During a recent visit with my old pal Teja and her darling ten-month-old, I was amazed and delighted at the foods she prepared for her little one. I just so happened to taste a little bit of baby's breakfast: persimmon, pear, rice and cardamom puree, and I had to pause, narrow my eyes and nod my head several times cooing, "Oh yeah," — the flavors were so harmonious. This baby mush was like a mellow version of South Indian pudding. It was fantastic and baby E ate it with the gusto of a hound dog puppy. Today Teja shares with us her tips for making baby food and a few of her daughter's favorite combinations.
My friend Teja is a busy working mom with a serious interest in the quality of food she gives her child. What's interesting to me is that this is the same friend who in the not–so–distant–past used her oven as storage for non–edibles such as high heels and vintage casserole dishes. One evening I even found the remains of a quiche, covered in a downy, soft, uniform, black layer of fuzz. I had made this quiche for her birthday party about six months earlier. My discovery elicited riotous laughter, a guffaw so silly I still jab her about it.
So the fact that Teja is cooking, usually twice a day, is certainly a new development. Lucky for baby E, and the whole family because Teja's passion for flavor, freshness and home-cooked meals is changing the whole family's eating habits for the better. Here Teja answers a few questions and shares her daughter's favorite foods.
Why make your own baby food?
• The bonding factor. As a working mom who breastfeeds, as my daughter got older and started eating food, making her food is a way that I'm there for her even when I am away.
• Exposure to new tastes. Like many pregnant moms, I took to reading a lot of baby literature, talking to friends, etc., and as I was reading about early nutrition and how baby's palates are formed, the tastes in her world are something that I was extremely interested in exposing her to. Because of my desire to expand her palate, it has spilled out to the entire family and I find myself trying out new spices and herbs with some of our standard dishes and experimenting with entirely new foods.
• It turns out, it is pretty fun and easy. There's the idea of knowing exactly what is going into her food, which gives me a certain level of confidence when I am asking her to trust me and eat up. Also, you can inspect and taste all the foods as you combine them and the end result which is actually really enjoyable for me. Cooking for her has become inspiring and introduced me to new foods and healthy combinations for the family.
Baby E's Favorite Dishes
Bok Choy Chicken Delight
1 to 2 baby bok choy clusters
about 1/4 cup of rough chopped pre–cooked (baked or roasted) chicken breast or thigh
Cooked rice (amount to your child's liking)
1/4 teaspoon of fresh ginger
Steam bok choy and ginger for a few minutes, till the leaves begin to wilt (for me this generally happens in about 5 to 7 minutes). Puree the bok choy and ginger with the chicken and rice to desired consistency.
Persimmon Pear Puree
1 Bosc pear
2 persimmons
Fresh mint
Cardamom
Oatmeal, cooked
Peel the fruit and dice into chunks. Put in food processor for a light chop. Add a few leaves of mint, cardamom, and oatmeal to child's liking. Baby E likes this dish a little pudding–like so we add a lot of oatmeal (sometimes rice) for a thicker consistency.
ZAMCOT (Zucchini. Amaranth. Millet.)
Zucchini
Amaranth
Millet
Carrot
Onion
Tomato
Follow cooking instructions listed on amaranth and millet packages. Cook and set finished grain aside. Cover. Sauté the zucchini, carrot, tomato, and onion. Add vegetable mixture to cooked grains. Stir around gently and you're done.
• Visit Teja's Site: Either Or And
• Teja uses the Beaba Baby Cooker for E's meals
Related: Pear or Plum Cupcakes for Baby's First Birthday
(Images: Leela Cyd Ross: Photos of Teja and baby. Fruit and tofu/veggie in pan images provided by Teja)
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These recipes sound wonderful!
At age 3.5 my DD is a total foodie - loves Indian, Thai food, caviar on bread with cream cheese is a huge treat for her.
I think one reason why is that we treated spices as new foods. You're supposed to try a new food for 3 days to test for allergies (and also give them a chance to get used to it). And so every 3 days we would introduce a new food or spice. Before she was 9 months she had tried things like cumin, chile powder, cardamom etc... We would introduce sweet potatoes, and then sweet potatoes with cumin. Broccoli, and then broccoli with garlic. She thought it was normal to constantly try new things.
PineTree, at what month did you start giving DD food and did you start with the traditional rice cereal and then move on to vegetables?
I started at 6 months. I did rice cereal for two days. DD tried it and hated it. I tried it and hated it and threw it out! We immediately moved onto veggies, fruits, meats. I was also nursing so she had 1 "meal" a day for 3 months, then two meals at 9 months and 3 meals a day by 12 months of age (I nursed for two years). Pretty quickly we just started pureeing parts of our dinner for her. So if we were eating a curry dish with sweet potatoes we'd just scoop one out and puree or dice it for her.
We never worried about the idea that if they try fruit they'll never eat anything else - breastmilk is actually really sweet, and kids eat what's in front of them when they're hungry.
If she didn't like something it was no big deal, we just tried it again the next day or another time. We kept a running list on the fridge of things she had eaten and what she thought of it (a nice keepsake to look back on).
We've never made DD a separate meal. Often times she picks at her dinner, but it's usually because she's not hungry. Our rule is try one bit of everything, and if you don't like it I don't want to hear it, just don't eat it :)
Awesome post -- thanks!!!
To be fair, I was single...the oven had shelves and I had a lot of shoes.
