Sugar and the baby

Don't give sugar to your baby.

That would be my original post, no further discussion, but I guess I need to support my bold opinion. 

Why would you? I mean, sugar.

Babies and children get enough sugar with products they eat, especially fruit, veggies or starches. Sugar is necessary for body functioning, though it's fully enough of the natural one. It's a big issue especially during big gatherings like Christmas or coming Easter when bunnies and Easter eggs are everywhere and grandparents, relatives show up holding Kinder Surprise eggs or other goodies. How to deal with that?

Well, I am not shy about this - straight forward - my baby does not eat sugar, thank you for your gifts, it will be well taken care of by me :)

By the way, I truly apologize to my friend when I showed up with massive chocolates for her 2 year old, I didn't have my baby then.

Sugar is evil, unhealthy in all the ways. So be wise and brave. Too much sugar rotens teeth, causes tummy aches, rises energy levels, can cause diabetes, messes hormones and ruins taste receptors, especially for little ones. The biggest worry of mine are roten teeth! Imagine your own tooth pain, so explain that to a small child, plus they normally need narcosis in order to fix their teeth. Just type in google images chidren teeth decay, you will see, 'yummy' images. I think they should put those images on every chocolate bar or baby food thats contains sugar:) like disturbing images on cigarette packs.

I always read all the ingriedients on the packages of baby food, especially snacks. So if it says unrefined sugar, still it doesn't mean it is healthy as usually it is processed. Therefore, unrefined, not processed sugar is the best and that comes from natural products!

Sugar is addictive, so later you give it to your baby, healthier he will be. Anyway, there will be someone else who will give his first chocolate to your baby and it will be 'because he really wanted it' :)

Yours,

niom niom by Mama  xxx

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Pancakes and all other yummy, chewy goodies!

Pancakes are awesome! All sorts of pancakes, not only sweet ones. I could be alive on those myself :)
Probably around month 8, I have started giving Benjamin food with chewy bits and as he already had 8 teeth, he constantly wanted to chew. Smoothly mashed purees are not that very good all the time as baby grows, he needs to learn how to chew and eat more normal food. As I have mentioned earlier, I am really afraid of baby choking, and as I had already few times where I had Benjamin on my knees to ''unchoke'' him....but probably it's the way to learn, isn't? So I have found that pancakes are a really awesome start to eating normal food. And that's how babies learn about texture and food, they can rip pancakes apart, feel whats inside (Benjamin eats those only using his hands, so it's everywhere!). If ingredients are a bit chunky, I just mash them before putting into a pancake mass. First pancakes that I have made were without any egg, so I have chosen stickier ingredients in order to glue it together, like: buckwheat or chickpeas. When Benjamin started eating egg, probably around month 8 or the end of 7th, I have mixed egg yolk into pancakes. I cook food that need sticking together in the oven, using no oil or no other fat. Pancakes are perfect for any day of time really, normally I make them for dinner as it's an easy meal before going to sleep.

And there's meat balls. Nothing new about them probably. I have already made meat balls from minced chicken and beef. When making with beef, I always put some veggies inside, so it would't be that dry. And when the meat ball is made I roll it in bread crumbs or corn grits and cook it in the oven! Normally I freeze what's left so to have it for future meals. I am really looking to buy a meat mincer so I could do it at home!
The whole food I make, I steam it in the baby food steamer from Avent. Amazing device, really recommended for home cooking mums as it blends at the same time!

So enough about the process, I will share few recipes that I have already tried and it's Niom Niom!!!

Potato Pancakes

They are very popular in Lithuania, it is one of national foods. But the original ones, I think, are too heavy for baby, so I made a lighter version. I haven't used any egg until he started eating one. So without eggs, pancakes get a bit soft and not sticking together, but that's fine, as it gets ripped in the first place!

Potatoes (cooked)

Zucchini (cooked) - can use any preferred veggie instead

Cook in the oven for until it sticks together, turn around and cook a bit more (total 15 min., watch out for burning!)

Combinations of these that I have made, were: 

Potato+broccoli 

Potato+zucchini+carrot+broccoli

Pancakes with meat

Turkey 

Buckwheat

Zucchini

Carrot

All the ingredients steamed before shaping into pancakes. I used egg yolk to put them together. 15 min. in the oven. These ones were a hit!

Buckwheat Pancakes

Buckwheat is awesome for pancakes as it's sticky. And really yummy!

Buckwheat    

Broccoli 

Potato

or

Buckwheat

Couscous

Broccoli

or

Buckwheat

Carrot + Zucchini + Broccoli

Any combinations really. Depends on what your baby likes, what you have in the fridge at that moment.

The latest one's I have made were a bit sweeter pancakes, but its natural sugar, didn't harm anyone yet:)

Sweet Potato

Banana

Cinnamon

Sweet potato is actually a discovery for me as in Lithuania we don't use it that much, but it's amazingly tasty, Benjamin loves it.

Pumpkin

Apple

Banana

Cinnamon

Chickpeas and broccoli balls - chickpeas are full of proteins, same as chicken or beef and doesn't contain any fats. Pancakes or balls made of chickpeas are a bit dry, but very good to chew. Chickpeas need immersing into water before cooking at least for 6 hours. Really yummy!

Another tip would be that pancakes and meat balls are not very suitable for journeys and trips. Not because it tastes different then, but because the bits are falling everywhere and it is a great mess after eating it! 

Keep calm and eat pancakes!

Yours,

niom niom by Mama  xxx

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