Cooking for little ones

What should we cook for our little ones

Family meal times are important for communication and social togetherness. As children get older, shared meal times enable everyone to talk about their concerns. Even a young baby will enjoy sitting up to table with his parents. But how easy is for mothers to convince the baby to eat a healthy food?

Our children must be accustomed to a variety of foods, starting with the first year, and, in my experience, everything is just too easy until the baby is 12 months old.

After his first year, the baby develops his own personality and he learns how to say "NO" to something he doesn't need. Various research show that it takes more than eight tries for a a toddler to accept a new food. So don't be put out if your baby does not take easily to new food. Some of these dishes may become family favourites, others you won't need until the next baby comes along.

Be inventive when making up baby's meal. It's our duty to try, even if the baby refuses. And once the baby is eating three meals a day, you can introduce more variety into his diet.
Babies or toddlers are different. They have their own personality and they know better than us what they need. Mothers should accept this even if they need to have control on everything. After my little girl grew older than 1 year, I saw she wasn't that little "angel" anymore because she had opinions, she learned to speak, to ask, and more than that, to refuse (especially food). So, I learned to listen to my baby, to understand her needs, and, after a while, I understood that she had some culinary preferences and I was so happy for that. I'll share with you some foods my little girl loves and is delighted with:


Creamy Pumpkin Soup (after 6 months)
2 onions
4 or 5 pumpkins, peeled, washed and chopped into chunks
700 ml chicken soup
2 carrots,chopped
2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves
2 potatoes, chopped
1/2 parnsnips, chopped
200g sour cream
1 egg
  • Heat all the vegetables together with the chicken soup in a large saucepan over medium heat until soft. When ready, cool slightly the vegetables.
  • Blend the vegetables in the chicken soup and whiz until smooth. Place the soucepan over low heat; meanwhile mix the sour cream with 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, some salt and pepper then put it into the creamy soup of blended vegetables. Mix with the spoon, stop heating, then top with parsley.

If your baby is older than 18 months, you can sprinkle this silky textured soup with crunchy croutons.

Rainbow trout with red cabbage salad (after 18 months)

250-300g rainbow trout
1/2 lemon
1/4 tablespoon of salt (and pepper)
1 tablespoon of carraway
Salad:
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/2 red cabbage (300g), finely chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2 tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil
1/2 lemon
  • Put the rainbow trout into an aluminium foil, then savor it with salt and pepper, 1 tablespoon of carraway and top with 1/2 lemon. Isolate the aluminium foil, then heat it in the oven for about 10-15 min.
  • Mix the red cabbage with the tomato and onion, then savor it with lemon, salt and olive oil. Enjoy it!