Ice Cream for Baby - An Easy Recipe to Make Ice Cream That's GOOD for Your Baby!

Unfortunately, though, regular ice cream is NOT an ideal food for your baby's first year.

It's often loaded with sugar, artificial flavours, artificial colours and unhealthy fats - and whilst fats may not be too much of an issue at this stage of your child's development, the taste preferences you encourage now may stay with your baby throughout life.

That's why it's SO important to introduce him to the healthiest options at this early stage.

So how about if we told you there's an ice cream for baby that... is loaded with the HEALTHY fats your baby needsis dairy freecontains NO SUGARcan be prepared in minutestastes truly delicious

Sound too good to be true?

Well, here it is... a mouth-watering, fruity ice cream that's not only SAFE for your baby, but GOOD for him too!

Containing all the benefits of healthy avocado, this luscious blend is sweetened by banana, has a wonderful hint of coconut and pops with flavour from the strawberries. All of our children - tots to teens - LOVE it!

2 ripe bananas, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 Hass avocado, pitted and cut into chunks
5 large ripe strawberries, hulled and halved
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1/3 cup (around 3 fl oz) unsweetened coconut milk
2 tsp coconut oil

Smoothies for Babies - Delicious and Nourishing

They're particularly useful for babies who have problems accepting textured foods and are perfect for little ones who might refuse the ingredients in their 'whole' form... but will slurp away happily when blended into a creamy (and hard to identify) consistency!

These wonderful recipes were submitted by our readers, whose babies are already enjoying these creative concoctions!

Please note: The comments that accompany these recipes are from the parents who sent them in. We recommend that you should always discuss the introduction of any new foods with your child's doctor.

Some of these recipes contain berries. Some babies react to strawberries, raspberries or blackberries, so you may wish to wait until your baby is at least 12 months before introducing those particular recipes. Blueberries, however, are far less likely to cause any reactions.

Smoothies for Babies - Single Serving Fruit Porridge Smoothie

From Aysha in the US

1/4 cup (1 oz) uncooked oatmeal
1/4 cup (2 oz) fresh blueberries (or other berry)
2 tbsp apple juice

1. Place dry oatmeal in blender to break it up.
2. Once oatmeal looks almost like dust, pour in the berries and juice(s).
3. Blend again until berries are chopped up and everything is well mixed and it looks like a smoothie.
4. Now pour mixture from blender to a cup or bowl for your baby to enjoy. Makes one serving.

Smoothies for Babies - Indian Mango Lassi

From Michael in the United States

one whole mango
half cup (4 oz) of plain organic yogurt.
a pinch of nutmeg (or cinnamon)
quarter of a cup (2 fl oz) of organic milk.
half a table spoon of sugar (note from editor - although we understand that sugar is commonly used in making lassi, we recommend omitting it when making lassi for your baby)

You will need a large bowl, a blender, a sharp knife, and a whisk.

1. In the large bowl, pour in the organic yogurt, milk, nutmeg, and sugar (if using).
2. Whisk until all ingredients are well-mixed and fully incorporated together.
3. Add this mixture into your blender.
4. Peel the mango and strip the flesh off the pit. Put this flesh into the blender.
5. Puree until the mango is fully combined with the mixture.

Mesh Feeder For Baby Finger Foods

The thought of offering your baby a piece of food to hold and bite for himself can be a scary one... after all, you've probably been carefully controlling the texture of his food up to now, particularly the size of the pieces he puts into his mouth. Benefits of a Mesh Feeder

stops baby getting 'lumps' of food in his mouthis ideal for teethinghas a 'chill' feature to keep food coolcomes with a storage capcan be used to serve breast milk popsicles!gives great value for money!You may fear that he will - quite literally - bite off more than he can chew, or have trouble 'gumming' the food to the point where he can swallow it.

In fact, we tend to under-estimate our babies' abilities when it comes to dealing with finger foods. Most babies manage perfectly well, some with no teeth whatsoever. Our little ones would usually eat what they could, then simply spit out any tougher pieces or - in the case of certain fruits and veggies - bits of skin.

Nevertheless, the fear may persist. And if you find it's holding YOU back in allowing your baby a little independence at mealtimes, then why not consider using a mesh feeder, sometimes known as a teething feeder?

A mesh feeder is simply a little mesh bag with a handle. You put baby's food into the bag (ideas include raw apple, chunks of banana, frozen blueberries or grapes), then seal it up and give it to your baby.

