There’s nothing worse than parents that limit their kids when it comes to food. “You don’t eat that, that’s too strong and spicy for you!”. “What can I offer your kid?”, I ask and parents reply: “Just a slice of bread will be fine, thanks!”. If I were the kid, I’d wonder how the hell anyone else could possibly know what I do and do not like, thank you very much?
Our little girl eats anything and we try to let our own personal preferences influence her as little as possible. For instance, I’m not a huge fan of fish, but I make sure to cook it for the whole family and make sure the baby gets her share. H eats pretty much anything but mashed potatoes and it’s strictly forbidden to say a single bad word about it in this house.
What we don’t serve our baby is what babies are generally not allowed to eat: salt, sugar, honey, egg whites and dairy products (we’ve started with yoghurt, curd and butter, but plain cow’s milk is still off her menu for at least another couple of months). Everything else she eats and appreciates, especially strong flavors like onions, garlic, chili etc. This morning when I was brewing a home-made cold remedy (garlic, onion, ginger and honey; sounds downright disgusting but tastes like heaven and will cure the toughest of colds), I gave baby a huge clove of garlic to chew on. If she didn’t like it, she’d just leave it on the floor, if she did, she’d get a good bite of nature’s best antibiotic and have a chance at dodging daddy’s cold. She absolutely loved it!
Moral of the story? Offer your child a taste of everything, don’t care about the stereotypical “kids don’t like strong foods”. The sooner your kid gets acquainted with different flavors, the more likely it is she won’t turn into someone who’s picky with their food. On top of that you won’t have to settle for bland and tasteless food just because you’re preparing the same meal for the whole family. There’s so many other ways to add flavor to your food if you’re excluding salt and sugar!
Chicken nuggets (it’s a fantastic recipe I accidentally put together the first time I was cooking chicken mince, I’ll share it with you guys someday) were on the menu and what you see above is baby’s plate. When I’m preparing the mince, I mix all the other ingredients in a large bowl, then take baby’s share (a spoonful or so) and put it in a different bowl before adding salt to our batch. Once I start frying the nuggets I start by cooking hers so they have time to cool before it’s time to eat.
By the way, since cooking is my #1 hobby and because the kitchen is my sanctuary, I thought I’d another category to the blog. It’s gonna be called “what’s for…?” and I’ll post about what’s for lunch, dinner and dessert for both us and the baby. Little posts about dinner inspiration, meals you can easily cook and adapt to a baby’s needs and maybe a favorite recipe or two… do you like the idea?
Oh, ma sooviks ka, et kokkamine meeldiks mulle rohkem..
Sa teed hästi süüa, need Sinu tehtud pitsad olid väga väga head!
pole midagi südantsoojendavamat kui see, et keegi kiidab sinu tehtud toitu! aitäh 🙂
sealt see kirg ilmselt tulebki, ikka meeldib teha asju, mis hästi välja tulevad ja kui kiita ka veel saab (ja veel iga päev!)… 🙂
mina olin siuke naine, kes vihkas kokkamist. Aastaid kusjuures ja ega see ei tulnud mul valja ka seeparast. Ja siis ma alati motlesin, et ma ei hakkagi kokkama, sest ega huvi ju ka polnud. Siis sain oma mehega tuttavaks ja taiesti lambit tuli kokkamise tahe ja tunne ja nyyd myran koogis kohe monuga, eriti nadalavahetustel. Nii et vahel on inspiratsiooniks vaja vaid… armastust 🙂
jutt õige! ma arvan, et selle toidukire leidmiseks on vaja ühte vaba pühapäeva (sinu puhul eriti koos tütrega, svea, sina ju õpetad talle neid kunste!), häid retsepte ja koostisosi ning ühte klaasi head veini 😀
ma olen mehega koos olnud kohe 4a ja kodus laps ka.. aga ikkagi, ma ei naudi söögitegemist.. ok, valetan, 2-3x aastas lausa TAHAN katsetada uusi ja põnevaid retsepte..
