas all with success.

January favourites

As another month passes, Harry gets bigger and our favourite things (sing with me) change. This month the cold, moving along our weaning journey and starting to sit up (yes, really!) have all prompted changes in the things both Harry and I reach for on a regular basis.

All these things have been purchased by us (or been presents from friends and family)

Tuppence and Crumble star wrap

I had seen pictures of babies in star wraps and thought 'how cute' long before Harry was born - however, I came to buy one because Harry needed another layer when in  the sling. Much like in the car seat, snowsuits aren't recommended when babywearning for safety reasons so I needed an alternative - which is when I remembered star wraps. Harry has a cornflower blue wrap and over Christmas we used it as a makeshift dressing gown when away from home, as well as an extra layer in the car or sling. He much prefers to his snowsuit as it's softer and he's more mobile in it, and aside from the cuteness factor I love the fact that it's far less of a battle to get him in it.

Bedtime bear

Bedtime bear (a little bear/ lovey/ comfort blanket) was a gift when Harry was born, and to be honest this could be any soft toy/ comforter as it's what we do not what it is that makes it a favourite. At our NCT group a friend's husband recommended putting soft toy in the cot/ crib that just lives there. Never leaves. Which is what we do with the thus named Bedtime bear. Harry loves seeing him when I put him in his cot/ crib - he rubs him on his face (no, I've no idea either) and after a little chunter to the bear settles himself down. Not every time - he's a real baby, not a pretend one. I like to think that Bedtime bear is a signal that it is bed/ nap time, and a friendly signal at that. I checked online, and guidance seems to be that babies shouldn't have anything in their moses basket/ crib/ cot until they're around 4 months - although I'm sure if you looked you could find contradictions to that as there's nothing like confusing and frightening new mums with contradictory guidance. Four months is about when Bedtime bear appeared in the cot.

Weaning supplies

Last time I was at my mum's, we popped to the local poundshop and stocked up on some of their weaning supplies, mini tubs and individual freezer pots have proved to be invaluable. They're all BPA free and dishwashable and are perfectly sized for a couple of rice cakes, or a portion of chicken and veggies. I use them every time we're out and about and they're cheap enough that if I do leave them somewhere in my sleep deprived state it's not the end of the world.

Bath toys

We were very lucky at Christmas and among other gifts Harry was given some bath toys - these include some penguin squirty toys from M&S (no longer on website) that we love - In part, thanks to his swimming, in the last couple of months Harry loves his baths and has made the connection between kicking and splashes. We now come out of bathtime just as soggy as him! Bath toys are his idea of heaven, and these squirty penguins make him splash and squeal in delight.

Weaning update #3 - fishcakes

We've been weaning Harry for a few weeks now, and I've started to think more widely than fruit and veggies. That said we did try baby rice and porridge but Harry turned his nose up at the former, and the latter ended up having milk on the ingredient list - a downfall of online shopping I'm finding.

Fruit and veggies have been a hit so far - everything has been sucked, chomped and liberally distributed around the dining room table (thank heavens for wipeable tablecloths) It's as though the control baby led weaning offers him is something he's embraced quite literally with both hands.

We've had a couple of gagging/ choking incidents which did for my nerves fairly swiftly, but I've pressed on as I don't want Harry to be the child in reception still eating purees because his mother's a nervous wreck. If you're weaning, or coming up to weaning there is a lot out there to read on the difference between the two and I would recommend it, as at first I panicked at gagging which I now know is unecessary.

Talking to my mum, she mentioned weaning me and said that my Grandad - he of this post  - gave her plaice to try me on as a first weaning food. Apparently I wasn't keen initially, but loved it the second time. I duly added some plaice to my online shop and last week cooked it up for Harry.

Baby fishcakes - dairy free

100g plaice fillet
2 baking potatoes, peeled
Olive oil

Boil the potatoes in water with no salt. When soft, rice them. Don't add any butter, milk etc - this is a recipe for a baby with a cows milk protein allergy.
Put the plaice fillet in a saucepan skin side down and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer until the fish is opaque - about 10 minutes.
Let the fish sit in the water until it's cool enough to handle - I gave it another 15 minutes, before removing it from the water and flaking the fish away from the skin. (I took this opportunity to do another check for bones)
Mix the flaked fish in with the riced potato and use a little of the fish cooking water to bring the two ingredients together. You could also use a little rice/ almond/ breast milk
Split the fish and potato mix up into little patties - about a heaped dessert spoon of mix in each one. If they're not already cold, put them into the fridge to firm up.
Heat up the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the fishcakes until browned on both sides. Remove from the heat and let them cool before freezing.

I froze mine on a tray so that when they were solid I could tip them into a freezer bag and just take them out to reheat when we wanted one. When Harry's further on in his weaning I'd add something like parsley - but for now what was important was the 2 ingredients, that it was holdable (it's a word) by Harry and that it wasn't complete mush - hence the fish was just flaked.

Meal Planning Monday: A thrifty Advent

Hello there, we've had a few weeks hiatus on the meal planning front. Since we went dairy free to help Harry's reflux, I've stuck to the same few recipes as I realised quite quickly just how much I relied on dairy products in my cooking. Whilst I wouldn't change how I'm eating for all the world as Harry's just so much better, I've kind of lost much in the way of impetus for cooking.

This week the run up to Christmas has hit home - we've scaled back our Christmas plans this year as I'm on Mat leave still, but even so we're still watching the pennies. This has meant that once again, we're having a week of freezer surprises. Albeit planned freezer surprises.

Harry's now having two meals a day - his breakfast tends to be a little bit of porridge or toast, with some fruit. and his lunch is either steamed veggies, fruit, or most excitingly... plaice fish cakes.

