Weaning Diaries: Poached Fish in Milk

This recipe does not use Indian spices at all, however I wanted my son to try fish for the first time today. So why poach it in milk? The problem with fish is that it can be very bitty in the mouth and a 7 month old needs the consistency to be creamy and easy to swallow. Hence, the use of milk.
I would recommend using white fish else salmon would be lovely too. I have come up with this recipe and will feed it to him at lunch time today. It smells beautiful, and now I wish I had made this for the rest of the family!

I used:

6 tablespoons full fat milk
knob of butter
1 small crushed garlic clove
small piece of white fish, seasoned with black pepper
handful of washed and chopped spinach

1. In a small saucepan, add the milk and once it starts to bubble, add the garlic.
2. Next, add the fish with a knob of butter on top.
3. Then add the chopped spinach.
4. Put the cover on add the flame on low, allow to gently simmer till the fish has cooked through (around 6 mins)
5. Blend and serve.

Weaning Diaries: Week 4

Its been 4 weeks now since my little boy has entered the world of food, and what has happened since my last entry you ask? He has tried a number of new tastes: pears, apples, bananas, plums, kichdi (overcooked dal and rice), courgette, apple, red peppers, sweet potato, spinach and both chicken and lamb. I learnt that my son really enjoys spinach and courgettes; and plums go down a treat as well! He wasnt too keen on lamb, so I will re introduce it in a few weeks time.

Today I decided to make a typical Sindi ( from the area of Sindh, now in Pakistan) dish called sai bhaji, which is a blend of spinach, vegetables and whole chana or gram lentils. This recipe tends to vary from household to household. It's not as good as my grandma's of course, but we seem to like it! This went down a treat with my son and for the family meal, chillis and salt were added. This saved mama alot of time and my boy was happy! Perhaps this is the way to make meals from now on...?

For a family of 4:

250 gram bag of spinach leaves
1/2 cup of soaked overnight or for a couple of hours chana lentils
1 cup of chopped vegetables: carrot, beans, pumpkin, potato, aubergine.
handful of freshly chopped dill
2 large pinches of dried fenugreek leaves (methi)
1 onion
2 inches of ginger
2 garlic pods
1 cup of water

1. In a pressure cooker, fry the chopped onion, ginger and garlic till brown.
2. Next add the chopped vegetables
3. Add the chana dal (remove the water) and the spinach leaves.
4. Once they have wilted add the dill , the fenugreek leaves and cup of water.
5. Close the pressure cooker and give it 4-5 whistles, then turn off.
6. Open and blend with hand blender

The Weaning Diaries...

Its been exactly 10 days since my little boy has started weaning. He was having some baby porridge a month before I started, but now he is onto fruits and vegetables. I have started him on one meal to get an idea of how hungry he is. The verdict so far? My boy is hungry! He first started slowly taking in each mouthful, gagging on the spoon and making a mess everywhere. In this short span, he has learnt how to hold the food in his mouth and swallow. The first food he had was butternut squash, and this was easy to make (chop up, steam in colander and blend with some water) and he had no reaction (allergy wise) and he easily expelled it in his poo an hour later. So that was simple. Then there was avocado, which he loved but rather rich and heavy on his system which took over 36 hours to come out but with some advice from a dear mommy friend some steamed pear did the trick. Of course there was banana, but I was wary as this too can constipate the baby so I mixed this with his porridge in the morning. I did try some rice with steamed carrot, however he found this hard to eat, even after the rice had been over cooked and blended. And his favorite so far has been steamed courgette and steamed sweet potato.

I am leaning towards introducing more vegetables than fruit in his diet simply because babies tend to like more sweet flavours. So far, my boy has eaten everything except for the rice. I did find another recipe suggesting to put the rice in a spice grinder and then cook it. I think I will try this and it will keep him fuller for longer.

And now portions, started with 5 teaspoons and now its already over 10-12 teaspoons followed by 5-6 ounces of milk. Since yesterday I noticed he wasnt satisfied  after his food, so today I have increased the portion. And tomorrow I will introduce the third meal and see how satisfied he is. My guess is that he needs it!

At the same time, I am working on dropping his night feeds, and I feel there is a difference now that he has started eating solids. Wish me luck out there, I hope to have some uninterrupted sleep! Its been six months and my brain is slowly frying....

Tomorrow's menu: Breakfast: Porridge with steamed pear and cinnamon;
Lunch: Yellow lentils
Dinner: Steamed sweet potato and courgette
Followed by usual milk feeds...

