Rice and Yogurt Dessert

How about a dessert for a baby who cannot have sugar or egg or flour or milk? Here is a quick and easy rice dessert that gives the energy for the day while being awesomely yummy like a dessert (while you can also cheat them with a cup while you are having an icecream).

Of the million ways I tried to bring in curs (yogurt) into Athyn's diet, this is one that has closely worked. He somehow knows it by the smell every time, this desserts hides the smell pretty well!

Method to make Rice and Yogurt Dessert

1. Pressure one 3 tbsp broken rice (arisi upma rava) along with a fruit or two of your choice (apple, mango or avocado / butter fruit work best)
2. Blend in a mixer the cooked fruit rice along with homemade thick curd and a good amount of butter.
3. Make sure the curd is well set and not even slightly sour.
4. You can add sugar if you have started it for your baby, while blending. There is no better taste than butter and sugar blended well together I would say!

But simply the sweetness from the fruit (baked so tastes better) blending with the butter and curd gives a super smooth n awesomely sweet dessert ready for your baby to indulge in, even when under one year of age n is not on sugar yet!

PS: You can avoid the butter altogether too if your curd is made butter and rich by itself. 

Mixed Fruit Jam Recipe

Here is something all of us love, kid or adult alike! Why deprieve the baby of it just cos he cant have sugar? So I make this truly yummy (trust me on this, we haven't bought jam in our house since months now!) and of course far healthier than jam easy to make recipe. It is sweet, it is an awesome side dish for bread or roti or just about anything as it makes baby eat more of the main dish and it is a one shot at getting all the 4 or 5 fruits for the day in :)

It also comes in handy on the days when Athyn wants to eat only biscuits (its a trend that occurs once a week or so :P) - at least some fruits go in along with the biscuits.

Method to make Mixed Fruit Jam 

1. Peel and cut an apple into small pieces.
2. Add papaya, mango, banana and whichever fruit you would like to add.
3. Bring in at least 3 to 4 pieces of musk melon (cantaloupe), this ensures the sugary and sticky jam-like feel.
4. Steam for 20 minutes or pressure cook for 3 whistles 
5. Hand mash very finely or just give a quick blend

I have used more of mangoes as I love the taste of it with mangoes, Try to use really sweet fruits, check for sweetness before you add them. This works as a great evening snack in itself if the baby is 6 or 7 months. You can dip butter toasted bread or roti in it for older babies. You can also simply add it to the baby's rice / wheat cereal too!

Excuse the bad pictures, its impossible to dress up the food and click when a hungry baby is pouncing at the plate :)

Beetroot Jam / Chutney

This is one of my favorite 'inventions'. Technically you can give beetroot gradually after 6 months, say by 7 months or so. Although it is sweet, it has a raw-ish taste to it that makes it impossible to give it alone most times, unless you cook it really well and make sticks, which I do sometimes when all Athyn wants to do is bite and eat.

Yea so sometimes he is very cranky, I guess every mommy knows those tantrum days, teething or not! Those days, the one thing that really works for me is making him believe he is eating what am eating. Keep away his bowls and spoons and feed from my plate. Try it, it works most times, else head for a cold teether anyway! Or all of us sit with him and eat, he is very proud to share the family dinner. This beetroot chutney comes in handy when feeding idli and dosa. Psst... once i dipped a whole idli in this chutney all over and gave it to him as 'red' biscuit and he loved it :D

Method to make Beetroot Chutney

1. Wash and peel a beetroot, cut into 5 to 6 cubes.
2. Wash and peet a carrot, Cut into 5 to 6 pieces.
3. Steam for about 20 to 25 minutes / Pressure cook up to 4 whistles
4. Blend along with very little water.
5. Serve with idli, dosa or roti

Method to make Beetroot Jam 

1. For the jam, steam an apple instead of carrot, along with the beetroot.
2. Cut the beetroot into smaller pieces than the apple (apple cooks faster) 
3. Reduce the steaming time to max 15 to 20 mins lest the apple becomes tangy
4. Blend to get a cutesy pink puree as sweet as any other sugar-loaded jam.

So the Beetroot jam can be had as a meal in itself. It is very filling if you use a whole apple and whole beetroot. Apple is one the best first foods. If using for breakfast, you can even add beetroot and potato together, it has a very unique taste and is full of energy.

But if you are serving with dosa or bread, do wait until 9 months or whenever your baby is ready.

Sweet Potato Puree

Here I begin one more blog on food. Something that I hope will help a lot of mommies like me wanting to feed their baby the best, while it is both yummy and healthy, and most of all appropriate. Small snippets from my experiments with nutrients and tastes based on my baby's love - hate relationship with food and of course the extensive gyan I picked up from where else but the internet!!

So to give it a sweet start, this is a simple recipe made with sweet potato (chakravali kizhangu), considered one of the best first foods when starting solids to six month olds! Although my son had carrot as his first food, this one was one of the first few that was welcomed with much enthusiasm. Babies love sweet potato. It is one of the most natural sources of sweetness for those lil tongues used to the sweetness of breastmilk alone for six whole months. Plus it serves awesome for that extra energy when only one solid food a day is given or as a breakfast to kick start the day with a good carbohydrate meal. It is easily digestible and contains vitamin b6 and c, beta-carotene, iron and potassium.

Method to make Sweet Potato Puree 

1. Wash and cut one sweet potato into half
2. Place in a steamer (or a small bowl that is partially covered)
3. Pressure cook up to 3 or 4 whistles (or steam for 20 minutes)
4. Peel the skin and blend with little water.
5. Alternatively, you can use raisin water too. (soak a handful of raisin overnight or at least for 3 hours, boil it and strain it, you can use the water to make any fruit or vegetable puree, this helps relieve constipation)

If your baby is over seven months, you can give multiple fruits and vegetables. Try steaming an apple along with the sweet potato and make a puree. It adds a little zest to the puree while the sweet potato takes away the tangy flavor that babies hate in an overcooked apple puree. Makes a winner combo!