Obviously, you can serve pretty much any cereal which isn’t too high in sugar, but I would like to just make a special mention of raisin Mini-Wheats or Toppas. These do not contain any added sugar, and little ones can eat them by themselves with their hands – you just soak them in milk until they’re a bit squidgy. My ds will happily pick at a bowl of them next to his usual breakfast of toast or roll with jam.

Another big hit recently has been honey pops – puffed wheat with honey. I serve them in a bowl either dry or with a splash of milk. Ds eats them with his hands, or has attempted to go in with a spoon (better when they’re slightly sticky with the milk).

This is adapted from a recipe in the Sainsbury’s Magazine. It’s not at all difficult, tastes fab, and probably counts as one of my son’s favourite dinners!

Ingredients

• 1 pack soft cream cheese
• some fresh or dried dill
• large handful spinach (fresh or frozen)
• 5 or 6 skinless, boneless salmon fillets
• 2 packs of fresh puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Lightly cook the spinach (I usually do it in the microwave) and then squeeze excess water out with your hands
2. Mix the cream cheese with dill and add freshly ground pepper to taste.
3. Roll out the pasty, cut it into squares or rectangles each of which must be big enough for one salmon fillet NB I usually do 2 smaller ones for my ds with half a salmon fillet in each
4. Place a salmon fillet on each pastry square, top with spinach and then a good blob of the cream cheese mixture.
5. Fold the corners of the pastry together to make a parcel.
6. Brush with the beaten egg.
7. Chill in the refridgerator for 30 mins.
8. In the mean time, heat the oven to 220°C.
9. Poke a couple of steam holes in each parcel, then bake on a foil-lined tray on the top shelf of the oven for about 20 mins, until golden.

I usually cut the little parcel for ds up into 4 pieces, which makes it easier for him to eat (sometimes he uses his hands, sometimes he’ll eat off a pre-loaded fork) and cools it down quicker.

You can serve them with a vegetable on the side – both steamed green beans or broccoli go very well.

These are also excellent eaten cold the next day for lunch!

This is my standard tomato sauce which goes perfectly with all types of pasta and gnocchi. You could make up a bit more of it and freeze it so it’s handy for a really quick and easy supper.

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 1 tin or carton passata
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp mixed dried herbs
• 1 tbsp paprika puree (or tomato puree)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tsp paprika (not spicy)
• 1 tsp dried vegetable stock
• 1/2 tsp sugar or honey (optional)
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. In a saucepan, fry the onion in a little olive oil until soft.
2. Stir in the garlic and herbs and fry for another minute.
3. Add all the other ingredients (except sugar or honey), stir well and turn heat down to medium low.
4. Taste to see whether it need the sugar/honey, depending on whether the passata is a little bit acidic or not.
5. Cover and cook on a low heat for 20 mins, stirring occasionally.
6. Taste again to check for seasoning.
7. Cook for a further 10 mins to allow to thicken slightly.

Pasta is an ideal BLW food, but we had to experiment quite a bit before we found shapes which were easy to hold. Some babies will happily pick up anything, including things like spaghetti and noodles, but my son was a bit more particular and wanted things that he could hold “properly”.

So here, thanks to the benefit of our experience, are our top pasta shapes:

• 
  tortiglioni
• 
  tortellini
• 
  rigatoni
• 
  penne (specifically, penne rigate)
• 
  tortellni
• 
  fusilli
• 
  elbow macaroni
• 
  gnocchi
• 
  schupfnudeln

I know the last two aren’t really pasta, as they are made of a potato dough, but I tend to think of them as being in the pasta group of foods, so I’ve stuck them in here.

These are, without doubt, the best and easiest meatballs I’ve ever made. We all love them, and they make a fairly quick but very tasty evening meal when served with tomato sauce and pasta.

Ingredients

• 650g minced meat (beef or half/half beef and pork)
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp mixed dried herbs
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 3 – 6 tbsp very fine dried breadcrumbs
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 200°C
2. Mix all the ingredients together, except the breadcrumbs.
3. Add these a tablespoon at a time, until you have a mixture which is sticky but not too wet.
4. Line a baking tray with non-stick foil
5. Using your hands, form the mixture into about 25 – 30 firm meatballs, each roughly the size of a ping-pong ball (or large walnut or whatever)
6. Place the meatballs on the tray and bake for 20mins until nicely browned.

This is an absolute dinner hit, and can be eaten cold for lunch the next day too. The amount you make will depend if you’re cooking for adults too.

