Sweet Veg Buns

These make an excellent finger food for those following baby led weaning, great for both lunch and snack time. They're also a brilliant way to eat cake guilt free as there's so much veg in them and no added sugar.

Makes approximately 16

Ingredients

• 150g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 200g self raising flour
• 4 eggs
• 6 tbsp whole milk
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 small sweet potato
• 1 large carrot
• 1 apple
• 4 tbsp frozen sweetcorn
• 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Line muffin tins with cases.
2. Cream the butter with an electric mixer.
3. Add the baking powder along with 1 egg, 1-2 tbsp milk and some flour and throughly whisk.
4. Repeat step 3 with each egg, until all the eggs, butter and milk have been added.
5. Peel the sweet potato, carrot and apple, then grate into the mixture.
6. Add the cinnamon and sweetcorn and whisk until properly combined.
7. Spoon into the cases and bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 20-25 minutes until cooked and golden brown.
8. Serve as is or spread with soft cheese.

Vinaigrette Chicken Recipe

Can be mashed up so great for stage 2 weaning and beyond. I serve mine with cheesy mash potatoes, peas and sweetcorn.

Serves 2 adults and 1 baby

 

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breast fillets
• 500ml chicken stock (using Boots Baby Organic stock cubes which have less then 0.01g salt per 100ml)
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Optional 3 sliced mushrooms 

Method

1. Make the vinaigrette by dissolving the stock cube in 500ml of boiling water, stir in the tomato puree and balsamic vinegar.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan then add the chicken (and mushrooms if using).
3. Lightly sear the chicken then add the vinaigrette to the pan.
4. Cook on a low heat for 15 minutes.
5. Check that the chicken is cooked all the way through then remove from the pan and cut into strips.
6. Turn the heat to high and leave the vinaigrette to reduce for 3-5 minutes.
7. When serving pour the vinaigrette over the sliced chicken.





Isabella feeding herself vinaigrette chicken.

Pizza Dough Recipe

Pizza makes a great finger food if you're doing baby led weaning and if you make it yourself it doesn't have to be unhealthy.

The pizza pictured has been topped with homemade tomato and basil sauce​ (click through for the recipe), roast chicken, mushrooms, red onion, yellow pepper, sweetcorn and cheese. Top your dough with your own favourite flavours for a personalised​ pizza.

Serves 3-4 adults and 1 baby (if served with a side dish; such as sweet potato fries, loaded jackets or wedges).

Ingredients

• 400g strong white bread flour
• 2 1/4tsp yeast
• A pinch of caster sugar (I would normally avoid adding sugar to anything I'm cooking for a baby, but unfortunately without it the yeast won't work)
• 325ml warm water

Method

1. Combine the flour, yeast and sugar in a bowl.
2. Pour in the water a small about at a time until a pliable but not sticky dough is achieved (you may not need all the water. If the dough becomes sticky add a bit more flour).
3. Knead the dough on a floured surface for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
4. Return the dough to the bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
5. After 1 hour punch down the dough and leave for a further 30 minutes.
6. Oil a large baking tray.
7. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and roll out to match the size of the baking tray.
8. Cover with layers of pizza sauce, cheese and your favourite toppings.
9. Bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 20-25 minutes.

Paprika Chicken Recipe

Not the prettiest looking of my recipes but definitely one of the tastiest. Can be served with jacket potatoes (I always do jacket sweet potatoes for Isabella because of the higher nutritional content) or pasta. If you've got enough left over sauce you can, get two meals out of this by serving with jacket potatoes for tea and then using the leftover sauce with pasta for dinner the next day.

This is a great dish for different weaning stages as its easily puréed or can be cut into small chunks for baby to (somewhat messily) feed themselves.

Serves 2-3 adults and 1 baby.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breast fillets
• 1 clove of garlic
• 500ml single cream
• 500ml chicken stock (made using a Boots baby organic stock cube as this has virtually no salt in as oppose to regular stock cubes that have a high salt content)
• 4tsp paprika
• 4tsp dried mixed herbs
• 50g grated cheese
• 500ml boiling water

Method

1. Dice or crush the garlic and place in a measuring jug.
2. Add the stock cube, paparika, herbs and water to the jug and stir till dissolved.
3. Dice the chicken and place in an oven proof dish.
4. Pour the stock mixture over the chicken then add the cream. Gently stir (so that the sauce doesn't slop over the sides) until the cream and stock mixture are combined.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 40 minutes.
6. Removed from the oven and sprinkle over the cheese (most of the cheese will sink into the sauce so don't worry about this). 
7. Return to the oven for a further 20 minutes then serve.
8. If you are keeping the leftover​ sauce, pour it into an airtight container and keep in the fridge.

Isabella feeding herself paprika chicken and sweet potato chunks.

Cheese and Chive (or Blueberries and Cinnamon) Baked Pancakes Recipe

These little pancakes are great for lunch and brilliant for baby led weaning. The basic batter can be used with other ingredients as well as cheese and chive to create​ a variety of different flavours. For breakfast adding blueberries and cinnamon instead of cheese and chive gives you a delicious treat.

