Lumps anyone? Toddler and Baby meal, 5 Vegetable Kichdi

My son is now coming up to 11 months (sigh, I know its flown by!) and in the last few weeks he has been eyeing our food and is happy to try everything we are having. So from munching on cooked pasta, bread sticks, cucumber rings and pieces of roti, I have decided to experiment with different textures and lumps. He isn't keen on having fully pureed food anymore. And I feel thrilled with this as this only means less seperate baby food and more family meals together! The trick is to make something inbetween otherwise you can be left with a very hungry baby who is frustrated with trying to eat an unfamiliar texture. So today I have made 5 vegetable kichdi, which my toddler loves with cucumber yoghurt. The only difference is that I added more water so that the texture was creamier, and of course no salt or chillis.

I used the following vegetables: baby aubergine, carrot, potato, courgette, and beetroot. It's what I had at home in the fridge, feel free to use whatever you like. Even pulses like kidney beans or chickpeas works well, as well as lamb or chicken.

For 4 portions for both baby and toddler:

You need:
5 vegetables of your choice, washed and chopped up. One cupful is good.
1 cup of washed white or brown basmati rice
1/2 cup of moong dal(small yellow lentils)
1 teaspoon of ghee
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder
1/2 teaspoon of hing (aesofetida powder)

1. In a pressure cooker, add the ghee and once hot add the cumin seeds, tumeric powder and hing.
2. After a minute add your vegetables and stir together.
3. Now add the dal and the rice and 2 cupfuls of water and stir
4. Close the cooker and allow 3 whistles.
5. Once cool, remove toddler portion and add salt. Baby's portion is ready to serve along with yoghurt.

The texture of the kichdi is creamy but you can still see the individual pieces of vegetables so that baby gets a chance to learn to eat lumps.

Eating out in Bombay, NOT Child Friendly!

Its been a month since my last entry and this is because we were away on holiday in sunny Bombay. This was the first time for my son, and the third time for my daughter. It had been a year since our last trip and I had forgotten how difficult the city is with a child, not to mention this time two children.

As you can imagine there were lots of family visits which meant lots of eating out. In Bombay, our local couple friends with babies/toddlers don't go out to restaurant. There are no high chairs/booster seats in sight. We went to the following restaurants: Indigo Deli, Smoke House Deli, China Garden, Amadeus, and Cafe Zoe. All the restaurants mentioned are relatively new and serve contemporary food and attract a broad clientele, both locals and out of towners. I spoke to the manager at Cafe Zoe, who happens to be a friend of my hubby and as well as a new father, and has ordered high chairs for his restaurant as well as changing table in the bathrooms. I was naturally pleased when I heard this.  The only restaurant which had high chairs was Royal China near Sterling Cinema and of course the CCI. I was shocked that Bombay today with its influx of tourists and foreigners doesn't welcome children to their eateries.I am sure there are other places that do welcome kids and now I wish I had done some research before hand, so Bombay parents please fill me in for next time!

So if children are not accommodated then naturally there is no children's menu, or changing tables in the bathroom. Perhaps its just me coming from London but eating out with my children is a very normal and enjoyable thing to do. But this is mainly due to the restaurants being accommodating and welcoming children with high chairs, children's menus, space to park buggies, crayons and coloring pads to entertain themselves. In Bombay, it seems that their either isn't a demand for high chairs as families don't take their children out to eat. Why is this? Is it because usually in tow is a nanny and to take the nanny out to an expensive restaurant is a no no?  I feel that the whole restaurant experience is off putting to parents. Children aren't accommodated and therefore aren't taken out. In London I wouldn't think twice unless it was a fine dining restaurant. So for parents visiting Bombay in the near future, I suggest call up restaurants before hand and check if they have high chairs so that your eating experience isnt manic like ours were!

Sleeping through?

I have some great news to share! My boy slept through the night! Yes all the way from 845 pm ( a little later than usual due to a late afternoon nap) till 615 am. Yipee! I am so so happy today, I feel like a new person. I am able to think straight, feel less overwhelmed with the day ahead and my body feels less achey!