Ingredients

• 2 – 4 chicken breasts or turkey
• fine white flour (around 4 tablespoons or so)
• very fine dried breadcrumbs (if you buy them and they aren’t fine enough, give them a whizz in the food processor – they really should be like cornmeal)
• teaspoon of mixed herbs
• teaspoon of red paprika
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 egg
• milk
• oil for frying (preferably rape seed oil, which gives a lovely, slightly nutty flavour, a beautiful golden colour, and is good for you too!)

Method

1. Cut each chicken breast in half (do the same with the turkey) and then, using a meat hammer, bash the hell out of it until it is really thin – half a cm. is ideal. Obviously, each schnitzel will get bigger as you bash it, so you may need to cut them in half again (you want to be able to fit them into a frying pan)
2. Prepare the coatings: put the flour in a dish, then the egg mixed with a little milk, then the breadcrumbs mixed with the herbs, paprika and pepper
3. Take a piece of the flattened chicken, coat it with flour, then dip in the egg mixture, and finally in the breadcrumbs, making sure both sides are nice and evenly covered.
4. While you’re doing all of them, heat enough oil to generously cover the bottom of a heavy frying pan. It should be quite hot, but not smoking!
5. Fry the schnitzels, a couple at a time (depending how many fit into the frying pan, obviously). They will need a few minutes on each side. Watch that they don’t burn (if necessary, turn the heat down). They should be a gorgeous golden colour.
6. Put them on kitchen roll to soak up any excess oil.
7. I keep them them in a warm oven (50°) until I’ve done the lot.

I usually cut up the schnitzel for ds into handy sized portions, around the size of a typical chicken nugget.
These taste excellent cold the next day, for lunch.

This turned out to be a real hit, and not only with ds. I usually make a trayful and we have it for lunch for a couple of days.

Ingredients

• a small onion, finely chopped
• clove of garlic, crushed
• approx. 50g fresh or frozen spinach
• approx. 25g parmesan, grated
• approx. 25g cheddar, grated
• 80g polenta
• butter or oil for frying
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Heat oil or butter in frying pan and fry onion until softened.
2. Add garlic and spinach and fry for a few minutes
3. Remove from heat and set aside
4. Cook polenta according to instructions (it should be thick rather than thin)
5. Stir in the onion and spinach mixture, the cheeses and pepper.
6. Line a small baking tin (mine is about 25 x 22cm) with baking parchement and lightly grease the sides with oil or butter
7. Pour the polenta mixture in and spread it out evenly
8. Leave to cool completely (I usually leave it in the fridge overnight and then continue the next day when I need it)
9. When cool, turn it out and cut into thick fingers or slices.
10. Arrange on a baking sheet, brush with a little olive oil and grill under a hot grill for about 5 mins on each side until light brown and crisp
11. Serve when slightly cooled down

These also taste great cold or heated up for a moment in the microwave.

Variation

• only using strong, mature cheddar
• finely sliced broccoli, mushrooms and onions
• leaving out the garlic, but adding a spoonful of whole grain mustard and some dried mixed herbs

Part 1 because I’m sure there will be more coming, but for the moment, here are some ideas of what to put in them:

• cream cheese and thinly sliced cucumber (always a winner, this one)
• mushroom pate (see Toast post (!) for more details on this)
• cheese (slices)
• cheese (slices) and ham (this is also nice lightly toasted so that the cheese melts and helps stick everything together)

Acutally, that’s about it for us and sandwiches so far. The problem is that ds tends to pull apart the bread to see what’s in it (and to generally play around with it a bit), so whatever goes into our sandwiches has to have one overriding quality, and that is STICKINESS.

I usually use sliced bread (like for making toast), white or brown, but sometimes I’ll use normal loaf. Ds seems to like both equally well. I cut into triangles or small-sized sandwiches, easy for him to hold and take bites out of. The bigger the sandwich, the less chance there is of it staying together.

Yes, yes, of course you know how to make toast, I haven’t gone completely mad. Here are just a few ideas of what to put on it and how to serve it up, you know, for inspiration.

• cream cheese – an absolute favourite, even when teething and not wanting to eat anything else
• marmite and butter – for the ultimate savoury kick
• mushroom pate – we get a particularly tasty one from alnatura, so I’ve never actually tried making my own, but if I ever do, I’ll post the recipe here
• jam and butter - interestingly, ds has shown that he does have preferences when it comes to jam, sour cherry being the favourite
• fruit spreads - again, we were able to get a selection from alnatura, but basically is was just lightly cooked and pureed fruit, the apple and banana being the tastiest (also fab on pancakes!)
• avocado  – yes, really. Make sure it’s very ripe and then spread away. Also very nice in combination with cream cheese.

We cut the toast into triangles – perfect to hold, and not too much at once.
And we use both white and brown sliced bread, though we all prefer the white.