Baby pasta and Fish Fingers
It has been ages since I blogged. There were just so many things happening at work and off work. My dad has been ill and being the only child I had to tend to him and make all the right arrangements for his health and comfort. Oh well since I am back, there are just so many things to write about from MotherCare sales to making my own fish fingers and pasta for my darling princess. Well food brings comfort so let me start the new season about it, a healthy recipe for your toddler. I hope it works for you...:)
The pasta that I use is from Justlife. I get the smallest alphabet or star shaped ones made from ground brown rice and is gluten and wheat free.
Next will be the preparation of the pasta sauce. I normally start all my cooking with homemade stock. How do I make my stock? Below are the ingredients
Now back to the pasta sauce. I start my sauce from scratch, no bottled ingredients involved. The pasta sauce that I prepare is basically made up of 3 to 5 vegetables and mushrooms. Mushrooms were introduced when my gal was about 14 months. For those who want to try mushroom, introduce it when your baby is more than 12 months. Allergies are greatly reduced at this age but do keep an eye when new food is fed. Serve it as lunch and if any reaction would happen you are in the right time of the day to intervene instead of having to deal with it at ungodly hours.
I always refer to this website which gives very good information about what to feed your child Wholesome baby food. I even bought the book for reference which is written by Maggie Meade who is the author and creator of the Wholesome baby food website, by the way the ramekin on top of the book is fish pie not pasta..:)
Pasta Sauce Ingredients
Sorry that I don't have a picture of the sauce on the pasta as I was rushing to get things ready in the kitchen but I am sure you get the picture of how it can be prepared.
Next was to prepare fish fingers. No time for chips just fish at the moment to complete the protein component of the diet. So far I have used cod and lemon sole, both can be bought from cold storage. Although I only buy fillet, sometimes there are rare bones in some areas of the fish so do finger the fillet thoroughly before baking them. One can never be too careful with any kind of bones. Choking is a real danger.
I prepare my own bread crumbs. It is best to work with a piece of bread that is left exposed overnight. Use a cover with tiny holes to cover the bread. The next morning you will have a harden bread. Just crack the bread in a blender with fresh oregano and garlic and give it a spin, you are have homemade bread crumbs in seconds. You can be creative with what you blend, using more than 1 herbs makes the crumbs tastier but it's your little one that is eating it so you will know best what whet's his or her appetite.
Next prepare a bowl and crack in a whole egg for dipping. You can cut the fish in strips so that holding will be easy. Dip the strips in the beaten egg and roll them over the breads crumbs and place in a clean plate. Set the oven to 220C and bake for 15mins. The original recipe uses baking paper but I just drizzle olive oil on the fish strips and also the baking tray comes out fine, actually it taste pretty good even for an adult platter that is customised to salt.
Potatoe wedges can be added to make it a complete meal. Wedges will take 30 mins to bake and should be done first before the fish is baked. The recipe suggest that tartar sauce can be included but I think it is best to make your own.
Pasta and fish fingers has always been a hit with my little baby. I make enough fish fingers so that I can pack them as snacks if we are going out.
I hope some this recipe comes helpful to the mummies and daddies out there and if you have a picky eater maybe some adjustments can be made like using chicken instead of fish.
Happy Meal Time Everyone!
Cheers
Burpssssss
It has been ages since I blogged. There were just so many things happening at work and off work. My dad has been ill and being the only child I had to tend to him and make all the right arrangements for his health and comfort. Oh well since I am back, there are just so many things to write about from MotherCare sales to making my own fish fingers and pasta for my darling princess. Well food brings comfort so let me start the new season about it, a healthy recipe for your toddler. I hope it works for you...:)
I get to be a full time mom on weekends, with that I take my hats off to stay at home mothers out there, especially those without domestic help. From preparing baby food to now toddler food it is quite amazing how full time mothers can conjure up 7 healthy recipes a week. On weekends I am normally faced with the question mark of what to cook for my little darling. So far it has been porridge and pasta with snacks in between.
The pasta that I use is from Justlife. I get the smallest alphabet or star shaped ones made from ground brown rice and is gluten and wheat free.Next will be the preparation of the pasta sauce. I normally start all my cooking with homemade stock. How do I make my stock? Below are the ingredients
Chicken Stock Recipe
6 to 9 pieces of free range chicken
1Tomatoe
1 Potatoe
1 Carrot
Few Clove of Garlic
Half of an Onion
I normally sauté the aromatics like carrots, garlic and onion before throwing them in the crock pot of water and the rest of the ingredients. It makes the stock extra tasty. Stock is prepared on Friday nights enough to see me through the weekends.
Now back to the pasta sauce. I start my sauce from scratch, no bottled ingredients involved. The pasta sauce that I prepare is basically made up of 3 to 5 vegetables and mushrooms. Mushrooms were introduced when my gal was about 14 months. For those who want to try mushroom, introduce it when your baby is more than 12 months. Allergies are greatly reduced at this age but do keep an eye when new food is fed. Serve it as lunch and if any reaction would happen you are in the right time of the day to intervene instead of having to deal with it at ungodly hours.