küll neid kordi tuleb veel! või siis hakkame õhtusööki viiele (kaks on koos, kolm veel?) korraldama? 😀
ahahahaa, ma võiksin tulla teiste juurde sööma küll, et ehk õpin midagi.. enda kokakunsti ma väga jagada ei sooviks 😀 Meil teeb häid asju mu teine pool 😀
Kui sul mees teeb hasti syya, siis on moistetav, miks sa ise ei viitsi. Minu mees on kokkamises rohkem abitoolise rollis, aga ta sellise asjade korraldusega vaga rahul ja soob tanulikult ara koik, mis ma kokku keeran. tegelikult see viimane, tema rahulolu ja kiitus andsidki mulle selle touke hakata rohkem proovima ja siis hakkas juba iseenesest paremini valja tulema ja siis hakkaski meeldima ka 😛
aga mulle siiani meeldib teiste juures ka soomas kaia, eriti kui need teises oskavad minust paremini syya teha 😛
minul ka lembemees abitööline, aga väga innukas selline 😀
tuled siis teinekord sööma jah?
mees teeb hästi süüa, aga harva. töömesilane viitsib ainult nädalavahetustel end liigutada 😛
jajaa, teiste juures on ka hea söömas käia 😛
ma hakkan miiu retsepte proovima ja loodetavasti tulevad need hästi välja ning hakkan rohkem nautima söögitegemist 🙂
nii teemegi! 🙂 loodan palju inspireerida!
I love the idea with the new category with food 🙂
you’ll need all the inspiration you can get!
i really do :p
ai duu
oolrait den!
Täiesti nõus! Tahtsingi requestida et kuidas teil lisatoiduga läheb ja millega olete katsetanud jne 🙂
no näedsa siis, lugesin su mõtteid 😀 ma olen pikalt mõelnud ka sellest kirjutada, aga miks siiani ei ole, ei oska küll öelda 😀 kalli!
ma paluks Su pitsa retsepte ka siis kunagi siia, sest tõesti, väga maitsvad olid. Mu teine pool ka väga kiitis.
nii teemegi, kui need siia üles ei jõua, siis eraldi võin ka anda 🙂
yes! great idea!
hurraa!
I totally understand the comment thing. For ages I felt like im writing my blog to nobody…but then I checked google reader for views..and there is lots. I wish they would leave more marks.. 🙂 Eksju
makes all the sense in the world!
yes, posts about the food are very welcome…(noh eriti need, mida saab edukalt ja kiirelt sooritada ka selline lembenaine, kes pikad paevad kusagil kontoris uhab) 😛 but i love to cook, especially at the weekends if i have time. it’s like a therapy for me and a very nice break from my daily crazy brain crunching.
i’m gonna post a recipe tonight, nothing fancy this time, just what you described – something to throw together really fast and to put you in a nice after-work food-coma 😀 hah, lembenaine! precious!
This is EXACTLY what I didn’t understand about BLW for a really long time!! I was trying to give my daughter whole foods, but in the same traditional “steps” that they reccommend fromt he government. (bland vegitables, bland fruits, no spices at all) she was totally not interested. But I finally get it after reading a book about it, and now it is working so much better! AlthoughI do have one comment – my husband is from mexico, where everyone eats lots of spicy foods. But the kids don’t get the spicy foods – the parents make sure that they don#t until they are much older. I think partly because if you get used to really spicy foods as a kid, it will essentially overshadow all the other flavors, and you won’t be able to live without spices. Well… that, and some kinds of peppers will literally burn you, so I think that is probably a factor as well 😛 Great blog!
I think you’re perfectly right about the “overshadowing”, that’s mainly (aside from the health aspect) why I don’t give baby any salt or sugar – who’d wanna eat food that’s not seasoned properly if you knew there was another option? 😀 Plus I think salt and sugar are both very easy to get used and addicted to, and I’d like to postpone any addictions, she has a lifetime of those ahead of her. But I’m not too generous on the cayenne either, because I’m pretty sure heavy spices like that are too much for a baby to digest.
Thank you so much for being here and cheering us on, it means the world! Hugs!