Becoming a "proper" mum

Finally I feel like a good mum. A "proper" mum. The reason? Doof has eaten something I cooked from scratch... Yay!!

To be fair to both of us he hasn't had much opportunity before - once I was told that I had to introduce 30 foods in the space of 3 weeks (see why) the only feasible way (especially in my still-sleep-deprived state!) was by using ready made pouches.

Advantages of pouches:

- they are easy to transport

- you can introduce different flavours/ingredients easily and quickly (essential for our expedited weaning schedule) 

- they probably taste nicer than what I would make :(

- you don't end up with a million portions of the same sweet potato purée to store (linked to next comment)

- you don't need freezer space (we have a teeny tiny freezer. That is already full of EBM and ice-cream. Thankfully not combined!)

Disadvantages:

- you (or me at any rate) can feel not like a "proper" mum, especially when everyone else in your NCT/baby/music/swimming/whatever class is talking about how they purée this and mash that and freeze these etc etc

The pouches we have loved the most have been Ella's kitchen. All organic, range of different flavours, especially delicious fruit pouches and can keep in fridge so initially when Doof started on his weaning journey one pouch would last 3 meals over 48 hours so also pretty cost-effective.

The downsides? APPLE. Lovely as apple is it is a huge ingredient in nearly every stage 1 pouch. So even a pouch that didn't include apple in its title would be 65% apple if you checked the ingredient list. Kinda encouraging a sweet tooth? No wonder Doof spat out the very boring plain carrot purée I once made. Or maybe that was because I tried to soften the carrots in the microwave so they ended up a bit burnt... Hmmm you can see why I don't inflict my cooking on him very often!

Anyway now he is a bit bigger he is much more interested in finger foods and less interested in spoon feeding - especially in the mornings. So I thought I would make him some breakfast finger foods.

So with this big pre ambling build-up you've probably been wondering what was this amazing thing I cooked and which he loved? Prepare to be amazed... Only joking! But it's the thought that counts, not the complicatedness of the recipe :)

I made banana breakfast bars.

Recipe:

1 medium banana

1 cup of baby porridge (I used a mix of Aptamil cereal and Heinz blueberry porridge)

Mash up the banana and then mix in the porridge. Leave the mixture for 5 minutes to soften the cereal. The mixture should be sticky but mould-able. I then shaped them into finger-sized bars. This is what they looked like:

  

Then I cooked them at 160 degrees for about 15 minutes til they looked like this:

 

Gave him one the next morning... Instant success, straight into his mouth and he quickly devoured the whole thing! #sohappy

 

I stored the rest in a Tupperware and he's had them as part of his breakfast for the last 3 days. 

I'm going to try out some different variations of fruit and cereal - might try oatbix and pear/banana next. Will let you know how we get on but for now I am just so pleased he likes something I made! :)