Creamy Mango Oatmeal | Baby & Toddler Food Ideas

Did you know that Oatmeal with fruits is a delightful breakfast. After my attempt with Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal, I have been looking ways to sneak in fruits to oatmeal. This is another one of my successful try in making my LO love oatmeal. A sweet and creamy mango oatmeal with a hint of cardamom is more like pudding than a oatmeal. LO didn't make any fuss on seeing the bright sunshine colored breakfast. Now that he is identifying colors, he loves to have a colorful breakfast. Yellow as in Mango Oatmeal and Blue in his Blueberry oatmeal (his another favorite).

Ingredients:
Rolled oats - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Whole milk - 1/4 cup or more
Cubed Fresh Mango - 1/2 cup + more for topping
Sugar/Honey - 1 tsp
Cardamom powder - a pinch
Salt - a dash

Method:
Mix the oats with water and salt in a microwave proof bowl. Microwave for 1-1/2 minutes. Mix once and cook another half a minute. Puree the mango with milk. Mix the mango puree with the oatmeal and cook another minute in the microwave pausing and mixing once in the 30 seconds mark. Allow 2-3 minutes of standing time. Mix the sugar if using and serve warm topped with cut mango cubes.
Notes: For babies less than 10 months, use an immersion blender to puree the warm oatmeal before serving

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Banana Oatmeal Peanut Butter Muffins | Infant & Toddler Food Ideas

Planning for a make-ahead snack for my LO always seems to be challenge. The challenge does not lie in making something but making something he likes. He is turning to be more picky (ahem, guess like who??). It is easy to count the number of things he likes these days. This is one muffin which he actually liked, so I decided to post under Baby and Toddler Foods section. This muffin is butter-free. The peanut butter acts as a butter substitute and makes it super peanut-buttery. I can't talk enough on the good-for-you factors in these muffins. With Oatmeal, whole wheat flour, peanut butter, banana and cinnamon it talks for itself.

Ingredients:
Makes 12 regular sized muffins
Adapted from recipe here
Old fashioned / Rolled oats - 3/4 cup
All-purpose flour / Maida - 3/4 cup
Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup (can substitute AP flour)
Cinnamon - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 1 tbsp
Ripe Bananas - 2 (about 1 cup mashed)
Peanut butter - 1/3 cup
Brown sugar, packed - 2/3 cup (see notes below)
Egg - 1 (room temp)
Milk - 1-1/4 cups (room temp)
Vanilla extract -  1 tsp
Optional Cinnamon Sugar topping:
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Cinnamon - 1 tsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a muffin pan with liners. Whisk the flours, oats, cinnamon, salt and baking powder well. In a large mixing bowl, add the bananas and mash them with a fork. You may really do not want a hand mixer, a whisk even. All my mixing was done with the humble fork. Add the peanut butter and egg to the mashed bananas and mix well. Next add the sugar and mix until it dissolves. Add the milk, vanilla and mix again. Now add the flour mixture in 3 additions and mix until no trace of dry flour remains. Divide equally among the muffin cups and bake for about 18-20 minutes.
Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar topping when still warm.
Notes: 
These muffins are not overly sweet and was just right. If you want sweeter muffins use 3/4 cup of brown sugar.

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Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal | Baby & Toddler Food Ideas

Mealtimes are always a challenge with little ones. They become more picky as they grow. Feeding my LO with a healthy balanced meal has always been a tricky task for me. But sneaking in "healthy stuff" into something he eats has been working so far. Touch wood! My LO likes, well like is too strong a word when it comes to his eating. He likes eats oatmeal when it is a little sweet. But he has never been a big fan of fruits except for bananas. So I sneaked in an apple to his breakfast bowl. That satisfies his daily fruit serving and since apple is sweet, he doesn't notice :).

Ingredients:
Serves - 1
Rolled (old fashioned) oats - 1/2 cup
Water - 3/4 cup
Whole milk - 1/4 cup
Apple - 1 medium
Cinnamon - 1/4 tsp
Salt - a dash
Sugar - 1-2 tsp

Method:
Peel, core and chop the apples. Blend to make a puree. In a medium Microwave-proof bowl, mix the oats and water. Cook in the microwave oven for 1-1/2 minutes. Mix once and microwave again for 30 seconds. Mix the apple puree, cinnamon, salt and milk and microwave again for 30 to 60 seconds. Allow a minute or two of standby time (allowing it to rest in the microwave undisturbed). Mix in the sugar per taste and serve.
Notes: For babies less than 10 months old, use a hand blender to puree the cooked oatmeal before serving.

Linking this up to Healthy Diets: Healthy Breakfasts event of Priya hosted by Nandoos Kitchen and to Srivalli's Come Join Us for Breakfast.

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Spinach Dhal Rice for Toddlers | Infant & Toddler Food Ideas

Like any new mom when it came to start solids for my little one I had millions of questions. Though most of those questions I had were silly I couldn't brush them off as silly at that stage. I used to ask friends and family "Can I give that?", "How much of that?", "Really, Can I give that?". But then I got a hang of it after two months into solids. In South India, a baby's first solid food would generally be Ragi Kanji (finger millet porridge). The millet is soaked overnight, ground in a wet grinder and the milk extracted is then boiled to make porridge. After the Ragi Kanji, the next food introduced is Paruppu Sadham (Rice and Split peas).
When you first start dhal rice for your baby try this simple basic recipe. (Pressure) cook 1 fistful of rice with 1 fistful of any dhal with a small piece of garlic and a dash of salt and turmeric powder. Mash well and add a drop or two of ghee. Serve warm. This recipe below can be tried when your baby has tasted moong dhal, toor dhal and spinach earlier.

Ingredients:
Rice - 1/2 cup
Toor dhal - 1/4 cup
Moong dhal - 1/4 cup
Spinach - a handful - chopped
Onion - 2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - a pinch
Garlic cloves - 2
Chilli powder / Pepper Powder - a pinch
Salt - to taste
Ghee  -  a few drops

Method:
Wash and soak the rice and dhal for 30 minutes. This soaking step is really important for a creamy smooth dhal rice, which the little ones go gah-gah over. In a pressure cooker, heat oil and splutter the cumin seeds. Add the chopped onions and whole garlic cloves and fry until the onions are cooked. Next add the chilli powder, salt and spinach. Cook until the spinach wilts. Drain the rice-dhal and add to the cooker. Add 3 cups of water, cover and pressure cook for 3 whistles. Drizzle ghee, mash well and serve.

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Carrot Rice for Infants | Infant & Toddler Food Ideas

I had been wanting to start a section for Baby and Toddler Foods for a while now. Kavin is now 19 months and pretty much eats whatever I make for us. Of course mealtimes are fuss times. Now that he had started saying "enough" (in our language), he starts saying enough midway through his meal or sometimes even after the first spoon. On some days when I have leftovers for me to finish, I make some of his favorites. These recipes I will be posting here are Kavin-approved tasty baby foods.

Ingredients:
Serves - 1;
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Carrots - chopped - 1 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Salt - a pinch
Pepper - a pinch
Ghee - 1/2 tsp

Method:
In a closed saucepan, cook the chopped carrots with water and a pinch of salt and pepper. When the carrots are completely through, cool it a little and puree in the blender. Mash the cooked rice when it is still hot and mix in the ghee and pureed carrots. Serve warm. 
Notes:
Baby age - 7 months and above. Make sure you have already introduced rice and carrots to your baby, not necessarily together.

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