Your little one can then use the handle to hold on and gnaw away at the bag, creating his own 'puree'.

And the 'puree' is all that will get into his mouth - any peel, seeds or lumpy bits will remain in the bag!

Ideal from around 5 months onwards, the feeder... helps you introduce finger foods WITHOUT the worry!is great for a teething baby - just fill with frozen fruit and all that gnawing will numb baby's gums, stopping the pain (AND the tears!).has a 'chill' feature in the handle, keeping food cool and therefore safe for baby.comes with a storage cap for mess free travel.can be used even BEFORE your baby starts solids... it's a great way to serve breast milk popsicles!is one of those invaluable baby accessories that costs very little but gets used over and over again!

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Homemade Food Coloring and Natural Food Dyes

There are - as yet - no studies that categorically prove artificial food colors and dyes are harmful. But there ARE studies that give cause for concern, suggesting that synthetic food dyes may contribute to conditions like ADHD and even cancer.

And whilst the governments of some countries will insist that certain food colorings are not harmful to health, those same food colorings have been banned in other countries - a fairly strong indication that their true safety is a contentious issue!

This page is not designed to comment or partake in the controversy surrounding artificial food dyes. However, we as a family have certainly read enough to feel it's in the best interests of our children to avoid them!

After all - our little ones have been brought up on homemade baby food, chiefly to AVOID unwholesome and artificial additives, so we certainly don't want to introduce them for purely cosmetic reasons... and particularly when there are natural, healthier alternatives available!

This page, then, is designed to help you transform the color of your baby's food in safe and natural ways, possibly even increasing its nutritional value too!

Whether you're looking for a natural food coloring for the frosting on baby's first birthday cake, for dyeing Easter Eggs, or you simply want to create some pink quinoa to tempt a picky eater, read on to discover some ways to produce a rainbow of colors WITHOUT introducing unhealthy - and unnecessary - additives!

Important note: If any of the ingredients mentioned on this page are new to your baby, please observe the four day rule to enable you to identify the cause of any digestive problem or reaction. And remember - you should always discuss the introduction of new foods with your child's doctor.

To boil: Simply cover the food with water, bring to the boil, then simmer for around one hour, until the water has become infused with the color. DON'T EAT THE FOOD OR USE IT IN YOUR BABY FOOD RECIPES - it will be nutritionally worthless, as all the nutrients will be in the water!

You can then use the colored water to cook (and thereby color) another food. For example, you could use the water from boiling red cabbage to then cook a batch of brown rice. Hey presto - pinky-purple rice!

Alternatively, you can add the colored water directly to foods like frosting, but it's important to remember that the water produced by boiling fruits and veggies does NOT produce a deep color in the foods it's added to.

Instead, it provides more of a 'hue' or 'tint' - still attractive, but not particularly vibrant (so don't expect to produce a bright red dye for Elmo using this method!).

To juice: Either use your juicer or cook (if necessary) and puree the foods, either with a blender or by pushing through a sieve. This will produce a more vibrant color than using the boiling method (above) as the pigment is not diluted by water.

...So bear that in mind, particularly if you're coloring frosting (icing). If you're using a dye produced by the 'boiling' method, you might need quite a lot... and this could make your frosting runny. If your frosting recipe calls for the addition of any liquid (for example, a confectioner's sugar/water icing), reduce the amount you use to compensate for the dye.

Where too much liquid is an issue, you'd probably be better off using the 'juicing' method, where the color is more pronounced and less is needed.

This really depends on which method you used to make the coloring. Dyes made with the 'boiling' method are very dilute and their flavour is barely noticeable - you could even get away with using red cabbage water as a frosting dye, for example. If you feel you CAN taste your dye, you can easily mask it - in a frosting, a drop or two of vanilla should do the trick!

Natural food coloring made from juicing fruits and vegetables will have a stronger flavour - on the other hand, less will be needed as the color is stronger too.

Although it's a good idea to try to pair sweet dyes with sweet foods (don't forget that foods like beets and carrots are sweet!), it's worth experimenting a little. You may find that you can blend a 'savory' dye with a sweet food and still produce a yummy result!

