Food Friday (3)

As I’ve been cooking over the last few weeks and talking to other mums I’ve realised how lucky I am that Doof is a pretty unfussy baby. He is generally happy to eat anything – fingers crossed he stays this way!! They say that there is always one thing your baby is not so good at – sleeping, eating, temperament etc. We definitely have sleeping as our problem :)

This week I’m going to post 2 recipes – one vegetarian and one with chicken. I’m also enjoying how easy it is to make meals now I have got the hang of it. Last week I just pureed together the leftovers from our roast lamb/new potatoes/veg supper and then Doof had it for lunch the next day – no cooking needed and he loved it!

Packed-with-protein

1 red onion

2 large carrots

1 courgette

1 leek

Olive oil

120g split red lentils

2 jacket potatoes

600ml vegetable stock (I use the Heinz cook-at-home stock cubes - they have less salt in them than normal stock cubes)

Chop up the onion, carrot, courgette and leek.

Heat up some olive oil in a frying pan and add the onion and carrot. After a few minutes add the courgette and leek.

Once they are softened slightly then remove from heat.

Meanwhile make up the vegetable stock and  pour into a large saucepan. Add the lentils and all the vegetables.

Leave to simmer as per cooking instructions on lentil packet (usually 15-25 minutes).

Whilst that is cooking cook the jacket potatoes – either bake them in the oven (180 degrees for around an hour and a quarter) or 6 minutes each in the microwave, turning them over halfway through.

Once the potatoes are cooked, cut them in half and scoop out the flesh.

After the lentil mixture is cooked, remove from the heat, stir in the potato flesh and puree to desired consistency.

This made about 15 x 100ml portions and a helping for me :)

Lentils are a really nutritious source of protein and are very cheap and easy to store. Doof loved this recipe (which was lucky seeing as I made so much of it) and you could also use it as a pasta sauce if you didn’t add the potato.

Cheesy chicken

2 chicken thighs

1 red pepper

250g broccoli/cauliflower

100ml vegetable stock

2 sweet potatoes

90g mild cheddar cheese (grated)

200ml full fat milk

1 tablespoon flour (should probably use plain but we only had self-raising and recipe turned out fine)

30g unsalted butter

Bake sweet potatoes in oven (180 degrees, approx 1 hour, until middle is soft), then scoop out the flesh and keep on one side.

Cut up the red pepper into small pieces and place on baking tray with the chicken thighs and a liberal sprinkling of olive oil. Cook in the oven (180 degrees) for 35-40 minutes. Once cooked remove the chicken from the bone and cut into smaller pieces.

Steam the broccoli and cauliflower until tender (took me about 16 minutes as the florets were quite large).

Meanwhile melt the butter in a pan and mix in the flour. Once a paste is formed slowly add the milk (still over the heat) while you whisk the mixture constantly. Once all the milk is added then keep stirring until the mixture thickens. Then remove from the heat and add the grated cheese. The cheese will melt into the sauce so keep stirring until that happens.

Add the broccoli, cauliflower, red peppers, chicken pieces and sweet potato to the cheese sauce. Also stir in the vegetable stock (without adding this the sauce becomes too thick, especially after freezing) and puree to desired consistency.

This made around 10 portions for Doof and a larger portion for me (it was very nice!).

 

Other things Doof has enjoyed this week have been chunks of watermelon and thickly cut fingers of mango. Perfect finger food when the weather is so hot!

The one thing I’ve realised I never make is puddings. I always give him fruit puree or yoghurt. Does anyone regularly give their babies pudding? If so, what do you give and do you make it yourself? Would love to hear some sweeter (but still hopefully healthy!) recipes :)