Recipe: Spinach Ricotta Pasta Bake

A while ago my pal posted the cutest picture of her little dude completely covered in spinach.  She had given him pasta with spinach and he had pretty much devoured the pasta while spreading the spinach all over his face. It was so sweet.  I was reminded of her gorgeous picture when MiniMe had some Tuna Pasta Bake over the weekend and quickly planned to make her a ricotta spinach casserole during the week.

Until now MiniMe hasn't manged gumming pasta very well. She does well with ravioli and other fresh pastas, since it is so much thinner, but the dried stuff has always been too tough for her...until now.  Cooked in a casserole the pasta is very soft, and we can easily cut it into manageable sized pieces for her. 

To feed 2 greedy adults and 1 little munchkin with some leftover for an adult snack or little one's meal the next day...

Wash and wilt 200g of baby spinach (don't need oil, the spinach will wilt with the water on the leaves from being washed).  Once cooled chop finely, this way you don't need to spend time breaking off the stems from the spinach leaves.  Put the spinach in a bowl large enough to hold the cooked pasta and sauce.  Cook 500g pasta or your choice, we used shells because they are easier for MiniMe to gum.  While the pasta is cooking mix a 250g tub of ricotta into the spinach and add a good pinch of black pepper and a handful of grated parmsean cheese.  When the pasta is almost done cooking scoop out about a cup of the cooking water. Add this a couple of Tbsp at a time to the spinach mixture to loosen the sauce, to your liking. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add to spinach mix. Combine and pour pasta into an appropriately sized oven proof dish. At this point top with grated cheddar and put under a hot grill until cheese is bubbly and melted, or let pasta cool in your dish and refridgerate until dinner time (you know, if you have time to make it in the morning while your little one naps). When you are ready to heat it up, top with grated cheese and cover with foil, pop into the oven at about 180c until the casserole is warmed through, about 30 mins. Take foil off and continue to cook until the cheese is bubbling and golden.  

It seems like a lot of steps, but I was able to throw this together AND clean up in the time MiniMe napped yesterday, so it is really is a quick dish.  

Recipe: Broccoli Cheese Bites

We think MiniMe is a pretty good eater, she happily chows down on most of what we offer her and when we look back over the past 10ish weeks it is amazing to think how well she has progressed.  Those first few weeks feel like ages ago, and at that point it felt like she was never going to actually swallow anything...but now she is picking up bite sized pieces, confidently gumming them down and swallowing.  Sure there is still a good amount if gagging, but we put that down to her being the product of two very greedy parents...it was inevitable that she would want to shove whole pieces if fruit, bread, chicken in her mouth.  Since we've been cutting her food into bite sized pieces she's been gagging less.

Broccoli still gets the stink eye...even after all this time...it is not received well.  I don't get it, broccoli seems to a firm favourite of so many babes just starting weaning...so why is MiniMe avoiding it like the plague? Who knows.  I am not that concerned, really, but I can't help thinking about all those good vitamens and nutrients she's missing out on by avoiding broccoli.  Silly, I know, since she eats loads of other great veg but I just can't help myself.  

So I searched Pinterest for some broccoli inspiration and came across a huge selection of recipes for cheesy broccoli patties...problem solved. 

250g Broccoli cooked and finely chopped, 100g cheddar cheese grated, 1/2cup breadcrumbs,1 or 2 eggs ( depending on size, start with 1 and see how moist it makes the mixture) and a pinch of paprika....mix it all together, form into patties and bake on a lined baking sheet at 180C for about 25 mins or until golden.  MiniMe happily munched away on bite sized pieces of these patties at room temperature and also straight from the fridge...she didn't have ketchup...I did though! 

Bite Sized Pieces

Over the last month MiniMe has become more and more confident in feeding herself and ripping, tearing, gumming and chewing.  I'm sure she is still trying to swallow pieces of food that are too big and I think that she has been gagging more now than she did at the beginning.  She is obviously more comfortable and confident and is actually shoving as much as possible into her mouth as she can (like a whole  half of a crumpet) and then whinging and whining that it is too much...without figuring out that she could just open that little mouth and spit it out.