It's possible to blend fruit/veggies directly with the food you're trying to dye (blueberries with frosting, for example, to get a purple-pink frosting). However, this may give you a 'flecked' look and little bits of skin may be visible. Straining the cooked fruit/veg then using the juice itself with give a smoother result and more even color. So sometimes you can avoid boiling/juicing and straining altogether, and simply stir chunks of food that stain (like beets/beetroot) into the food you want to dye. For example, you can turn mashed potato pink by stirring pieces of cooked beets around in it, then removing them before serving. This avoids making the mashed potato too thin by adding liquid to it. advertisement
If you really want a natural food dye but don't have time to make your own, check out these natural food colorings by India Tree. They're made from vegetable extracts, with no synthetic ingredients.

How to get out of the Lunchbox Rut – Easy, Healthy and Fun Recipes

Putting your kid’s lunchbox together can be boring. It involves ticking off a mundane checklist as you quickly fling items in: sandwich – check, fruit or vegetables – check and maybe a biscuit – oh go on then!

A low point was reached the other day. One leftover burger bun from a BBQ the night before covered in a layer of hummus, three slices of cheese and a banana. It was quick and easy but not exactly inspiring. I looked at the mound of beige and yellow inside my son’s Cars lunchbox and as Lightning McQueen grinned away at me I decided to try harder.

My self-imposed mission was to come up with some inspiring ideas that would create a fun lunchbox. The other requirements were that the ingredients had to be included in our weekly food budget, be healthy and could be combined using a quick and simple method.

After some Internet surfing I came across lots of images of really funky kids bento lunchboxes. This is one of my favorite websites: www.justbento.com. It has creative and fun recipes and provides lots of helpful tips. The problem with bento boxes is that while they look awesome they also appear to be expensive, fiddly and time consuming. Just Bento provides options for beginners. Bento box number 74 is not Japanese but it takes just five minutes to assemble and demonstrates some artistic ideas.

The Japanese theme appealed to me so I did some further research and decided to give two sushi style recipes ago. One is from My Recipes and is for coconut frushi and the other is from Domestic Charm and is for a sushi sandwich. These recipes are not traditional but provide an inventive fusion. The coconut frushi is a nigiri style sushi but with coconut milk and not vinegar. Fruit is then placed on top rather than raw fish. The sushi sandwich is just a sandwich presented like sushi but because you can see the contents it is much more visually pleasing.

We had some friends coming over for morning tea so I decided to try the two recipes out to see if they would work well in a lunchbox.

Making use of ingredients we already had would help keep within the weekly budget so I only bought sushi rice (Sun Rice, $3.04 from Pak n Save). I substituted some items in the recipe with what was in the pantry and fridge. My ingredients list was:

Ingredients for coconut frushi

1 ¼ cups of water

1 cup of uncooked sushi rice

¼ cup of white sugar

¼ cup of coconut cream

A dash of salt

Coconut oil

Canned blueberries

Plain natural yogurt

Honey

Combining the rice, sugar, coconut
cream and salt

I followed the My Recipes recipe, which is:

1. Bring water and rice to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until water is almost absorbed. Remove from heat; let stand, covered, 15 minutes.

2. Place rice in a large bowl. Add sugar, coconut cream, and salt, stirring gently until well combined. Cover and let stand for 20 minutes.

3. Lightly coat hands with cooking spray. Divide rice mixture into 20 equal portions, shaping each into a ball (about 1 rounded tablespoon each). Lightly press each rice ball into an oval between palms; place ovals on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Top each of 10 ovals with 1 orange section, and press gently to adhere. Top each of the remaining 10 ovals with 2 raspberries. Cover and chill frushi until ready to serve. Serve with yogurt for dipping.

I stuck to part one and two just as described. Part three is where I made some changes. I didn’t have cooking spray but found that a very small blob of coconut oil (I am sure olive oil would be just as good) rubbed into my hands worked just fine. Making the rice into balls was tricky so I squashed the rice straight into shape in the palm of my clenched fist. The more you squeeze the better they stick. Putting them onto a non-stick baking tray worked well. I used honey to stick the blueberries onto the rice. Honey can also be added to plain natural yogurt to make the dipping sauce.

Ingredients for sushi sandwiches

This time I used the Domestic Charm recipe as a guide as I had different ingredients available. They were:

2 slices of wholemeal bread

4 slices of shaved ham

Two tsp of crème fraiche

All purpose seasoning

8 thin slices of cucumber

To start with I chopped the crusts off the two slices of bread and spread on crème fraiche. I then sprinkled on the all purpose seasoning and placed two pieces of ham onto each slice of bread. Make sure you leave a little bit of space on one edge as this helps the sandwich stick together. I placed four thin slices of cucumber at the other end of the slice of bread and tightly rolled the slices up. I then cut each roll into four pieces so that I had eight in total.