Now when I think back to the day before, I am looking at his food intake and in the evening his menu was parsnip and carrot with pearl barley steamed and cooked in garlic and rosemary. He was famished at 5 pm  and had a good portion. He was so distracted in the afternoon and pushed his afternoon nap and slept in the car for 30 mins post dinner. When we reached home, he tried some mashed potato with carrot which the family were eating. 5-6 spoonfuls of this and his usual 6 oz of milk before bed.

My mommy friend said her twin boys tend to sleep through if they have pasta, potatoes or cheese for dinner. You can imagine what is on the menu tonight for my boy's eve meal!

So here I ask myself- Is sleeping through the night food related? Is the trick lots of carbohydrates before bed? Parents-please comment with your experiences. I can't wait to see what's in store for tonight.

Weaning Diaries: Beetroot and Carrot Soup

My little one is teething and it's all drool and runny noses at the moment! I have muslins handy in each room of the house to wipe him up. He is struggling to eat and have his milk as he can't breathe well. Poor thing is frustrated! Yesterday he struggled with lumps in his foods and was gagging alot. So this brightly colored soup worked a treat at lunch today-watery yet thick enough. Also rich in Vit A, fiber and naturally sweet which babies love!

I have made 4 portions and this soup is perfect for babies at 6 months:

1/2 cup of chopped carrot

1/2 cup of chopped beetroot

3/4 cup of water

1. Combine the above in a pressure cooker and let it whistle twice.

2. Blend and serve (you might want to strain if you wish to) 

Sunday Breakfast

What a wonderful Sunday morning,the sun has come out after days and in the kitchen my husband and I are cooking for our kids.

The children as per usual woke up before dawn and cuddling was the morning's agenda! This is one of the greatest gifts about having children-the mornings are full of excitement, games and lots of hugs and kisses!  After this, our toddler wanted pancakes so papa started on those and used Jamie Oliver's recipe which he found online. Those went down a treat with steamed apples in cinnamon and cloves and drizzlings of honey.

And for my almost 9 month old baby, I cooked suji (also known as semolina) for him for the first time and now I wish I had tried this sooner! It was baby rice in

consistency and so so creamy. Along with that, some steamed apples. So here is the recipe I used for 2 portions:

6 tablespoons of suji

1/2 cup of boiling water

1/2 apple

1 piece stick of cinnamon

1 clove

1 star anise

1 oz milk (formula or breast)

1.  Cut the apple into 3-4 pieces and remove the core. Then stick a piece of cinnamon, star anise and a clove into the pieces.

2.  Steam in a colander till soft, this will take 15 mins or so. Remove the whole spices and skin and mash.

3.  In a pan add the suji and boiling water and cook on medium heat till porridge like in consistency.

4.  Combine the suji and apple, and add the milk and stir together.

Bye Bye Nursing

After 8.5 months, the chapter of nursing my son has come to an end. And if I am honest, I'm not sure how I feel about it. The time has definitely flown by second time round. My son from day one has had a good appetite, feeding every 2 hours on day 2 and some evenings cluster fed for 5 hours! Later on, I wanted to introduce the bottle and I experienced problems trying to figure out which bottle he liked. We started with the same bottle my daughter used, Avent, and tried various teat sizes, but he didnt take much at all. So at first I was unsure if it was the bottle he didnt like and I persisted but then the whole point of introducing the bottle was for some flexibility. Then I spoke to a few mommy friends who recommended Dr Browns, and my son took to it straight away using level 3 teat. He was over 5 months old when he accepted the bottle. He had previously taken to it when 2 weeks old. However, as I wasnt persistent, he soon forgot (perhaps refused?) and then I was left feeling trapped at times unable to leave him with family without a bottle. So wherever I went, he would be there with me and yes he did come to the hairdresser with me! So at 5 months, I would pump and feed him expressed milk. I only pumped once a day so then I eventually used formula. He started with small amounts of formula which didnt leave me feeling confident that I could leave him with my mom for a few hours. Slowly it increased and I believe that was down to his appetite increasing. By December last year I decided that he was heading in that direction--having more from the bottle and less from me and to work towards mid January to aim to finish nursing.