To make this recipe you will need 4 cup Yorkshire pudding trays.



Ingredients

• 150g plain flour
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 50g greated cheese
• 1 tbsp chopped chives 
• Unsalted butter for greasing

Or

• 100g blueberries
• 1tsp cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 C
2. Put all the ingredients into a large measuring jug and whisk until fully combined.
3. Place a small amount of unsalted butter into each cup of Yorkshire pudding trays and melt in the oven until bubbling.
4. Remove the trays from the oven and pour in a thin layer of batter.
5. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes​.
6. Serve as is or top with meats and pickle for the cheese and chive pancakes or banana and maple syrup for the blueberry and cinnamon pancakes.

Tomato & Basil Pasta / Pizza Sauce

The quantities of ingredients shown for this recipe are for a bulk batch that will give you 3 servings of pasta sauce (to feed 1 baby and 3 adults) and 1 serving of pizza sauce (to feed 1 baby and 4 adults). Once made the sauce can be boxed up and frozen to be defrosted when needed.

Ingredients

• 18 tomatoes
• 3 red onions
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2tbsp oil
• 25g basil

Method

1. Score a cross in the bottom of each tomato, place in boiling water for 5 minutes then drain.
2. Dice the onion and garlic.
3. Place the oil and onion in an extra large pan and cook on a medium/high heat for 4 minutes.
4. Add the garlic and reduce to a low heat and cook for a further minute.
5. Remove the skin of the tomatoes (it should just peel away from the cross in the bottom) and dice. 
6. Tear up the basil and add to the pan along with the diced tomatoes. Cook for a further 20 minutes.
7. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before blitzing in a food processor, (depending on the size of your processor you may need to do this in batch).
8. Box in airtight containers and refrigerate or freeze until needed.

Tomato, Spinach & Mushroom Omelette Recipe

Omelette is a great base to add a selection of veggies to, so why not mix and match your favourites? As well as tomato, spinach and mushroom, why not try omelette with onion, leek, sweetcorn, pepper or cheese? Also plain omelette on toast also goes down really well with my daughter and is easy to cut into finger food.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 50ml whole milk
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• Sprinkle of paprika
• 1 tomato
• 3 mushrooms
• 25g spinach

Method

1. Chop the tomato and mushrooms, add to a frying pan with the oil and cook for 5 minutes.
2. Add the spinach to the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes.
3. While the vegetables  are cooking, whisk the eggs, milk and paprika together.
4. Pour into the pan and cook until the egg is fully solid, turning once (remember that babies can only eat well cooked eggs).

Cheese and Red Onion Pie Recipe

A firm family favourite I like to serve this with sweet potato wedges or potatoes scallops and beans. It also makes a tasty addition to any buffet, particularly when decorated to match the occasion, where it can be served cold. It easy to cut a slice into baby sized grabable chunks for those doing baby led weaning.

 

Ingredients

• 300g plain flour
• 125g unsalted butter
• 100-150g grated cheese (depending on how thick you want your pie)
• 1 red onion
• Cold water
• 1tbsp whole milk

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 200C and grease a pie dish with unsalted butter.
2. Place the flour and butter into a bowl and rub together until it resembles breadcrumbs. (This is easier to accomplish if the butter has been left at room temperature beforehand).
3. Pour in a small amount of water at a time and combine with the flour butter mixture until a workable dough is achieved.
4. Place the dough in the fridge and leave to rest while you prepare the filling.
5. Dice the onion into small pieces and grate the cheese if not already grated.
6. Split the dough into two balls, one ball should be bigger than the other, approximately a 65/35 split.
7. On a clean floured surface roll out the bigger dough ball to match the shape of your pie dish, (such as round for the pie pictured).
8. Once rolled out line the pie dish with the dough, the dough should overhang the sides of the dish.
9. Fill the dish with the fillings by layering onion then cheese, this should be done three times.
10. Roll out the smaller dough ball to match the shape of your pie dish.
11. Wet your finger with the water and run this around the rim of the pie dish then place the rolled out dough on top.
12. With your thumb and forefinger squeeze the two dough layers together.
13. With a sharp knife cut away the overhanging excess dough, (place to one side if you wish to decorate your pie with pastry shapes as pictured). This can be done by balancing the pie dish on your flat palm and turning your hand slowly while running the knife along the edge of the pie dish.
14. Score the top of the pie with at least three lines, that are deep enough to cut the top layer of dough but don't damage the base. (If you are decorating your pie then you may want to decorate first then score around the decoration as pictured.)
15. To decorate roll out the offcuts of overhanging dough and cut into shapes, (for my pie I used a flower cutter). Wet the back of the shapes then lightly press onto the pie. Alternatively you can score words into the pie to make seasonal messages, such as 'Happy Xmas'.
16. Brush with whole milk then bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Check the pie at 25 minutes to ensure it is cooking evenly and turn if not.