Vegetable Curry

A great thing about introducing solid foods to your baby using baby-led solids is that you can develop your baby's flavor palate early. Example: curry! Don't be nervous to give your baby spicy foods. If you regularly eat spicy or strong flavors, then your baby has already tasted them via amniotic fluid and breastmilk. Besides, have you ever thought about what Indian babies eat when they're starting out on solid foods? I'm sure they don't even bat an eye at curry!

Our vegetable curry recipe comprised: tofu, cauliflower, chick peas (very soft), onions and sweet potato. Though I didn't know it at the time, I made the mistake of trying this meal when Buttercup was in a crabby mood. At first she wouldn't even touch the pile of food I gave her. I gave her a slice of banana try and pique her interest in food, and suddenly she was sampling all the food on her tray.

Buttercup ate leftovers for lunch the next day and ate a ton of it. Of course, everyone knows that curry is always better the next day.

PROS: great for building adventurous eaters

CONS: somewhat messy/staining

Chicken Tikka Masala

Buttercup has had curry before, but it was milder. This time we gave her a medium tikka masala. It wasn't too hot, but it did have some kick to it. She didn't seem to mind the spice, and enjoyed the meal. My recipe contains chicken, onion, potatoes, peas and tomatoes. 


Unfortunately, I have discovered that spicy foods do not do well in mouths that have teeth cutting through the gums. I learned this the hard way one evening with fajitas (which Buttercup usually loves). She screamed with every bite until I finally realized what was going on and replaced the cayenne pepper-laden food with banana, but I digress.


I gave Buttercup a mound of the curry mixture over a little pile of brown rice and topped it with some homemade yogurt to cool it down a bit. Buttercup picked through each piece, but ate everything she was offered including the rice and yogurt, which she usually ignores. All in all, I was pretty proud of my little girl for embracing this meal. I didn't learn to appreciate curry until I was in my 20's, but at the tender age of 11 months Buttercup is loving international flavors!


PROS: develops the palate
CONS: stains skin (and bibs, and bathtub, and my khakis)

Thai Curry (baby corns, bamboo)

We continued with our curry theme and introduced Buttercup to the wonderful world of "jungle mixed vegetables curry" from our local thai restaurant. It is my favorite and I order it every time (after all, why try something else when you already know what the best thing on the menu is?). Check out the menu description: 

• Jungle Mixed Vegetables
• slightly spicy a vegetarian delight, snow peas, bell peppers, cashew, tomatoes, bamboo shoots, baby corn, cucumber, mushroom and tofu or chicken, cooked in cream, coconut milk and house spices

I ordered it with the tofu, and while I obviously didn't give Buttercup any of the cashews (hello, choking hazard), I did give her everything else. It was Buttercup's first experience eating baby corns and bamboo shoots, and she adored the baby corns. I always thought baby corns were just a fun-looking filler, but it turns out they are actually quite good for you. They are a good source of folate, vitamin B and fiber, and are also rich in several other nutrients such as potassium, vitamin B6, riboflavin, vitamin C. Plus, there is something about a baby eating baby corns that is extremely cute. Try it - you'll agree.


I think Buttercup particularly enjoyed the variety this meal afforded her, which is exactly why I like it. Well, sorry to cut this short, but I've gotta go and place an order for lunch now... 


PROS: nutritious veggies
CONS: none

Spinach

I can never decide what my favorite thing about baby-led solids is. Some days it's the simplicity of it - how I never have to buy or make purees and spend time spooning food into my baby's mouth. Sometimes it's the fact that my little baby eats things like curry, fish, or gjetost. And, sometimes it's the fact that my baby's diet mainly consists of fresh, healthy foods and she loves it! 


Whilst making myself a sandwich one day I threw a couple of my spinach leaves Buttercup's way. I didn't really expect her to do much more than play with them. But, being the omnivore she is, she ate them. Seriously, this kid will eat anything. This has its downfalls, especially when she's playing on a not-freshly-vacuumed floor or outside, for example. One of Buttercup's favorite non-foods is paper. She loves tearing apart and chewing on paper. While I don't endorse paper as a good food for babies (and feverishly try to prevent Buttercup from eating it), I guess all of her practice at eating books paved the way for her to successfully enjoy spinach leaves. HA HA!


Buttercup has had cooked spinach mixed into dishes before (and blended into her smoothies), but this was the first time she ate raw spinach. She tore the little leaves apart and ate them much in the same way she eats every little piece of paper she can get her hands on. I was curious how she would deal with the spines, but she ended up tearing the leaves off the spines, and left the spines alone. I was also interested to see if Buttercup would gag on little bits of leaf getting hung up in her throat. While she did cough a few times, she didn't have any problems with it. However, I wouldn't recommend this to babies just starting down the baby-led solids path. Also, I suggest buying organic spinach, as spinach is one of the "dirty dozen."


PROS: great nutritious superfood, no prep
CONS: not for the BLS newbie


***UPDATE: The evening I posted this we gave Buttercup raw spinach leaves again. She coughed a lot more than she did the first time. So, I guess I'm saying "be careful."***