Sweet Potato Parmesan Stacks (baby friendly)

A simple dish that Adriel likes. Works well in the oven.. can probably work in the air fryer too. Parmesan is usually salty so I omit the top layer when serving to Adriel. I'd give him the insides that has a little cheese. If you are not comfortable offering cheese, you can omit cheese from the recipe.

I'd rate it a difficulty level 2 out of 5 and it takes about 30 minutes to prepare this. 

Sweet Potato Parmesan Stacks (baby friendly) Recipe

2 sweet potatoes

Olive oil

Dried herbs like basil, oregano etc

Parmesan

Peel and slice sweet potato thinly. This gadget from Daiso works well! 

Add olive oil (1 tbsp or so), dried herbs of your choice and a couple tbsp of freshly shaved parmesan. Mix well.

Add more parmesan on top if you fancy. Bake in a preheated oven of 200 degrees Celsius for 15 to 20 mins or till tender.

Enjoy! 

Sweet Potato Mash (baby friendly)

A recipe so simple yet delicious. It takes only 2 ingredients and 15 mins (:

Sweet Potato Mash (baby friendly) Recipe

2 sweet potatoes

1 tbsp unsalted butter

Method

Boil or steam sweet potato till tender. 

Mash sweet potato with a fork or use a ricer. 

Add butter and mix well.

Serve as a lump or pipe using a piping bag and tip. I used Wilton 1M. 

Enjoy! 

Pumpkin mantou (baby friendly)

I was exploring with food for Adriel and I did these pumpkin mantous for Adriel. They're pretty soft when steamed but they develop a harden skin after cooling down XD Nevertheless, they're still good. I'd peel off the skin before serving. 

These mantous can be frozen for up to 3 months and steamed to heat up prior to eating. 

This recipe can be done with a mixer or by elbow grease! XD 

It'd take about 2h in all to prepare these and I'd rate it a difficulty level 3 out of 5. 

Pumpkin mantou (baby friendly) Recipe

80g pumpkin

5.5g instant yeast

1/2 tsp sugar

75ml warm water

4 tbsp oil (I used olive oil)

250g cake flour

Method

Peel and cut the pumpkin.

Steam on high heat till soft. I steamed it for about 10 mins.

Nice and soft. Drain off excess water, if any. 

Mash the pumpkin while it is hot. 

Add sugar to warm water. Add instant yeast. Stir well.

Set aside.

After 10 mins! 

Put all ingredients into mixer or in mixing bowl. Knead the dough till smooth and elastic.

Oil bowl before setting dough to rest. Cover bowl with a moist towel. Leave bowl in a warm place (like an unused oven) for an hour for dough to rise.

Nice and fluffy. The dough would have doubled in size. 

Shape accordingly. Use lots of cake flour where needed to prevent sticking. You can roll out a batch of dough, apply water on the surface of the dough and roll it like a Swiss roll. The water would help in sticking the dough together. Portion accordingly and place it on baking paper.

Steam for 15 to 20 mins depending on the size of the mantou.

Enjoy! 

Beef Bolognese (Baby friendly)

So I've embarked on Baby-led weaning for Adriel and I've been cooking a lot more though they have been really simple fares. Here's a really simple Beef Bolognese sauce that I've prepared, It freezes well for up to 3 months. I cooked it using my pressure cooker though it can definitely be cooked over the stove or even in the thermal cooker. 

It takes about 1 to 1.5 hours in all to complete this recipe and I'd rate it a difficulty level 2 out of 5. The tough part is actually the cubing of the vegetables (:

Beef Bolognese (baby friendly) Recipe

2 large tomatoes, cubed and seeds removed 

3 brinjals diced

4 stalks celery diced

4 carrots diced 

1 can whole tomatoes (Hunt's)

Collagen stock (homemade) or beef stock (readymade) 

600g minced beef 

Bay leaves

Assorted dried herbs like oregano, basil etc

Method

Heat up pan(I used my pressure cooker to halve the cooking time) with olive oil.

Cook vegetables (excluding brinjal).

Remove vegetables from pan. 

In the same pan, add more oil and cook beef.

Add all vegetables (including brinjal) in with stock, herbs and canned tomato. 

Liquid should be sufficient to just cover ingredients. 

Cook for 1 hour on low heat (stirring occasionally) for regular pan. 

If using pressure cooker, cook for 30 mins and cook for another 10 mins after pressure release or so to dry up/thicken sauce.

Allow sauce to cool completely before freezing. I use this as a base for lasagna too! 

I freeze them flat in individual portions. I do not even thaw it XD 

I simply peel off the food storage bag and pop the entire frozen brick into the pot. 

DISCLAIMER: I did not salt the recipe so it's friendlier for Adriel. Please feel free to salt it according to your liking. 

Enjoy this delicious recipe!

Full of goodness!

Freezing in individual portions

When freezing, lay kitchen paper between each bag to prevent sticking of the bags. They tend to tear if they're stuck together. I also lay a sheet on the base of the freezer that's made of plastic.