Cooking on holiday?

Its been 3 weeks since we returned from a wonderful holiday in Florida and as you can imagine being back to drizzle and grey is rather depressing! I've been going through the holiday photos and wish we were back there in the sunshine. In Florida, we got accommodation with a kitchen so that we could eat meals in our apartment which meant carrying a few essentials. When I suggested the idea to my hubby he laughed and we both couldn't believe we had become one of those Indian parents who carry everything but the kitchen sink on holiday. So I settled for the essentials including some cumin seeds, coriander powder, red chilli powder and 2 cups of basmati rice! I feel embarrassed sharing this now! As we went for 2 weeks, I could see my daughter (my son is not eating solids yet) getting tired of restaurant food. A number of meals were made including chicken curry, rajma, some vegetables and all with yoghurt and rice. The person who most appreciated it was my daughter, and though it took planning, it was done while my son had his morning nap.

I know it's a holiday and us parents deserve time off, but the one thing that worries me is not eating proper meals whilst on holiday. There is always room for ice cream and pop corn but at least if the one meal is substantial then I too can enjoy myself!

Early Days Weaning Recipe: Kichdi (Lentils with Rice and Vegetables)

Kichdi is a staple in many households and it is introduced early on in a child's diet. Very healthy, and very easy!

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons of rice (basmati rice or long grain rice preferred)
4 tablespoons of small yellow lentils (moong dal)
1 clove
1 inch cinnamon stick
1 green cardamom
2 tablespoons of finely chopped carrots, beans and potato.
Pinch of tumeric powder

You can use any vegetables you like.

1. In a pan, add a teaspoon of oil and add the whole spices.

2. Once fragrant, stir in the rice, lentils and the vegetables. Add the tumeric powder now and stir through.

3. Add half a cup of water and put the lid on and put on medium fire. Keep adding water till the kichdi is cooked. The kichdi is cooked once the lentils are soft and the rice and vegetables come together.

4. Remove the whole spices and mash with a fork and serve.

If you are using a pressure cooker, after closing the lid allow one whistle and turn off the gas. Let the kichdi simmer and open the lid once it has cooled.

Lemon Cake on a Rainy Morning

My 2 year old and I are stuck in at home this morning while my son has his morning nap. So we decided to make a cake together...It was a fun activity for both of us! Bring on rainy days I say!

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups of white sugar
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
2 cups flour
4 tspns baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 juice of lemon
zest of 1 lemon
1 tspn vanilla

and lots of icing and sprinkles for your toddler to decorate with!

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C and grease a large 20" cake tin.

2. Mix together the eggs ans sugar.

3. Now beat in the oil

4. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and finally the milk. Beat until smooth and then mix the lemon juice, zest and vanilla.

5. Add into cake tin and cook for 40-50 mins. Use a toothpick in the middle of the cake to test if its cooked through, it should come out smooth.

6. Leave in the tin for 7-10 mins to cool, then loosen the cake and remove onto a rack to finish cooling.

7. Ice and decorate

Enjoy!

Healthy Eating, Healthy Children

On Monday, the Guardian posted an article about the increase in eating disorders in children, saying that '..more than 2,000 young people were being treated by NHS hospitals in the past three years, with 98 aged between five and seven years old'. The contributing factors according to the article were genetic factors, cultural factors and body image. All three had a large impact on how children perceive food.

I wish to bring up my children with healthy choices, but don't most parents want the same thing? So how do we do this in today's society without jeopardizing our child's emotional being so they don't fall down the path of having an unhealthy relationship with food?


Food is often used to treat oneself, but what happens when we associate these pick-me-ups with an emotional upheaval? A piece of cake to make all the difficult feelings go away often does the trick. But something has gone wrong when a child is gorging on chocolate cake till they make themselves sick. Where is our responsibility as parents to teach our children to manage their emotions rather than 'eat' their emotions?


Then there is the issue of body image, young girls way before their teens aspiring to size 0 models on glossy magazine covers. They are becoming conscious of their bodies at a younger age. And this is not just the case in girls, the number in boys is rapidly rising. The demands society places on youth, beauty and weight affects even the youngest.


As a psychotherapist, I have worked closely with young adults who have struggled with food due to a result of unhealthy relationships with their parents. And now as a mom, I see how difficult it is trying to balance food choices on a daily basis. So Moms, Dads, and Moms to be out there--If you too feel anxious about these statistics or about your kids eating, please share.