beatrice loves feeding herself. she never really took to purees, even early on. so i started out with baby led weaning...giving her chunks of food that she can handle and letting her eat it with her hands. that said, she didn't really "get into solids" until about 10 months or so...and it wasn't really until her first birthday that the solid food eating really took off...
so most food i feed her is finger food, or something that she can pick up. lots of pasta, steamed veggies, etc. however, her favorite food is what we call "baby nuggets." basically, i find any good veggie patty recipe and instead of making patties, i roll into small little balls that are perfect for her small grip...she LOVES them. {mamas and papas love them too, so it's a nice food for everyone on the go!}
this is her favorite recipe, by far, adapted from my favorite non-dairy, calcium rich collection of recipes called calci-yum!
{sweet potato mini nuggets}
preheat oven to 350 degrees
makes about 50 nuggets
cookie sheet, lightly oiled
{i bake half the dough and freeze the other half for later}
1/2 cup cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained
4 medium sweet potatoes
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cups finely chopped chinese lettuce {i use bok choy, spinach or kale as a substitute if i can't find chinese lettuce}
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced {optional, depending on baby's tolerance, but bea loves it}
2 tsp salt
1/4 dried oregano
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/3 cup whole wheat flour {i also use oat flour instead sometimes}
3/4 cup bread crumbs {sometimes i mix in flax or dehydrated kale too}
1. in a bowl using potato masher or food processor, mash chickpeas to a rough paste. set aside.
2. pierce sweet potatoes with a fork; wrap in foil and bake in preheated oven for 1-1/2 hours or until soft. remove skin and mash together with cooked chickpeas.
3. in a non-stick skillet with lid, heat oil over medium. add onion and chinese lettuce {or kale or spinach, whatever you have on hand!}; saute for 3 minutes. add pepper, garlic, salt and oregano. cover and cook until vegetables are soft, about 3 minutes. transfer to sweet potato/chickpea mixture, along with rolled oats, wheat germ and flour. mix until well combined. let cool.
4. with slightly wet hands, roll into 1 inch balls, roll in breadcrumb mixture and place on oiled cookie sheet.
5. bake for about 15-20 minutes.
{photo by patty}
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