Delicious Recipes

So we all know just how hard it can be to find something our little one likes, then to make sure its healthy just adds to that dilemma!  Master X (18 months) has been loving his mashed vegetables (pumpkin, sweet potato and broccoli) since he started solids at 8 months, although this is great and excellent for his health, I wanted to experiment with a few new tastes plus add meat to his diet.  In previous attempts to add chicken to his veggies the chicken was either dry so Master X wasn't a fan of this or too chunky so he gaged most of the time which then led to him refusing his whole dinner!  I stumbled upon some recipes and tweaked them a little to suit Master X.  Below is the recipe for Chicken, Carrot & Garlic Mash, Salmon with Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato & garlic mash and Chicken, Sweetcorn & butternut Squash Puree. The beauty of ALL of these recipes is they can be made a a first puree for 6-9mths, then mashed for 9-12mths and then used as a side or full meal for older babies by not mashing as much!  Very versatile and the big plus they all freeze well, which is always great to be able to grab dinner from the freezer knowing its full of healthy things!

Chicken, Carrot & Garlic Mash

For The Mash

225g peeled floury potato, chopped into 1cm cubes (I used normal washed potato)

175g peeled carrot, chopped into 1cm cubes

1 clove of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

125ml chicken or vegetable stock

1 tsp butter, softened

For The Chicken

1tsp butter

25g raw chicken breast, trimmed of fat

2tsp chicken or vegetable stock

1. Pre heat oven to 180c

2. First make the mash. Put the potato, carrot, garlic and stock into saucepan and bring to boil.  Reduce the heat, cover with lid and simmer for 15 mins until tender.  Leave to cool for 10 mins and then add butter and mash until smooth or puree if smoother texture required.

3. To cook the chicen, lightly grease the base of a small ovenproof dish with butter and place chicken in.  Dot the remaining butter on the top of the chicken and add stock.  Cover with foil and bake for 15 mins in the oven.  Allow the chicken to cool a little then finely dish (or shred with hands as it will be quite tender).

4. To serve, combine the chicken with the mash.  This can either be all mixed together then pureed for younger baby or just lightly mixed for older baby.

Be warned it is extremely yummy so you may want to put extra in bowl as I guarantee you will eat some!

Salmon with Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato & Garlic mash

For The Mash

175g peeled sweet potato, chopped into 1cm cubes

175g peeled butternut squash, chopped into 1cm cubes

1 clove of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

125ml chicken or vegetable stock

For The Fish

25g trimmed salmon fillet, skinned and deboned

3 tbsp milk

1. First make the mash.  Put all the prepared vegetables in a saucepan, add the stock and bring to boil.  Reduce the heat and cover with lid, simmer for 15 mins or until tender.  Mash (or puree) and then leave to cool.

2. To cook the fish, place the salmon in a small saucepan with the milk.  Gently poach on a low heat, uncovered for 4-5 mins or until fish flakes easily.  Remove the fish from the milk with a slotted spoon and then flake the fish.  Make sure you do another check for any bones missed.

3. To serve combine the flaked salmon with the mash.  Again you can puree this together or you can mash it for older babies. 

Chicken, Sweetcorn & Butternut Squash Puree

225g peeled butternut squash, chopped into 1cm cubes

5 tbsp drained sweetcorn (you can use either frozen or tinned)

50g cooked chicken breast finely chopped (cook this chicken the same way as in the first recipe to give it a great flavour)

Put the butternut squash in a saucepan and add 250ml water.  Bring to boil and then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 12 minutes or until just soft.  Add the sweetcorn and chicken and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes.  Puree this mix or gently mash.

Once you find a recipe that your little one loves just double the ingredients to make a bigger batch that way you can freeze them.  All of these recipes, even though they are purees, can be used in the family meal to save cooking!  We had Steak and the carrot and garlic mash last night and it was delicious.  So you can make one batch of mash but serve it in different ways to suit each family member.  I think the garlic really makes it yummy plus the health benefits of garlic especially in winter are great!

Let me know how you go with these recipes and if your family love them as much as we do!  I will be doing a post on recipes for older children which can also be great snacks in the lucy box too!

Kate xxx