Recipes

Vegetarian Weaning Recipes

What? Recipes plus Tried & Tested practical tips on weaning and more food ideas

Key to abbreviations
tsp: teaspoon
dsp: dessertspoon
tbsp: tablespoon

Swede, Parsnip or Sweet Potato Purée

Make like carrot purée. Sweet purees like parsnip and sweet potato are particularly useful. Babies usually love them and other less popular vegetables such as cabbage and cauliflower become palatable when mixed with them. Sweet potatoes can also be baked like ordinary potatoes but take less time to cook.

Apple or Pear Sauce

Use sweet apples or pears only, not tart ones that require added sweetening.

1. Peel, core and slice the fruit and cook in 2-3 tbsp of water until tender
2. Purée, adding a little extra boiled water if necessary to make a soft consistency.

Banana

1. Mash the flesh of a very ripe banana thoroughly with a fork
2. Add a little cooled, boiled water if necessary to make a soft consistency.

Avocado

1. Cut in half, scoop out and mash the flesh
2. Add a few drops of cooled boiled water if necessary.
3. Good with some fresh banana for a sweeter mixture.

Courgette

1. Cut off the ends and cut into small pieces.
2. Cook in a minimum of unsalted water until tender.
3. Purée with enough cooking water to make a soft consistency.

Pumpkin

1. Peel and remove the seeds.
2. Cut the flesh into pieces and cook in a little boiling water until tender.
3. Purée.

Tomato

Suitable raw or cooked.

1. Sieve cooked tomato to remove the seeds.
2. Scald and peel raw tomato and cut out the core, then mash.
3. You can remove the seeds if you like, but the jelly around them is a valuable source of soluble fibre.

Grated Apple or Pear

Choose sweet apples and well-ripened pears. Peel and grate finely.

Peaches, Apricots, Sweet Cherries, Mangoes, Papaya, Kiwi Fruit

Choose really ripe fruit, remove the skin and pips or stones and mash the flesh thoroughly. These are often especially popular.

Broccoli, Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts, Green Cabbage

1. Wash and trim.
2. Cook in a minimum of unsalted water until tender (they should be mashable but not soggy).
3. Purée with a little of their cooking water.
4. Cooked cabbage and brussel sprouts can create intestinal gas - if this is a problem, mix with another vegetable purée such as carrot. In fact the addition of a sweet vegetable like carrot, parsnip or sweet potato helps to make the less popular vegetables palatable.

Spinach

1. Wash thoroughly, remove the stems and shred the leaves.
2. Cook in a saucepan with a little extra water until spinach is tender.
3. Purée.
4. Don’t give more than once or twice a week as the oxalic acid content affects the body’s absorption of some minerals.

Dried Apricots, Prunes, Pears, Peaches, Apples

1. Wash, then cover with boiling water and soak overnight.
2. Next day, simmer until tender.
3. Remove pits from prunes.
4. Purée.
5. Can have a rather laxative effect!

Baby Rice Cereal

This is the best first cereal to give because it is the least likely to cause allergic reactions. Choose one fortified with additional iron and B vitamins, and make up with liquid according to the directions on the pack.

Potatoes

1. Scrub.
2. Bake or boil in unsalted water.
3. Scoop potato out of the skins and mash.
4. Very finely chopped green vegetables can also be added, such as watercress or raw spinach leaves, or mashed tofu.

Corn, Peas, Green Beans

1. Boil until tender and purée.
2. Fresh or frozen are fine; canned are not advised because of the salt and sugar they contain.

Muesli

1. Buy a mix without sugar and other additives, or make your own from oats and raisins, then grind to a powder.
2. Moisten with water, fruit juice or plain soya yoghurt.
3. Sprinkle with wheat germ, mix well
4. Powdered seeds or grated apple or pear can be added.

Wholewheat Bread

From six months onward, a little crustless bread can be added to vegetable purées. The bran in 100% wholegrain bread and flour is too laxative for some babies; an 81-85% bread (preferably with added wheat germ for extra iron) is often a better choice for babies under two years old.

Introduction | Foods for Weaning and How to Prepare Them | Tried & Tested by Viva! Babies