The best part about nursing was the bonding time with my son, for me it felt wonderful feeding him and seeing him grow. Also I found it so convenient, all I needed was a cover and I was happy feeding anywhere. Nursing through the night helped me go back to sleep due to the hormones in the milk, but I had broken sleep (and still have broken sleep) for many months. The downside of nursing was that the responsibility was all down to me, unless I expressed the milk-so this had to be planned and at times felt frustrating. I had to make sure I was in a comfortable place to feed, i.e. a friends house, in the nursing room in John Lewis or just to find a chair where I could park my pram, put my cover on and feed my baby. I had to always accomodate my son in what I did as I was his breakfast, lunch and dinner so wherever I went he did. So for girly dinners, shopping and pedicures my little one was by my side.

Now the downside of formula-the sterilising of bottles, the boiling and cooling of water, heating the bottle in the middle of the night and the expense of formula not to metion running to the store each time the formula runs out which in my house runs out every 3 weeks. Dont get me wrong, I love being with my son, but I also like a bit of time to myself. The upside is that I can leave him with my mom or with his dad feeling assured that he is in safe hands and not hungry!
So how does one go about dropping feeds? Now most moms I knew were giving their babies a bottle before bed time, around the 11 pm feed. I wasn't as he wasn't taking the bottle before 5 months so this was the first feed that I dropped and gave expressed milk and then later formula. This helped him feel fuller as well. After that it was every time I went out in the afternoon so the 3pm feed and soon it was every feed except the early morning feed which was mainly because I didnt want to wake up at 5 am and walk all the way to the kitchen to get the bottle ready. All this was spaced out over 6 weeks so my milk supply could adjust and that I didnt feel like I was going to explode! The last day of nursing caught me by surprise really, my son just had his bottles and didn't have anything from me, not for the early morning feed and not even for a bit of comfort. And thats it, just like that it ended. That was 8 days ago, though I still have some milk, it will take a little more time to completely dry up.

Mother and baby started off as one entity and this milestone is another step towards seperation, so yes I do feel sad that its over, but I also feel happy that we are moving on now. Time is passing by, and soon he will be all of a year and my baby will soon be a toddler. Sigh,  I just love this baby stage, though its tiring and the lack of sleep leaves you in a semi coma state. There is nothing more wonderful than nuzzling your baby and breathing in that pure baby smell... So its bye bye breast pads, ugly nursing bras and hello alcohol and a bit of me time...

Weaning Diaries: Ginger Fish with Dhaliya (bulgur wheat)

I was introduced to dhaliya a few months ago, and then realised it was bulgur wheat which I have tried many times at Turkish restaurants. When using for baby food, alot more water is added and the consistency is porridge like which is perfect when weaning. Like rice, you can use dhaliya in both savoury and sweet dishes. Today I have made it with steamed fish and ginger. I hope your baby enjoys it!

For 2 portions I used:

1 tblspn white onion finely chopped
1 tblspoon chopped, deskinned tomatos
4 tblspn dhaliya
1 cup water
1/3 fillet of white fish (washed, deboned and scored)
1 inch piece ginger

1. In a pan, sautee the onion and tomatos for a few minutes.
2. Next, add the dhaliya and coat completely.
3. Add the water and put the lid on. Allow to simmer for 3 minutes on low heat.
4. Cut the ginger into 3 pieces and stick into the fish.
5. Place fish on top of dhaliya and add 1 tblspn water on top of fish and close the lid. This will allow the fish to steam and bring out the ginger flavour.
6. Cook for 4 more minutes or until the fish is cooked through.
7. Let the dish cool, and this will let the dhaliya plump even further.
8. Finally,  remove the ginger, mash with a fork and blend with a few tblspns of water.