Wean we, wean will, rock your tiny tummy: Sweetcorn Mac & Cheese
October 25, 2020
Like everything in baby world, weaning looks different for every parent and child... but people are going to have OPINIONS.
Best thing is to take advice from the professionals, use a great big dollop of common sense and parental intuition, and ultimately do what works for you and your baby. If that means starting with home made or supermarket bought smooth purees: excellent; If it means waiting until some teeth sprout and going for self feeding and finger foods: amazing; if it's any combination of those, plus or minus other ideas and approaches that are heathy in body and mind for you and your kiddo: FANFUCKINGTASTIC.
For the easy to read, no life story recipe, scroll to the bottom for a downloadable PDF
We're doing some purees, some mashes, and some finger foods at the moment. Also some mashed potato from the lunch I had at the pub last week and the scrambled egg she grabbed off her dad's breakfast plate the other morning like a god dam shark baby.
I also find it's also good to view weaning recipes as inspiration to jump from- you know your baby best and what they're ready for. This recipe allows you to adjust the texture whilst introducing some whole grain alongside a familiar vegetable, and a little bit of dairy. We're finding it a good starting point for combining food groups and mastering a thicker, mashed texture- but as the pasta should be cooked very soft it could be pureed completely or left whole for more accomplished noshers.
Sweetcorn Mac & Cheese
Ingredients:
- Handful of wholegrain pasta- shape isn't that important if you plan to mash or puree, but fusilli or penne work well for little hands to grab if you're at that stage
- Small can of sweetcorn or equivalent of frozen (about 200g)
- Milk, enough to cover the corn in a small plan, about 60ml
- Mild cheddar cheese, a piece about the size of your thumb, finely grated
As you can tell from the ingredients list, this really is just intended to be an inspo recipe rather than an exact science!
Cook the pasta in unsalted water until it's very, very soft. Wholegrain pasta is a great option to introduce grains to your little one, it tastes much the same to tiny taste buds as it's white cousin, but it has more nutrients gram for gram. Drain and set it aside- you can save a few pieces as finger food if you want to introduce pasta alone before the combination 'dish'.
Pop the sweetcorn in a small saucepan and add enough milk to just cover it. Bring it to the boil and simmer for a few minutes until the corn is hot through and soft.
Poor the milk and corn into a blender, or use an immersion blender, to blend into a smooth sauce. Say 'blend' one more time for luck.
Stir in the finely grated cheese into the sweetcorn sauce, it should be warm enough to melt into it smoothly but if you've been called to wipe a toddler's bum/breastfeed/fell asleep standing up for a few glorious moments and it's cooled a bit too much, just pop it back in the saucepan to melt the cheese.
Add the pasta and stir through. Mash, blend or leave it as is suitable for your tiny person. It will keep in the fridge well for a couple of days. Serve it by zapping in the microwave for a few seconds and stirring through to make sure there's no dangerous hot spots before getting baby involved.
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