She has also been getting better at picking up smaller pieces and bits of food and getting them into her mouth.  No sign of the pincer grip yet though, she has just figured out how to open her fist in front of her mouth and shove her food into it.  

I've started cutting her food into smaller, bitesized pieces for her.  I am trying to contiue to offer some longer pieces of fruit and veg along side the cut up pieces to give her the option.  It is early days but there has been less gagging over the past few days. 

We are now 2 months into eating solids and MiniMe is certainly doing well.  There are some foods that she still aviods...broccoli and carrots, and some things she just can't cope with...pasta, but in general she is keen to try anything we put in front of her.  

This week we are going to try some cheesy brocolli bites to see if she can be fooled into eating it, as well as some tuna cakes.  We continue to combination feed foods spoonfed along with a selection of finger foods.  It is working well for us, and her.  

Recipe: Cottage Cheese Pancakes

I bought a huge container of cottage cheese last week to share with MiniMe.  She seems to really like it and I am convinced that the combination of the smooth cream with the curds is a good thing for her.  We usually spoonfeed some with lunch or dinner (also good mixed with scrambled egg or through pasta) along with finger foods but while trawling Pinterest a while back I came across some great looking pancake recipes using Cottage Cheese.  

While we were visiting The Grandparents last month I made some but they were too eggy...and weren't even given a second glance.  I enjoyed them, but when I think about it MiniMe obviously wasn't ready for something like a pancake.  A month later, however, her chewing, ripping, and tearing skills are much better, and she can grab smaller pieces and manage to get them into her mouth.  

I love this recipe for cottage cheese pancakes from babybabkas.com, it is simple and I easily adapted it for MiniMe.  

I have a really good quality non-stick frying pan so I don't bother using butter in the pan to cook pancakes.  For me, they just end up greasy.  This recipe makes about 8-10 pancakes that are the perfect size for little hands.  Once cooled layer inbetween greaseproof paper and then wrap in clingfilm to freeze.  They defrost quickly or you can always warm them in the toaster.  

In a bowl combine 1/2 cup plain flour, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and a pinch if cinnamon. In a measuring jug combine 1/2cup cottage cheese, 1/4 cup whole milk, 1 tbsp oil, and 1 egg.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix until just combined.  Heat up your frying pan (use some butter to grease it if you want) and dollop a Tbsp of the mixture onto the pan at a time.  Flip when little bubbles appear on the surface and the bottom is nicely browned.  Cook for a couple of minutes on the other side and then remove from the pan to a clean tea towel to cool.  Continue until all of the batter has been used.  

I usually cut MiniMe's pancake in quarters for her. She is able to get smaller bite sized pieces into her mouth now.  If I handed it to her whole she would most likely shove the whole thing in her mouth.  Apparently that is common so I just try to avoid it if I can remeber.  

Recipe: Quiona Bites

Now that MiniMe has started getting the hang of chewing, ripping, and tearing her food (even with no teeth) I have gotten way more confident and comfortable in the foods that I am offering her.  The past couple of weeks I've been able to offer her more and more of the foods that we are eating without having to really think about it but there have still been times when I've had to make her something different, like when have homemade pizza.  Even though I did offer her a piece of pizza I felt that she needed more options...cucumber, yogurt, plum, sweet potato...it is ok for me and Dad to dine only on pizza but not for MiniMe (yet).  This week I decided to make up a batch of something savoury that I could pop into the freezer and havevas a stand-by for those days when I've just not got it together.  

Over the past few months I've been compiling a selection of possible recipes over on Pinterest...mini muffin tin recipes, freezable snacks, stuff like that.  I've been waiting to make MiniMe a version of these Quinoa bites for a while.  Quinoa is cramed full of goodness and binds really well...making it perfect for little savoury muffins.  

I halved the original recipe and then tweaked it abit (I really can't help myself) and managed to get 12 mini muffins and 4 mini loaves out of the mixture.  MiniMe tried a muffin bute at dinner and gobbled the whole thing up.  They are soft enough to gum, easy to hold, and obvuiosly pretty tasty! 