Crème fraiche and all purpose seasoning

I was pleased with the outcome of both but although the coconut frushi was easy to make it did take a while to complete. However, if you want to make them for a lunchbox one morning you could do other tasks during simmering and standing times. The sushi sandwiches were very quick and easy and they are a great alternative to the regular sandwich.

Give the sushi sandwiches a go, they are quick, easy, affordable and look great in a lunchbox. You could try lots of different fillings and create some fantastic colour. If y

ou come up with an awesome combination let us all know.

Michelle Kemp is the Author of Two Weeks to Sleep: A Sensible Guide for First Time Parents and soon to be released Little Book of Routines: A Practical Guide for Mums and Dads.

Michelle is married to James and a proud Mum to their son Max. The three of them love spending time together and experiencing new adventures as a family, whether that's just hanging out at the local park or travelling to new and exciting places. Michelle is passionate about helping families build key foundations in their lives. These foundations are quality sleep, a nutrient rich diet and plenty of movement. Michelle believes that these foundations go a long way towards supporting a full and happy family life.

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Sugar Free Applesauce and Banana Cake For Baby's First Birthday

 

This is what was left of it, anyway.

I did put a little frosting on it for the experience, but it didn't need it for flavor.

I've made this into muffins for him since his birthday, he loves them.

I also like to eat them and my mother in law asked for the recipe! I do NOT recommend putting them into cupcake papers though. They do not come out.

Homemade Infant Cereal - Answers to Your Frequently Asked Questions

IMPORTANT NOTE: This information does NOT constitute medical advice and you should always consult a medical professional before introducing new foods to your baby. It is also important to seek professional medical advice regarding your baby's iron levels.

Commercially produced packets of infant cereal are fortified with iron. Homemade infant cereal is relatively low in iron in comparison.

So does this mean you should avoid giving your baby homemade cereal?

No - it simply means that you shouldn't look on it as a good source of iron and that you should ensure baby receives iron from other food sources.

The exception, of course, would be if your child's pediatrician specifically recommends introducing commercial, iron fortified cereal because your baby needs extra iron (if tests have shown he is iron deficient, for example).

It is extremely important that your baby's iron stores remain at an adequate level, as iron is used by the body to make hemoglobin and is vital for the healthy growth and development of your baby's brain.

If your baby's iron levels are adequate when you begin to introduce solid foods (which can be established by your doctor by a simple blood test) then you can - with your doctor's consent - offer homemade infant cereal instead of the commercial variety if you wish.

It's also a good idea to offer other iron rich foods like avocado. You might also like to add iron rich ingredients like blackstrap molasses or wheat germ into the cereal itself.

Your doctor may even suggest offering meat to your baby - in fact, you'll find meat cropping up more and more often on lists of suggested first foods! Meat is an excellent source of iron, in a form that's easily absorbed by baby's body. Research has shown that you can improve absorption even more by finely pureeing/grinding the meat, which also makes it easy to mix with pureed veggies or even cereal for your baby food beginner.

SHOULD I ADD AN IRON SUPPLEMENT TO MY HOMEMADE INFANT CEREAL?

No - you should never give your baby a supplement of any kind unless recommended by your child's doctor. Too much iron can actually be harmful to your baby (we explain this in more detail here).

On our Baby Cereal Recipe page we describe the process of grinding rice grains in order to achieve a fine powder, which can then be cooked with water to produce a smooth cereal.

We've been asked several times if it's OK to use this powder to thicken runny purees, or add 'bulk' to less filling purees (zucchini puree, for example).

The answer is no, because the ground cereal is raw and very difficult for baby to digest. It must be cooked before you serve it to your little one.

Now, you're probably wondering why this doesn't apply to commercial infant cereals, which are often added in flaked or powdered form as a thickener to purees.

And the reason is that commercial cereal has already been cooked, then dehydrated and processed into powder/flakes etc.

If you want to thicken another food with homemade infant cereal, then simply cook it before stirring it in. Alternatively, check out some other ways to thicken your baby food purees.

