Fudgelet Food: Part 2

I haven’t written about the Fudgelet’s food for awhile. It doesn’t mean I haven’t been making him food, but I have just been lazy about sharing it on here–sorry! He has been getting a whole variety, with different meats, vegetables, fruits, and snacks from the store. I started him on some store food because 1) it was easy finger food to give him practice picking up and chewing (especially before he had a tooth) and 2) I knew that when we visited Maryland I would want to just buy store food and give it to keep things easy. Eventually he will be doing regular table food, but since he is not ready yet, we wanted to make sure he would eat the store purees, and not just Mommy’s. 🙂

The most “ambitious” recipe so far has been when I made vegetable stock (my first ever) to then make a chicken dish for him. Since then, I have used water to help puree other meat instead of doing all of this. Although, it did smell and taste good. And he liked it. But he also liked the easier stuff, soooo. 😉

Chicken breasts were his first meat, and then later he had chicken thighs and ground beef.

Lots of vegetables mixed with the meat help it taste sweet and familiar.

I also decided to make bread for him. This way, I knew what was in it (he isn’t allowed to have honey yet, for example), and it was a new project for me. It turned out pretty well. He did so-so with the bread, so I froze it to bring it out again as he gets better with food.

A finger food that has been a hit is apples! Regular apple is a bit tricky to eat, obviously…

But steaming small, peeled pieces is something he likes. They work warm or cold, and he can easily pick them up and gum them.

Another food I tried was congee. I made it the same way as ours, and actually started it together with ours in the rice cooker. Just rice and water, and then on the stove I did his separately. All of the same seasonings—sesame oil, garlic powder, cilantro, green onions, etc., but no soy sauce. He really liked it. I pureed it to help with the texture of the green onions and cilantro, and then mixed it with different purees on different days. The first day I mixed it with a chicken puree, and later I used vegetable purees. He loved them all.

Other foods that have taken some practice, but that he now loves, are blueberries, raspberries, pieces of (mild/medium) cheddar, any of the store puffs, extra fluffy scrambled eggs (especially with a bit of ricotta), steamed spinach (he can pick up mini piles of it), and other steamed vegetables like carrots, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.

He is a messy eater, but at least he enjoys most food and has fun at meals. We have to tell him to stop dancing while he eats–uh oh!

 

Over the last couple of months, the Fudgelet has started eating three meals a day, most of the time. Breakfast is usually some puffs. Lunch is cereal with fruit pieces, and sometimes other treats, too. Dinner usually has at least one puree (often a protein), some sort of vegetable (finger food or puree), and then other finger foods (fruit, puffs, etc.). He knows when it is mealtime now, which is cute. It’s nice having a routine. I look forward to how his meals will change as he gets more teeth!

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