Here's what I did...

In a large bowl grate 1 medium carrot, 1 small courgette and about 100g of cheddar cheese. Add in 1 cup cooked Quinoa, 2 medium eggs and 2 Tbsp of flour.  Mix really well.  Grease your mini muffin tin/baking dish/loaf tins and press in mixture.  Really pack it in. Bake in a 180 C oven for about 20-30 mins until edges are crisping and you can just prise it away from edge of tin.  Allow to cool completely before removing from tins.  Serve at room temperature.  

If you don't have mini muffin tins or mini loaf pans try baking it in a lined square cake tin and then slicing into squares.  

Once cooled I put the bites in a bag in the freezer to use as needed, hope they continue to be enjoyed! 

Breakfast with MiniMe

We have hit week 6 of our adventure with solids, and for the most part MiniMe is really enjoying this new experience.  Sure, she still hasn't given broccoli a second glance (even mashed and mixed with sweet potatoes she shunned it) but she is now picking up and devouring chunks of banana and will give almost everything we put down in front her a try.  She makes exaggerated chewing motions, and is getting better at finishing huge mouthfuls before ramming some more in.  Also, in the past 2 days, or so, she is able to open her fist up a bit to get at the ends of whatever is in her hand.

When we started out I was trying to offer her something at every meal. I wasn't that worried if it was touched or played with or if it made its way to her mouth, I just wanted her to get used to the ritual of sitting up at the table, eating and talking, together.  In the beginning she wasn't too interested in breakfast...I don't know if it was because we were trying to eat too close to her waking up and nursing, or if she was still a little dopey from being asleep...but she wasn't even interested in picking things up.  

Over the last three weeks I've tried to be more aware of when we are having breakfast in relation to her last milk feed.  It is difficult.  Some days MiniMe nurses between 6 and 6:30 and then dozes for an hour or so. On these days we have breakfast about 30 mins after waking up and she will happily eat everything I offer her. On other days she will sleep through the 6:30ish feed and wake around 7:30 starving, nurse and then won't touch her breakfast an hour later, by which time I am starving! 

Regardless of her nursing time I still like to offer her a full breakfast on the off chance that she might all of a sudden be starving.  Sadly, I am just not able to read her signs yet.  

Anyway, here are a selection of breakfasts we gave had over the past couple of weeks.  Since we are combination feeding I always offer MiniMe something that I can spoonfeed her and some finger foods so she can also self feed.  The biggest change is her sudden u-turn with banana.  She is happily picking it up and shoving it in her face, so no need to mash it up any longer! 

Porridge made with water and stewed cherries and blueberries.  This was a big hit.  I wasn't confident with giving MiniMe the fruit yet, even cut up,so I mashed it and she had porridge with all the juices. 

Oatibix with banana (mashed for MiniMe) with buttered crumpet and coffee for Mum.  I read somewhere, I can't remember where, that crumpets are a better finger food to offer than toast at this stage because they don't compress the way toast does in the mouth and are easier to gum.  MiniMe loves them and they are also easier for her to hold.  

We slept in very late one day after a particularily horrible night so MiniMe and I had a lovely brunch of tomato and cheese omelette, cottage cheese (to spoonfeed), cucumber and toast.  Sometimes I hold the piece of omelette for her to bite a bit off of, sometimes she happily picks it up herself, every day is different.  

Porridge made with water, mashed banana and milk for MiniMe and brown sugar and cinnamon for Mum, toast and crumpets, and the manditory coffee.  The mashed banana was the only bit of fruit in the house that morning and while MiniMe was happily picking banana up by this point I didn't want it ending up on the floor.  

Blueberry yogurt, banana, and peanut butter on crumpet.  We started out giving MiniMe plain full fat greek yogurt, and she seemed happy with it, but after a few weeks I did a little bit of research and decided that the organic full fat fruit yogurt Dad and I liked didn't have much added sugar (especially for the amount MiniMe was eating) so we have been giving her the same stuff we eat for a few weeks now.  She tried peanut butter on her crumpet that day.  We have no history of allergies and I made sure not to offer any other new foods on the same day...and all was fine...phew.  