You certainly can, although some parents do find the texture has changed a little once it's thawed. We've always found the best remedy is to add a little breast milk (or formula) and vigorously stir it in when the thawed cereal is warmed.

Please note that you should NOT freeze homemade infant cereal that contains previously frozen breast milk.

You can find our tips for freezing baby food - and some great accessories to help you do so - here!

If you're looking to save time when preparing homemade cereal, you have another option besides freezing it...

...and that's simply to grind a week's (or month's) supply ahead of time.

This avoids any textural problems you may encounter with thawed cereal. All you'll need to do is cook the powder before serving (which only takes 10 minutes for rice or oats, or 15 to 20 minutes for barley).

It's a good idea to store your ground cereal in the fridge, particularly if it's a whole grain (such as brown rice) which contains the oily 'germ'. This can go rancid fairly quickly if stored in a warm room.

In our experience, some food processors aren't quite up to the job of grinding grains properly. We've always had the most success with grinding ours in the Magic Bullet advertisement (which we use for just about everything). Another VERY useful tool is a Coffee and Spice Grinder advertisement, which does a great job!

We find the best results come from grinding in smaller batches, so if you're having trouble producing a fine powder, it's worth trying to cut down the amount you're grinding in one go.

If you just can't get your homemade infant cereal powdery enough...

...then you have two options.

Put it through a sieve! This is the most simple, effective method of getting rid of the gritty bits that won't disappear and will leave you with JUST the fine power you're looking for. You can dispense with the step of grinding the grain altogether! Instead, cook the cereal as you would normally, then place it in a good food processor and blend it to a smooth puree, adding breast milk or formula as necessary to create the texture you desire. You can use the technique we recommend in all situations where you're trying to get baby to accept a new food!

Start off by stirring a little of your homemade food into baby's commercial cereal, then serve it to him. The next day, increase the amount of homemade cereal you add by just a little. Continue to increase the quantity of cereal day by day, until eventually (we hope!) your little one will happily accept the 100% homemade variety!

You may be advised to do this by family and friends, particularly if you've mentioned to them that you're tired from waking to feed your baby during the night. And if you ARE tired, you may even be tempted to give it a shot!

But PLEASE do not even consider thickening your baby's formula (or breast milk) with cereal, no matter how many times you hear "Well, it didn't do MY child any harm!".

This practice has the potential to do YOUR child harm, which is reason enough to avoid it altogether!

It may cause him to choke. Young babies are not equipped to swallow anything other than milk. The difficulties in trying to cope with thickened milk could lead your baby to inhale the cereal.

It can lead to weight problems. Your baby has a natural ability to regulate his calorie intake (more on this here). Thickening milk with cereal interferes with this ability and provides too many calories for the volume consumed.

Filling him up with cereal may mean his nutritional needs are not being met. Breast milk or formula provide all the nutrients your baby needs, usually for the first 6 months of life. The quantity of milk he consumes will likely decline when his tummy is full of cereal.

If your objective is to get your baby to sleep through the night, you may find yourself getting even LESS sleep than before! Adding cereal to milk can cause digestion problems like gas, which will keep you both awake, or may even lead baby to poop at night... so you will not only WAKE up, you'll have to GET up, too!

Wakefulness at night WILL pass.

If you're still feeling tempted to add 'bulk' to baby's night-time bottle, please be assured that this stage of night waking will pass.

We have five children - we understand PERFECTLY how you feel... and sleep deprivation is NOT funny! The desperation to gain a few hours extra is enormous, we know. But adding cereal to baby's milk is not the answer - it can be counter-productive at best... and it can also be incredibly harmful.

Remember that your little one only has a small tummy, so those night-time feeds really are necessary - as is the closeness your baby feels from contact with you throughout the night.

Although it feels as if it has gone on FOREVER when you're in the middle of it, the period of waking at night really does seem short when you look back on it... we promise! Baby will settle down at night, particularly when solids are introduced... but at a time when his body is truly ready to digest them effectively.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Some pediatricians will suggest adding cereal to baby's bottle, particularly in cases of infant reflux (although we do sometimes hear from parents who tell us that they not only felt this didn't help their babies keep their milk down, but seemed to make them spit up MORE!). Nevertheless, if your baby has infant reflux, please don't attempt to thicken his milk without your doctor's consent.

We hope you found the answers to any questions you may regarding infant cereal - but please do let us know if the answer to YOUR question isn't listed here.