I always refer to this website which gives very good information about what to feed your child Wholesome baby food. I even bought the book for reference which is written by Maggie Meade who is the author and creator of the Wholesome baby food website, by the way the ramekin on top of the book is fish pie not pasta..:)
Pasta Sauce Ingredients
1 Carrot
1 Medium wedge of pumpkin
1 Tomato
3 Florets of Broccoli
3 Florets of Cauliflower
2 Mushrooms
A pinch of garlic and onions
Few strands of fresh oregano herbs
Making the sauce is pretty easy but the cutting takes time, so practice makes perfect. I dice up everything, before putting them into the pan a little sautéing is needed with the pinch of garlic, onion and the cut up oregano with a little pure virgin olive oil. When you get a nice fragrance, add on the diced mushrooms and swirl them about. You can spoon in some stock to avoid the ingredients from sticking to the pan.
Next comes all the yummy vegetables, top up with chicken stock and let it shimmer slowly until desired consistency. It takes about 20 to 30 mins on slow fire for the vegetable to cook well and be soft enough to be stirred as pasta sauce. I don't mind mine with some chunky vegetables in it. In the meantime prepare a pot and put in your pasta to cook. Mine takes about 6 minutes to be ready but you can make it cook longer if your little eater prefers it softer. Remember to stir your vegetables once awhile and add stock as needed. You will have a nice aroma coming in when the oregano and the aromatics warm up in the chicken stock. If you want it to be creamier some cheddar cheese can be added at the end when you turn off the fire. Just stir in the cheese and it will melt in to the sauce.
After cooking the pasta for 6 minutes this is how it looks like. Texture wise it is smooth and yummy. The star shapes is a pointer to my feeding time because I get to sing twinkle twinkle little star as I feed my kiddo and she loves it too saying STAR! STAR!
1 Medium wedge of pumpkin
1 Tomato
3 Florets of Broccoli
3 Florets of Cauliflower
2 Mushrooms
A pinch of garlic and onions
Few strands of fresh oregano herbs
Making the sauce is pretty easy but the cutting takes time, so practice makes perfect. I dice up everything, before putting them into the pan a little sautéing is needed with the pinch of garlic, onion and the cut up oregano with a little pure virgin olive oil. When you get a nice fragrance, add on the diced mushrooms and swirl them about. You can spoon in some stock to avoid the ingredients from sticking to the pan.
Next comes all the yummy vegetables, top up with chicken stock and let it shimmer slowly until desired consistency. It takes about 20 to 30 mins on slow fire for the vegetable to cook well and be soft enough to be stirred as pasta sauce. I don't mind mine with some chunky vegetables in it. In the meantime prepare a pot and put in your pasta to cook. Mine takes about 6 minutes to be ready but you can make it cook longer if your little eater prefers it softer. Remember to stir your vegetables once awhile and add stock as needed. You will have a nice aroma coming in when the oregano and the aromatics warm up in the chicken stock. If you want it to be creamier some cheddar cheese can be added at the end when you turn off the fire. Just stir in the cheese and it will melt in to the sauce.
After cooking the pasta for 6 minutes this is how it looks like. Texture wise it is smooth and yummy. The star shapes is a pointer to my feeding time because I get to sing twinkle twinkle little star as I feed my kiddo and she loves it too saying STAR! STAR!
Sorry that I don't have a picture of the sauce on the pasta as I was rushing to get things ready in the kitchen but I am sure you get the picture of how it can be prepared.
Next was to prepare fish fingers. No time for chips just fish at the moment to complete the protein component of the diet. So far I have used cod and lemon sole, both can be bought from cold storage. Although I only buy fillet, sometimes there are rare bones in some areas of the fish so do finger the fillet thoroughly before baking them. One can never be too careful with any kind of bones. Choking is a real danger.
I prepare my own bread crumbs. It is best to work with a piece of bread that is left exposed overnight. Use a cover with tiny holes to cover the bread. The next morning you will have a harden bread. Just crack the bread in a blender with fresh oregano and garlic and give it a spin, you are have homemade bread crumbs in seconds. You can be creative with what you blend, using more than 1 herbs makes the crumbs tastier but it's your little one that is eating it so you will know best what whet's his or her appetite.
Next prepare a bowl and crack in a whole egg for dipping. You can cut the fish in strips so that holding will be easy. Dip the strips in the beaten egg and roll them over the breads crumbs and place in a clean plate. Set the oven to 220C and bake for 15mins. The original recipe uses baking paper but I just drizzle olive oil on the fish strips and also the baking tray comes out fine, actually it taste pretty good even for an adult platter that is customised to salt.
Potatoe wedges can be added to make it a complete meal. Wedges will take 30 mins to bake and should be done first before the fish is baked. The recipe suggest that tartar sauce can be included but I think it is best to make your own.Pasta and fish fingers has always been a hit with my little baby. I make enough fish fingers so that I can pack them as snacks if we are going out.
I hope some this recipe comes helpful to the mummies and daddies out there and if you have a picky eater maybe some adjustments can be made like using chicken instead of fish.
Happy Meal Time Everyone!
Cheers
Burpssssss
Looks yummy. Can't wait to try this for my precious bambino...
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