Now that MiniMe is eating more and is much more capeable chewing and holding different foods we are finding it much easier sharing what we are eating with her.  

What are some of your favorite breakfast foods? 

A Progress Report, A Confession and A Revelation

7 weeks into our weaning adventure and we are continually amazed at MiniMe's eating.  Sure, some days I feel like we are doing something wrong and I am going to end up giving her some sort of food complex but for the most part those days are few and far between.  It is hard not to second guess our choices and to compare MiniMe to other babies her age, or all those just starting out and stuffing whole sweet potatoes in their mouths on day 1.  I have to stop myself from constantly saying " why is she still not doing that?" And remind myself that in 7 weeks she has made so much progress.

We (read I) have come to accept that combination feeding is the best route for us and that MiniMe is more than happy to self feed chunks of fruit and toast and some veggies.  Sure she is still avoiding broccoli like the plague, but actually picked up and devoured most of half of a banana the other afternoon as a "snack".  She happily accepts spoons of yogurt, soup, porridge and mashed sweet potatoes and clearly shows us when she has had enough by turning her face away and keeping that little mouth clamped tighter than Fort Knox.  This morning she ate a good portion of scrambled eggs with a little help from dad holding chunks for her to gum bits off of, that is huge progress.  

Little events like this morning's scrambled egg adventure restores my faith in us as parents, it makes me proud of all of us, it helps me remember that MiniMe is her own little person, she is new to all this and is really coming along at her own pace.  Watching her gum down a frightenly huge chunk of melon reminds me of how incredible this journey we are on really is.  

Sure I still dream of the day she'll eat her way through a slice of lasagne, but I am happy with where we are.  This learning process is an experiement and we are doing just fine.  

On the Road Weaning: Week 5

I haven't bothered writing anything separate for our 4th week of weaning.  MiniMe had a horrible cold, and then a fever and then a rash.  She wasn't interested in eating or nursing or much of anything, really.  I did continue to offer her things like toast and yogurt over the week, but only once a day if she was in good spirits.  Poor thing, it really knocked her for six...and totally screwed up all the progress we had made with weaning.  And to top it all off, we had a visit from the health visitor where we found out the MiniMe had dropped down another percentile on the weight chart...ugh.

She's never been a great feeder, and although she is very active she doesn't seem to want to eat for any longer than is entirely necessary...so she already had that against her, and then when I mentioned that we had only started weaning at 6 months and were trying mostly Baby Led Weaning, the Health Visitor told us that because MiniMe's weight gain wasn't steady and because she isn't a great feeder it was important to be more aware of how much solid food she was actually ingesting.  She said that she liked Baby Led Weaning and she didn't want to discourage me, but that if I was already trying some combination feeding that I really should try to spoon feed MiniMe yogurt or soup once a day...that way we could guarantee she was taking on at least those calories. And to offer her 3 meals, instead of the 2 I was already doing. All fine with me, really.

Week 5

The day following that visit we flew down to Norfolk to spend some time with the Grandparents.  They were really onboard with the whole finger food thing and totally prepared for the mess, which was really nice for me...made meal times less stressful.  Sticking with the advice we had been given I spent some time making a batch of carrot soup to freeze in an ice cube tray so that we were prepared for MiniMe's meals, and stocked up on some yogurt, cottage cheese and some fruits.  

When we visit The Grandparents we tend to go on lots of day trips so most of the meals at home consist of nibbles for the adults.  It wasn't ideal really in terms of wanting MiniMe to eat what we were eating, but she did manage some good salad plates of veggies, hummus and cheese.  Eating out was another experience, and despite having problems with most high chairs, she managed to nibble on little bits of my meals.  I only found it difficult once to find something appropriate to share on the menu, and when I mentioned to the waitress that I had found it hard she offered to bring MiniMe some toast...which was really nice of her.  In the end, though, MiniMe ended up sucking and gnawing on the pickled cucumber that sat atop my burger! 