Teja- are there any books you read that you would recommend? I'd never heard about exposing them to different tastes before. Would love to have a child who eats more than pasta with butter and hotdogs.
These recipes sound wonderful!
However, I have to add a cautionary note... babies are all different; some enjoy exploring new flavours, and some don't. While I think that it is important that parents expose their children to as many different flavours as possible, exposing them to different tastes is not what makes a baby a foodie or not.
Our daughter had a very adventurous palate until she was about 4 or so, then she changed. No more spicy Indian curries or pickles for her... At 7, she still isn't as adventurous as she was at age 4. That's because children's palates change, becoming more sensitive around 3 or 4; the age at which children may also develop food aversions.
And then there is my son... we served him the same adventurous foods as my daughter, but he hated them from the get-go (although he did enjoy some wat and injera once...).
It is absolutely false to claim that "...kids eat what's in front of them when they're hungry." My son never did. He refuses to eat something he doesn't like, even if he is hungry. And the less you eat, the less you feel like eating; it is a vicious circle. He got into serious trouble, and we started catering to his likes and dislikes more instead of trying to expose him to what we would like him to eat. He's still very small and underweight for his age, although his love of peanut butter has definitely put some weight on him!
Which brings us to tonight... at age 4, he still refuses to eat soups (along with all vegetables, many fruits and some starches...). Tonight we tried a deconstructed chicken tortilla soup; he loved putting it together, choosing his toppings, but had to be forced to eat a grand total of 4 spoonfuls...
So consider yourself lucky that your child is open to exploring new foods, remember that it will probably diminish at around 3 or 4, but realize that it has more to do with the unique individual that your child is than with your parenting choices.
KGC- we loved the book "Cooking for Baby" by Lisa Barnes
I am currently reading Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense by Ellyn Satter, which isn't a recipe book but a guide on feeding in general. The idea is that the adult is responsible for putting good food on the table (for the whole family), and the kid decides what and how much to eat (serving himself once old enough), and it is supposed to reduce food battles. I can't vouch for its effectiveness yet, but it's worth a read.
Love the idea of being more adventurous with kid food. My 2 year old son is pretty typical in that he loves anything cheese base but he also loves spicy. It really surprised us to discover around 18 months how much he loves super hot salsa and spicy salt and pepper chicken.
Hello KGC -
I bought three books for baby recipes and my favorite is the latest one which is: Cooking for Baby: Wholesome, Homemade, Delicious Foods for 6 to 18 Months
My runner up, would be: Baby Love: Healthy, Easy, Delicious Meals for Your Baby and Toddler
Both have good ideas that can be jumping off points for you to do your own experiments and both have some fun facts and information on foods that are in the recipes.
-Teja
baby food! love it, i am without baby, and it still sounds fun and tasty. baby E is really cute.
I haven't done "baby food" for any of my kids. They start eating solids around 10-11 months. At that point they are quite capable of eating whatever we're eating (slightly mashed).
Rice cereal in any case is completely unnecessary.
I love my Beaba!!!
We didn't bother with rice cereal either...
Thank you PineTree! Such great information! Just this past weekend I was told not to give my little guy fruit first because then he wouldn't want vegetables but it makes sense what you said because the breastmilk is sweet. And he loves bananas and he LOVED the pear cereal!
Thanks again!
I have been cooking for my son from 6 months and it really is fulfilling to know that I am feeding him healthy fresh foods and introducing him to a world of flavours. I have found that while there are a lot of great books out there, there are also a lot of not so good ones with questionable info and very labour intensive recipes. I post about some of my favourite baby and toddler recipes on my blog as well:
http://munchkinfood.blogspot.com
My kids were fed very similarly and eat very well, love spice and new foods, and just generally enjoy meals. We start solids at 7-8 and nurse until around 2. Fruit and veg to begin and then some whole grains later. One baby wanted purees in the begining (lentil soup! avocado smoothie!) and one baby only wanted to self feed.
They still start the day with some sort of super grain cereal, plain whole milk yogurt, and fruit and end the day with one of those plain yobaby yogurts in the bath. It is really mild culture.
Ug. I had a 7-14 month old who ate all sorts of interesting things from many green veggies to very spicy thai curries. Then he grew-up, began exercising his freewill, and eats only white food.
Please, please, please don't judge me! We offer, and provide, but into his mouth it does not go . . . "no mommy, that is for you to eat . . ."
I agree with some of these comments that it depends on the kid. My son ate all kinds of pureed fruit but now refuses all fruit except an occasional banana though we eat fruit as a family all the time. Feeding purees isn't where you run into challenges- it's later as they develop likes and dislikes and also have to contend with textures. There are some kids who are more adventurous than others in the food department and I don't think it always has to do with what you expose them to early on.
Hahah love that heels in the oven story! (great idea for extra shelving space actually)
No baby here but that pear cardamom puree is something I'll have to do for myself.
You all should look into baby-led weaning. Our son is 15 months and has never been given traditional baby food. He has eaten pureed foods like hummus, but we've never pureed his whole meals. He has been feeding himself, for the most part, since 6 months. Also, keep in mind that the solids prior to 1 year are mostly for practice and not nutrition. Babies can't digest most of what they're given at that point. Nutrition at that point still comes from breastmilk or formula, as the case may be. And research has shown that rice cereal is just pointless, unhealthy crap. -Patrick
i love everything about this post. so cute.
Wrencrain, "no mommy that is for you to eat" is adorable!