Fried Apple and Cinnamon Pudding for Babies and Toddlers

I have to admit this wasn't my idea. I picked this up on a 'desserts' thread on a forum but it's such a good and simple idea, I thought I'd pass it on.

Sometimes I imagine my son as a teenager saying "but Mum I've never liked xxx"*
*Insert thing he's always liked here.

So for the past few days it's been fruit. My son loves fruit. Two weeks ago it was pretty much all you could guarantee he would eat, I mean if he'd had a bad eating day, satsumas, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, they were all going in, so much so I had to limit him because it was all getting a bit squishy at the other end.

But nada. I mean he went from deciding clementines weren't *quite* as nice as satsumas (actually, I'm with him there), then, well I don't fancy these green grapes but the red ones are ok. No, I've never liked blueberries! What are you feeding me strawberries for????

Anyway, I will keep offering. To stop, well therein lies the path of a fussy toddler and however heartbreaking it is to see (expensive and messy) fruit land on the floor, offering a few pieces then eating the rest myself if he's not interested will do me no harm.

But it's also a good idea to keep offering things which are new and things presented in new ways. So, in the spirit of that, here is an apple recipe. I've been a bit nervous about apples since he choked on one at 10 months old (I mean properly choked, not just gagged) but this makes them softer.

Fried Apples with Cinnamon - suitable for babies on finger foods (if traditional weaning, puree or mash before serving if you're not confident) - serves 1 hungry toddler but would probably serve 2 babies (perhaps use any leftovers mashed and mixed with plain greek yoghurt)

Ingredients

1 Apple, peeled, cored and cut into pieces appropriately sized for your child
Unsalted butter
Cinnamon or mixed spice

Method

Heat a knob (perhaps half an ounce) of butter in the pan, add the apple and as much or as little spice as you like. Fry until softening. Turn onto a plate and allow to cool until at a suitable temperature for your baby or toddler.

Went down a treat with my son and after which he then ate some halved grapes! Go figure!

No Added Sugar Apple and Sultana Mini Muffins

If you're like me and often end up buying a bag of apples thinking 'maybe I'll feed them to my son' then chickening out because you once fed him apple and it ended up with a very scary choking incident, you have a lot of apples nearing the end of their life in your fruitbowl.




Anyway, here's the recipe to use up those apples, please try it, if anything they're more delicious than the sweet potato ones and even harder to detect there's no added sugar.

No Added Sugar Apple and Sultana Muffins - suitable for 9 months or so plus.  (Babies on finger foods.)  Also tasty for adults and older children.

Ingredients

1 apple, (don't peel it), coarsely grated back to the core, should be about 100g
2 eggs
4 tbsp milk
150g sultanas
2 tbsp vegetable oil
150g SR flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 - 220 degrees centigrade.


Oil a cupcake or mini muffin tin.  I use spray oil and find if you use a silicone or non stick cupcake tin they come out fine, otherwise they stick to cupcake cases.
Mix the egg, apple, sultanas, milk and oil.  Put the flour and spices in a bowl then add the wet mixture mixing (don't overmix).  Put a generous dsp into the trays and bake for 15-17 minutes or until cooked (check to see if they spring back when pressed on the top.)

(Freeze well.)

Kinda Vietnamese Chicken Salad for Grown Ups

I've included this here because although this is probably a complete no-go for kids; the chilli and the salt from the fish sauce makes it a very difficult sell nutritionally, however, for adults, it's actually pretty healthy (salt aside, hey, cut down tomorrow.)






Anyway, this is a good idea because it's difficult to prepare food to serve quickly.  I am sure there are millions of other households like ours where bedtime is around 7pm, so it's too early to eat before you start the bedtime routine (also it's too difficult and hard for everyone to be home in time) so you end up eating something quickly prepared and not always all that nutritious.  So this is where the 'stick it in the oven' meal comes in.  Most cookers have a timer on them where you can set the overall cook time as well as the overall finish time; so, for example, you can set the oven to come on for 30 mins to finish cooking at 7:15pm without having to be there to switch it on at 6:45pm.  Check your oven instructions if you're not sure.


So I do this all of the time, there's no real big risk to letting some raw meat sit in an oven for 15 minutes before it starts cooking, just be aware that as the oven will be cold when the cooking time starts, you might need to extend it a little; just check.


Anyway, this kind of cooking you would think would lend itself to heavy, wintery dishes but here's something a bit more summery.  The other thing is it can cook on for a bit longer if bedtime takes longer than you think or even be served cold (I cooked extra tonight for my lunch tomorrow.)

Vietnamese Chicken Salad - serves 2 grown ups after a long, hard day

Ingredients

Boneless chicken thighs (4-5)
4 tbsp (or to your taste) fish sauce
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 red chilli, finely chopped (remove the seeds unless you like it very hot)
1-2 tbsp sugar (to your taste)
Juice of a lime

To serve

Shredded raw vegetables of your choice; I used carrot, onion, sugar snap peas, red pepper and cucumber.  Radish is also good.
Fresh coriander leaf
Unsalted peanuts (I just buy salted which are cheaper and rinse off the salt)

Method

Mix the fish sauce, garlic, chilli, sugar and lime together and pour over the chicken thighs.  You can leave them to marinade or not, to be honest I don't think it makes that much difference but I often prepare this in the morning as my son is eating his breakfast and stick it in the fridge until later in the day.

Bake the whole dish, marinade and all in the oven at 220oC for 40-45 minutes.  Serve on the shredded vegetables with the peanuts and coriander and some of the cooked marinade spooned over.  If you're having it cold, especially if you're serving it a while later or taking it to work for lunch, let the chicken and marinade cool first and refrigerate until you want to eat.

I've sent this in for approval for "the spice trail" challenge which for November 2013 is on chillis!

Fishcakes without Potato!

I came up with this recipe when wanting to make some fishcakes but not having the time to wait for potatoes to cook, cool etc.  Not quite as popular as the potato based ones but I think I liked them more so it might be a recipe I adapt for adults and make more when he's a little older and has some teeth for chewing.

Fishcakes (made with Salmon and breadcrumbs, no potato) - serves 1-2 depending on appetite.  Ok for baby led weaners but a bit crunchy so probably 10 months plus.



Ingredients

100g Salmon Fillet
1 slice (approx 30g) bread whizzed into breadcrumbs
1 egg
Herbs of your choice (I used parsley and garlic chives)

Method

Cook the salmon, I used frozen salmon which can be microwaved which makes it a piece of (fish)cake.  Allow to cool a little, then flake it and mix with the breadcrumbs and herbs.  Add the egg and form into loose patties.

Fry for about 3 mins each side or until thoroughly cooked.

As I said, they were nice but probably on the crunchy side for my little fella.  Maybe I'll try baking them next time or waiting till he has molars.

If you fancy some fishcakes with potato, give my salmon and spinach fishcakes a try.