This week plums and kiwi fruit were a big hit.  Totally messy, but a big hit. She can easily hold a quarter of a plum or kiwi and use her gums to scrape out the flesh from the inside.  Apples and cucumber were great to gnaw on and massage her gums, and she loved sucking hummus off the ends of bread sticks. 

We introduced meat this week as well, roasted chicken thigh shredded and some lovely lemon chicken breasts shredded too.  MiniMe couldn't get the meat into her mouth so I popped pieces in for her.  I know that I have read about not putting food in a baby's mouth for fear of chocking, but she was very good at gumming the bits I helped her get into her mouth.  She also loved the bolognaise sauce in her piece of lasagne.  

I fed her yogurt or soup everyday, sometimes both in one day...MiniMe is very happy for me to spoon feed her now, and has actually become less interested in picking up the finger foods we offer her.  She is very happy to pick up plums, kiwi, bread sticks, and toast but is less interested in anything that is too wet, or gooey or sticky.  She certainly isn't interested in licking anything off her hands if they get mucky.  

I think it is safe to say we are combination feeding, and happy about that.  

The Pre-Loaded SPOON

We weren't sure how we were going to tackle food that needs to be eaten with a spoon.  I had been keen to try to spoon feed SOME things to MiniMe in the hopes that when we are out and about (or on a 13 hour plane journey) she will happily let me feed her.  Most of my friends who have  gone down the Baby Led Weaning route have combined it with spoon feeding, in fact it seems to be pretty common in parents who aren't hard core BLW-ers. 

How do those BLW babies eat soup you ask? off toast...and yogurt? off apple slices...or off a pre-loaded spoon.  A SPOON THAT YOU "LOAD" with whatever the spoonable food is and hand over to your baby.  

Combination feeding was the route I was sure we were going to go down. I wasn't too keen on the idea of handing MiniMe a spoon "pre-loaded" with anything...it sounded like I was handing her some automatic weapon.  A messy soup flinging weapon. 

MiniMe had other ideas.  During our first week weaning we offered her some soup with toast fingers, but tried spoon feeding her the soup first.  That little mouth stayed clamped shut...no amount of silly faces pulled by Dad could make it open.  So we dipped her toasts and those made their way to her mouth...like immediately. 

Week 2 we introduced yogurt and tried spoon feeding her again...again that little mouth was cemented closed.  I couldn't stomach the idea of dipping her toast in the yogurt (gag gag gag) so I decided to give the pre-loaded spoon a try.  

All I did was smear a bit of yoghurt on the back and front of the spoon and hand it to her.  She started banging it around on the tray and then tried to get it into her mouth.  She was holding it far too far down the handle, so the yogurt ended up all over her face...her expression was priceless WHO PUT THIS MUCK ON MY PLASTIC TOY??? But, after loading it again and helping her to hold it closer up the handle the yogurt made its way into her mouth.

We tried a few spoonfuls and she obligingly tasted it every time.  It was messy, more was smeared across the tray and up and down her arms...but it worked. And the best bit, she was happily trying it, unlike when we tried to do it for her.

I'd still like her to let me feed her, just so that I know I can if I feel the need to, and maybe that will come in time when she begins to understand what the MUCK on the end of the spoon is.  For now, though, I'm a convert to the pre-loaded spoon.

Getting Ready...

Last week I attended a weaning talk at the local baby clinic.  I only knew about it because the baby nurse had mentioned it when we were in getting MiniMe weighed before Christmas.  Actually, when we were there before Christmas she asked if we were staying for the weaning talk she was doing that day (which I didn't know about).  I wasn't really prepared to, at that point, so she said to come along to the one in the new year.  

Along we bumbled.  A few mums from my antenatal group were there getting their babies (born before MiniMe) weighed and when I asked if they were staying for the weaning talk they told me they had (all) already been to a talk and, besides, they were (all) already weaning.  That didn't really phase me. MiniMe is the youngest baby in the group anyway.  What I wasn't prepared for was for her to be the OLDEST at the weaning talk.  The baby nurse was actually surprised that we were there, and what she told us wasn't really relevant to us anyway...because it was all about weaning from 17 weeks.  

