casseroles for babies?

hi there,


we are on almost 2 months of solids. we started with carrots, sweet potatoes, etc in the beginning so i can mash them up with stronger vegetables like broccoli, etc - so far so good.


we have a 2 day wait rule - if i introduce a new ingredient, it is usually at lunchtime. brekkie and dinner will then only contain food that he has treied before.


but leafing through the very yummy looking annabel karmel recipes, i see that for introducing meats like chicken, she recommends casseroles. but what i am concerned is that for one recipe, it includes lots of other stuff like butter/olive oil/onions, etc that baby might not have had a chance to try individually.


is it safe to do that without having introduced to baby individually each ingredient in the recipe? or should i really be conservative and maybe for example introduce some pureed onions (he can't eat that alone right) with carrots and potatoes (which he has tried) before i use onions to make a casserole?


thanks!

Hi, I have recently been making these recipes for my 7 month old and feeding them straight to her. So far no adverse effects! Just go for it my liitle one loves them!

Wheelymate


I am the Queen of casserole as they are so easy to make. I know what you mean about AK's book. Sometimes when I cook her recipies I leave things out or add them in.


Personally I do not think that olive oil or butter is probably one of those foods that cause allergies so why not try with a little bit.


Here's my basic recipe for a casserole.


Take a tablespoon of olive oil.

Brown diced onion and garlic (if you want or leave it out)

Brown the meat to seal it (chicken - thigh meat is very nutritious or stewing steak/ beef - cubed)

Put all of this in a casserole dish

Roughly chop up any veggies you want - cauliflower, peas, brocolli, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, asparagus, french beans and just add them to the dish

Pour over a pint of stock (chicken or begetable stock) or enough stock to fill dish 3/4 full

You can add a couple of herbs if you like

Cook all of this for 1 and a half hours in the oven on 180 degrees


At the end take a little out and puree it. If baby hates it then you and hubby have it for dinner. I also freeze this and whip it out for my lunch, when hubby is travelling. If baby likes it puree and freeze.


It is sooo easy to do and takes about 10 mins preparation in total. Cooking this is so tasty too. The good thing about this is that often we have spare veggies in the fridge as I never buy to weight. This is a really good way to use them all up.


As for AK's book. Her recipies are good but it is also OK to change them around to suit yourself. They still taste good.

hi mums,


thanks for the advice. i just wanted to know how other mums do it. because there is another book i have called super baby foods - the author says we should have tested every ingredient on the baby before we use them in a casserole, etc. which is quite difficult to do...like some of you say, how to introduce olive oil on its own, right?


cara: not going to feed uncooked onions to him...ewwwwwww!


mrs miggins: thanks for the recipe, shall try it out soon.