Preparing meals for baby A requires planning and creativity. I enjoy cooking, but not all the time. So having to prepare baby A’s meals ALL THE TIME can be quite a challenge. I’m not complaining though, and I do enjoy it. And she has been enjoying all (well, most..) her meals so far, albeit some took a little more coaxing to eat. From what I read, it takes at least 20 tries to determine if a baby likes or dislikes a food, so I’m still offering her some of the food which she didnt seem to like initially.
I’ll plan her meals weekly, so that I’ll know what to buy when I do groceries shopping. I always try to ensure that she gets a variety of food and a balance of all the nutrients the food is able to provide. And her meals are usually something I myself would eat.
Hubs and I bought a whole salmon (you can check out Harbour House Crabs for fish variety) sometime back, and we have a whole lot of fillets sitting in the freezer. The fillet cuts are quite huge for the two of us (not that we have to struggle much finishing them), so sharing it with baby A makes much more sense. So when she turned 8 months, I decided to let her try fish for the first time (she’s been a vegetarian thus far).
Salmon has so many wonderful nutrients for a growing baby. It has the best source of DHA – the star of the omega-3 world. This oily fish is rich in essential fatty acids which are very important for a baby’s brain and visual development. Do you know that a baby’s brain triples in size in the first year?! All the more brain food a baby will need.
I usually rub the fish with salt and herbs before baking in the oven. But since baby A’s eating, and she can’t take salt yet, I omited the salt and doubled the amount of herbs instead, to mask the fishiness a little (which tends to be stronger for oily fish), just in case baby A dislikes that taste. However, as baby A is a breastfed baby, and breastmilk tends to be flavoured by the food the mother eats, I’m guessing she probably tasted salmon from the milk already, since I often eat that fish and take fish oil supplements regularly.
I keep the texture of the mash a little coarse, so that she has something to chew. Baby A has no teeth yet, but she uses her strong gums to gum her food. If I put my finger into her mouth, she’ll start gumming it too!
Verdict? Baby A loves it! She willingly opened her mouth for every spoonful. I’m a happy momma.
Quick Recipe
Ingredients:
One big potato (I used russet)
A small slab of salmon fillet (about 50g or 1.7oz)
1/4 cup of broccoli
A dash of thyme
A dash of black pepper
2 tsp grated chedder cheese (optional)
Steps:
1. Wash and pat dry the salmon. Sprinkle with thyme and black pepper.
2. Bake in the oven at 200 Celcius (392F) for about 10 mins. You may also steam the fish.
3. Cut potato to wedges and steam for about 15mins, or until you can poke a fork through.
4. Cut the broccoli to smaller chunks and steam for about 10mins.
5. Mash the potato and broccoli with a fork.
6. Using your fingers to flake the salmon – this helps to find small fish bones (if any).
7. Mix the potato, broccoli and salmon together. Top with grated cheese.
8. Serve warm.
Ever tried salmon broccoli potato mash?