I guess I felt a bit the fool, really.  I hadn't been notified of any talks when MiniMe was 4 months old and since weaning wasn't even on my radar at the time I didn't think to ask about it.  Needless to say I didn't really learn anything new from the talk.  And it was only after the fact that I thought of some questions to ask (about offering whole wheats and grains, dairy, brown rice).  We see the Health Visitor in a week so I'll TRY to remember to ask her then. 

In the meantime we've decided to start MiniMe on solids TOMORROW! We had been intent on waiting until she is 26 weeks but social engagements mean that Dad won't be around next weekend and it wouldn't be fair on him to miss out on such a BIG EVENT.  

I've also been reading some weaning books, namely Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley and Weaning Made Easy by Rana Conway.  Rapley's book is all about Baby Led Weaning (obviously) and it outlines how to go about it through the different stages MiniMe will go through over the next few months.  It explains about gagging reflexes and, what I found interesting, the LANGUAGE, of weaning.  She says to OFFER food, rather than GIVE or FEED.  Offering implies that MiniMe is in charge of feeding and regulating her food herself, where as giving or feeding implies that we are making the decision for her.  Typing that out makes it all seem a bit hippy dippy actually, but in reality it makes a lot of sense.  MiniMe is exclusively breast fed, she already decides when she wants to eat and for how long...this is something that she will be able to carry on at the table.  

I'm happy to have read the Baby Led Weaning book to have a better understanding of the physical side of eating...what is actually going to be going on in MiniMe's mouth and the ethos behind letting her be in control.  I like that, but we have decided that we would like to do a combination of spoon fed and baby led weaning.  Conway's book talks about combining both methods but because she gives advice for weaning from 4 months the beginning of the book is pretty spoon fed/puree heavy and in her meal plans still recommends baby rice/porridge for 6 month olds.  I'm not interested in that, one bit.  

So we have decided that TOMORROW we are going to give finger foods a go.  Banana at breakfast, steamed carrots and lunch and steamed broccoli at dinner.  We have no history of allergies on either side of our family so we are just going to go for it.  For the meantime MiniMe will get to explore what we offer her for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the weekends when we can all sit down together, and for breakfast and lunch during the week (unless Dad comes home early).  Once she is settled and actually eating I'll start eating my dinner early during the week with her...but that's a while away.  

Stay Tuned...

4 months old and starting to think about weaning

It is hard, as a parent, to step back sometimes and just enjoy the moment you are in.  I try to stop myself from thinking about my baby's next stage, what she's going to be like when she starts crawling, when she starts laughing, when she starts (heaven help us) WALKING! 

We've recently celebrated our 4th month of being a family and I can't help but start worrying about what I think of as a really BIG milestone...weaning...eek! In a couple of months time she will be ready to start eating food...real food, not just baby mush...FOOD.  

I have loads of worries; breast feeding has been tricky up to this point so the thought of introducing solids while still struggling with breast feeding worries me BUT I'm not sure that MiniMe will be ready for solids and the thought of continuing solely on breast feeding also worries me, choosing the right weaning process for her worries me, knowing when to start worries me...sheesh, writing all this down makes me worry FOR ME.  

I've started doing some research on-line.  Looking at the differences between the bog standard weaning process of purees and mashes and mushes and blobs on a spoon where MiniMe and I play "here comes the aeroplane open wiiiide" on a loop for months and the on-trend Baby Led Weaning where MiniMe would feed herself and explore her food...the same food Mum and Dad have on their plates.  

I don't know what we are going to do yet.  We have to see how MiniMe develops over the next couple of months.  We have to wait until she is ready, and while I day dream of the two of us making pizzas together in the kitchen I really need to step back into reality and just wait.  

The few websites that I have had the time to briefly skim over during a rare moment of peace have really given me confidence for once weaning has been established, but what I can't really get my head around is the beginning few weeks and months of weaning...when MiniMe will still be getting most of her calories from breast feeding.  That is why I thought I'd start this blog, although at this point I don't know which path we are going to go down, it might be helpful for someone, somewhere, who is as clueless as me.