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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>Nik's Mommy</strong></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">(The only thing I disagree with, is some of the recipes include olive oil. I don't think oils are necessary for a child under 1.) <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/love.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="love"></div>
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Why? I keep hearing things like this (also about protein) but I don't understand why. I added flax oil to dd's baby food. And I wouldn't be concerned about small amounts of olive oil. My thinking was that after a certain age (around 8-9 months) the solid foods component of baby's diet should be well balanced in terms of fats, proteins and carbs. Unless of course you're exclusively BF then it's not an issue. Mind you, I've never seen any research either way. It seems a lot of people are content to feed mostly carbs (ie fruits and veges) even to older babies. Yet we keep hearing that fats are very important for brain development and protein for growth. BM is fine but if solids start to comprise a large part of baby's diet, then don't they need some more fat and protein too?<br><br>
Anyway recipes:<br><br>
We did ground millet/lentil cereal (a la Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron) and I added soaked, dried pureed prunes and apricots and then some blackstrap molasses for extra iron to it. This was cause dd didn't tolerate rice or oatmeal.<br><br>
At 9 mo, a lot of people start yogurt. I'd buy the organic, frozen strawberries from TJ or WFs and mash one into her plain yogurt. She loved that. You can add raw wheatgerm to the yogurt too - adds lots of vitamins and minerals plus it thickens it a bit so they eat it off the spoon easier.<br><br>
Also for 9mo+, beans cooked with veges and/or meat and then pureed. It's like refried beans but healthier. dd loves it. You can also just puree a tin of cooked beans and add some flavorings. After you heat it, you can thin it out with some yogurt which makes it nice and creamy.<br><br>
Barley and vege soup (onion, carrot, celery, mushroom work well)- cook it and puree it. The barley makes the soup creamy. Another dd favorite.<br><br>
My dd liked well flavored food. So I'd saute onions, garlic and green beans til really soft then puree them. Later, after 12 mo, I added tomatoes to this mix. It's one of her faves.<br><br>
Egg yolk is ok after 9 mo but my dd didn't like yolk that was hard boiled. So I 'fried' it in the pan. If I added chopped cilantro to it, she LOVED it.<br><br>
Books I found useful were:<br><br>
Simply Natural Baby Food by Cathe Olsen (on the Good Eating and nutrition forum) and<br>
Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron
