Last weekend, we did non-BLW meals with baby V, and attempted to teach her to spoon-feed herself. Let’s just say, after a few spoons, she knows it’s easier to be fed than to self-feed. HA!
We had a baby shower and a housewarming party to attend which overlapped slightly, so mummy racked her brains a little to come up with 2 different dishes for breakfast and lunch that are easy and won’t take too much time to prepare. Using the same ingredients for 2 very different recipes, glad to say that my creative juices ain’t that bad :P And, since it has been tried and tested by our internal food critics (the big and small babies at home!), yes, it is possible and not difficult to do!
Ingredients: (Portion for 2 adults + 1 baby)
Ikan Bilis (for soup base)
Red Capsicum
Yellow Capsicum
Baby Corn
Spinach
Salmon
Rice
Egg x 1 or 2
Directions:
– Chop all veggies into preferred sizes. Slice salmon into smaller pieces and remove bones, if any. Rinse and set aside on clean plates.
– Boil ikan bilis for 30minutes to make soup base.
1st Dish – Steamed Egg aka Chawanmushi
Method:
1) Beat egg and pour into cup slowly, carefully putting a portion of the chopped ingredients to fill cup. Pour soup stock (approx the same amount as egg or double) to fill cup.
2) Place cup in wok to steam for 15 minutes with low fire.
3) Check to see that the egg mixture has solidified and place cup on table to cool before offering baby.
Tips:
– Ensure baby does not have allergy to egg before offering whole eggs.
– You may like to run the 3-day food test before offering the combination. The next day after baby V turned one, sneaky mummy picked out green capsicum from pizza and fed her. She didn’t reject! :P
– If you’re worried that the steamed egg might scald baby, scoop out a portion to cool on plate before feeding (like how we did)
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2nd Dish – Hearty and Healthy Porridge
Method:
1) Use stock to cook rice into porridge over stove. When rice is almost like porridge, add all remaining ingredients except spinach. Stir porridge and add hot water if it starts drying up. Porridge dries up easily and will form starch crisp at the sides of the pot. Will burn too when the water is insufficient. Add spinach when about to serve and do ensure they are cooked before offering baby.
Tips:
– Other fish can be used too, such as Threadfin, Cod, Batang, Pomfret. Ensure bones are removed.
– For baby V’s porridge, i didn’t add egg as she already had one for breakfast.
– To keep porridge in food warmer, bring porridge to a boil just before you leave home to buy extra time for it to be kept hot for longer.
It makes a hearty breakfast for adults too. Hubs added an egg to his porridge to make it sweater but I’d have to say, the porridge itself was naturally sweet with all the salmon and veggie juices, i didn’t even have to add salt. The next day, I used Swiss Brown Mushrooms to replace Baby Corns. And we had this for breakfast, while baby had it for breakfast and dinner which we kept in the food warmer when we headed out. Great for busy parents who are time-strapped and it’s quick and easy to prepare. Cook 2 meals concurrently – how’s that for saving time? Hope it was a helpful idea for you too!