Breakfasts - I'm having porridge with oat milk which is surprisingly neutral in taste.

Lunches - tend to be whatever's hanging around. Eggs feature quite heavily.

Suppers -

Monday: Baked potatoes with leftover ham in coca-cola, cheese, bacon, beans (fridge surprise basically)

Tuesday: Chicken and mushroom risotto (freezer)

Wednesday: Cottage pie/ lasagne (freezer)

Thursday: Parsnip and pancetta pasta

Friday: There are two unlabelled tupperwares of red mystery leftovers in the freezer. I'm tempted but not sure how brave I actually am.

Saturday: I've got a portion of brisket frozen to slow cook, and I think I'll put that on when we get back from swimming to have as a roast dinner that evening

Sunday: Leftover brisket with baked potatoes

That's our week - a thrifty run up to Christmas in a bid to spend a very little money and also make some space in the freezer for my much loved and looked forward to turkey soup!

Meal Planning Monday: the heating's on

We caved last week - my summertime obsession about the baby overheating has switched (much like the weather) into an obsession about him being too cold. Which is hard when he wriggles his socks and hat off, and screams the house down if you try and shoehorn him into a cardi or jumper. Blankets and heating it is then.

Unsurprisingly there's another casserole in the oven as I type, and dumplings ready to be popped in before too much longer. This weather just seems to call for tender, slow cooked meat in rich winey gravies with lots of root veggies. Full marks to Aldi for their Super 6 this week being fantastic for said casserole.

The weaning is... shall we say interesting? Some days the baby rice stays down and seems to have the same effect on Harry's milk, on other days it doesn't seem to make a blind bit of difference. I'm keeping on, and just hoping for the best.

Breakfasts - we're back on porridge, with chopped up banana

Lunches - I'm randomly trying to use up some halloumi that's languishing in the fridge so - griddled halloumi and houmous in pitta bread with carrot and cucumber sticks

Dinners -

Monday: Leftover beef casserole with mashed potatoes and broccoli

Tuesday: Courgetti spaghetti

Wednesday: Chilli con carne (freezer) with rice

Thursday: Chicken casserole with baked potatoes

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Pesto & pecorino salmon with sweet potato wedges and veggies

Sunday: Slow cooked beef brisket

Lots of comfy, cosy food for chillier evenings here. What goes on your menu when the weather changes?

Weaning - intial thoughts and decisions

I don't think I've mentioned it on here as yet, but Harry has reflux - it's very common in premature babies and to do with an immature muscle at the top of their tummy. We've tried Gaviscon (caused constipation) and are currently on Ranitidine, which is helping with the acid but not the vomitting. There are more meds for us to try but the paediatrician suggested we try early weaning as an alternative.

People have commented about how calm I've been since Harry was born, how in control - in actual fact I'm channeling a a swan and staying in control by paddling furiously under the surface. One thing I wasn't prepared for about motherhood was just how many decisions you have to make, how responsible you are for another person. Sometimes those decisions overwhelm me, it feels like there's just too many, that they're just too big. I'm lucky to have M by my side, but still it feels like the weight of those choices presses on me.

Early weaning is one of those decisions - in my head we weren't going to think about weaning until six months, possibly even correcting by six weeks. My milk supply is stable, Harry is putting on weight, albeit slowly - but the reflux is something we can't ignore. So last week, I logged into Amazon, bought a couple of books and have spent the weekend reading up - I didn't really know the first thing, not even the difference between baby led weaning, and purees.

Oddly, if you'd have asked me as soon as a few weeks ago I'd have guessed I would be in favour of Baby led weaning. However, the fact that we're starting early has meant that purees seem to be the way forward for us. So, for the next 6 weeks we're going to be entering the world of the puree. Starting with a couple of teaspoons of baby rice, made up with my breast milk, we'll be moving on to vegetable and fruit purees in a couple of weeks. The vague plan I have in my head is to start involving finger food and moving towards more baby led elements when Harry can sit up more easily and we're using the high chair and eating around the table, so I guess in reality we're doing a combination of Baby led and puree based weaning.

Reading up and learning about weaning has been interesting and enlightening - I'll certainly be keeping you up-to-date on the blog about our progress and recipes and foods that prove to be a winner for Harry as well as updating my Meal planning Monday posts.

Meal Planning Monday: not just the grown ups?!

This week our meal plan is fairly simple, our budget and belt are a bit tighter than previously owing to the wildly generous* SMP payments from the government. No, really. The other reason for this simplicity is my new reading matter which all centres around weaning. For lots of reasons - post to follow - we're going to be weaning Harry early and I'm at once wildly terrified and excited. How on earth can a baby born six weeks early be ready for actual food seventeen weeks later?

Anyway, nerves and learning about Baby led versus purees aside here's this weeks meal plan

Breakfasts - I'm having grape nuts and banana for me, along with tea and a slice of toast that M brings me while I'm doing my first feed of the day (usually around 5.30)

Lunches - either pate and ryvita or houmous and ryvita with cherry tomatoes - that craving from pregnancy has not gone away.

Dinners - I roasted a chicken yesterday so that kicks the week off for me both easily and thriftily

Monday: Leftover roast chicken with baked potatoes, corn on the cob, peas and carrots

Tuesday: Chicken, mushroom and pea risotto

Wednesday: Leftover risotto

Thursday: Chilli and rice bowls (chilli and rice in a bowl with avocado, cheese and natural yoghurt)

Friday: We're out for the day for M's birthday treat from a good friend, so leftover chilli in burritos with sweet potato wedges.

We've got a wedding to attend next weekend, so I'm leaving meals fairly free and easy for then and then the big weaning experiment begins. Stay tuned...