cooking for a 10 month old - my fav cookbooks + recipes
photo by Alexandra Whitney
I have people ask me a lot about where I get the recipes that I make for Parker (I post on my instastories all the time what I'm making / feeding him). I'm OBSESSED with cooking for him + meal prepping. It's so funny because I NEVER liked to cook before. But now there is such heart behind it that it has become my favorite. I cook most nights after he goes to bed since his naps can still be unpredictable in length.
These are the three cookbooks that I use (and I did lots of research!!! there are lots of pics which are totes required).
Weelicious: 140 Fast, Fresh and Easy Recipes
The Happy Family Organic Cookbook for Baby & Toddler
First Bites: Homemade, Nourishing Recipes from Baby Spoonfuls to Toddler Treats
I also love the weelicious blog as well as babyfoode. I do make up a lot of my own recipes with whatever fruits + veggies we have lying around - and I've definitely experimented with things if foods are about to go bad!
The easiest + fastest breakfast staple - banana blueberry pancakes:
:: 2 eggs for every banana
:: add the blueberries after you pour the batter onto the pan so you make sure you get blueberries in every pancake!
:: if your batter is too runny, you can either stick it in the fridge for a little while or I'll add some flaxseed meal to thicken it up a little.
:: pour batter on a pan, let it sit for 1-2 minutes depending on how high your heat is and flip!
Parker's current favorites (he's almost 11 months):
:: sweet potato raisin pancakes - recipe from Happy Family here (image also from Happy Family)
:: apple date oat bars - all you need are four ingredients - an apple, pitted dates, oats + cinnamon! And did I mention NO cooking is involved - grab your food processor and mix it up then dip in oats! I use the weelicious recipe, but here is another.
:: mini egg muffins - I literally just add a bunch of random veggies and eggs in a food processor, pour them in muffin pans + heat for about 20-25 min on 350. So quick + easy.
Fruits he can't get enough of - blueberries, bananas, pomegranate, raspberries + strawberries. And if you're eating an apple in front of him, you're gonna have to share it! I've literally hidden an apple so that I can eat one by myself #truestory
(ummmm to be honest, I never had pomegranate before, so the first time I cut it open, I was like wow there are a lot of seeds in here, what do you eat??? LOL)
Typical food day:
breakfast - pancakes of sorts (banana blueberry, cottage cheese, lemon) + mini egg muffins w veggies (sometimes yogurt as well for the probiotics)
snack (sometimes) - fruits (pomegranate, banana, raspberries, blueberries)
lunch - sweet potato raisin pancake, a veggie + a fruit
snack - fruit, organic pouch, puffs or a snack bar
dinner - at least 2-3 veggies (green beans, peas, carrots or red beets are his fav or a combo) and either a pasta or a meat (though he's not super into meat right now).
dessert - fruit or snack bar or a muffin that I've made (he loves pumpkin zucchini muffins from Happy Family cookbook)
I also nurse him 4x per day on top of this but he's down to about 20 min total per day. Recently, he's gotten into pouches because he can suck them out on his own, so I got a pouch maker and started using some of my frozen breast milk to make smoothies because he doesn't want a bottle at all (prefers the boob and I'm okay with it!). To make the pouches, I got the Infantino Squeeze Station - super easy to use + is dishwasher safe #bonus And I bought these reusable pouches as well - cute animals!
I've started saving lots of pics on Pinterest (you can follow me here) as I definitely want to make cute food art when he's older (I'm so not crafty but I have time to practice before he's old enough to appreciate it, right??).
My first attempt - a fruit + veggie Christmas tree :)
I'd love to hear what your favorite recipes are!