Homemade Baby Food Recipes

Nutritious and Tasty Baby Food Recipes

Hey! your baby is 6 months old now? Congratulations, your little one is ready for solid foods. I know how eagerly waiting for this moment. It is so much fun watching your baby’s facial expressions when they taste new flavours.

If your baby is 6 months old and your pediatrician recommended you start introducing new foods as a complement to breastfeeding, but you don’t know which ingredients to start with, here I share delicious baby food recipes with the right ingredients that, in addition to being tasty, are very healthy and nutritious.

Baby porridge is one of those foods that lots of parents choose to feed their babies during the early stages of weaning. It’s a great first food; because it’s soft and creamy with a mild flavour.

Going through a weaning journey? check out this post for tips:

https://www.messymom.co/post/weaning-from-breastfeeding

As your baby adapts to the introduction of solid foods; porridges are a good option to feed your baby for several months, up to one year of age. Although the texture of the porridges will be the same in the beginning, the recipes and possibilities for preparing them are endless. You can mix any fruits or vegetables of your choice.

Start introducing new foods and flavours to your diet with these rich and creamy porridge!

Important tip!

Your baby’s first porridges should include a single ingredient so that he/she can better taste the foods separately, their flavours, textures, and colours, and thus you can check that your little one is not allergic to any of them.

1. Apple porridge

Baby foods made from fruits like apples are a great way to introduce your baby to different flavours of food. For your first apple sauce, make sure the fruit is sweet and ripe. This apple porridge is very easy to digest, so it is an excellent food for your baby.

Age: 5 – 6 months or more

Ingredients:

• 1 piece of apple cored and peeled
• 2 tablespoons of water

Method of preparation:

1. Cut the apple into small pieces of the same size.
2. Place the fruit in a saucepan with water and cover.
3. Cook over low heat until tender, 6 to 8 minutes.
4. Then, pass the cooked apple through the blender to obtain a smooth puree, using a little of the water in which you boiled it.
5. Serve warm on your baby’s plate.

Preparing your baby’s porridge is easier than you think and much cheaper than buying prepackaged baby food. In addition to making sure to give her/him fresh and healthy food, choose the appropriate combination of vegetables, fruits, and meat based on their age and food tolerance.

2. Ragi Porridge

Ingredients:

• Roasted Ragi powder 100g. (here)
• Roasted Bengal gram powder 50g.
• Milk or pureed fruits of your choice
• Water
• Jaggery (here)
• Mix roasted dry fruits powder

Method of preparation:

1. Mix the powder ingredients and store them in an airtight container. Use it whenever needed.
2. Add ragi flour to a pan
3. pour water
4. Mix well and ensure there are no lumps, stir often on medium flame.
5. keep stirring and cook until the mixture turns thick and glossy.
6. Then add jaggery.
7. Slowly mix milk into the ragi malt and mix well.
8. Stir well to mix the milk well, add 1/2 tsp. of almond or mixed dry fruits powder if using.

Consuming ragi with fruits high in vitamin C helps in the absorption of iron from Ragi. So, adding apple puree or banana to your ragi malt aids iron absorption.

Important Tip!

Avoid milk when using fruits as they both don’t go simultaneously.

3. Oats Spinach Pancakes

Oats and spinach pancakes are a great breakfast or snack food for your little one, even with older kids also. They are packed with healthy leafy greens and nutritious ingredients to keep their tummies happy. Check out oats here.

Important tip!

Wash green leaves properly and you can also soak your spinach leaves in water with a little vinegar to remove the excess chemicals.

Ingredients:

• Spinach
• Oats or flour
• water
• banana
• Cinnamon
• Ghee/butter/oil

Method of preparation:

1. In a grinder jar pulse the oats to powder.
2. The process is super simple. Just whizz all the ingredients up in a blender, until you have a smooth, bright green batter. The consistency should be slightly thick but still pourable so it can spread itself out in the pan.
3. Heat a non-stick pan. Drizzle some oil.
4. Put a ladle full of batter in the center and allow it to spread. You may flatten it slightly with the back of the ladle. Do not spread much.
5. Cover and cook. The pancake will rise a little.
6. Flip the pancake when light bubbles start to form. Cook the other side uncovered.

Oat pancakes are gluten-free and vegan. This pancake is sugar and egg-free as bananas act as both a natural sweetener and an egg substitute. You can also add a little honey to the mixture. This can be given to babies after a gluten-free age.

Important tip!

Some moms add milk also, but I am not using it as according to Ayurved, fruits and milk are the most incompatible foods.

4. Sweet Dalia/Broken Wheat Porridge (10 months)

Ingredients:

• Dalia – 1 cup
• Cashew nuts – 4-5
• Almond – 1
• cardamom -1/4th tsp.
• jaggery to taste
• Milk – 2 cups
• Ghee – 1-2 cups

Method of preparation:

1. Roast Almonds and Cashews in ghee and keep them aside. Powder it.
2. In the same pan add Dalia and saute it for a few minutes, stir well while roasting.
3. Once a sweet smell starts rising from it, add milk slowly and keep stirring for a while. Cover the pan with a lid and let it boil.
4. Add nuts powder and cardamom.
5. add little jaggery.
6. Cook it over the flame for 15min. Add milk to adjust the thickness.
7. Serve warm

5. Veggies Dalia/Broken wheat (11 months)

As your baby starts eating more solids, you can add some fresh, healthy veggies to your dalia.

Ingredients:

• Dalia -1 cup (here)
• Cumin seeds
• Peas – 1/2 cup
• Carrots (finely chopped) – 1
• Onion (finely chopped) – 1/2 cup
• Curry leaves
• potato (small) -1
• Homemade Ghee – 2 tp.
• Salt to taste
• Turmeric – pinch
• Water as required

Method of preparation:

• Take little ghee in a pan, Saute the dalia in it until it turns golden brown. Transfer it to a plate and keep it aside.
• Heat the ghee again in another cooker then add the cumin seeds.
• Once the cumin seeds start popping, add the curry leaves and onions, and sauté them for a while.
• Then add the vegetables and turmeric and mix well.
• Add a pinch of salt then cover the pan with a lid, and let it cook for a few minutes.
• Next, add some water followed by the roasted Dalia, and stir it to prevent lumps from being formed.
• Allow one whistle to sound before turning off the flame.
• Give it to your baby like this or you can mash it a little bit.

6. Sabudana(sago seeds)porridge

Sabudana porridge is best during diarrhea or loose motions as it gives instant energy. It is also ideal for small babies from 6 months as a weight-gaining food. It has pure forms of starch and carbohydrates, which are great for babies. It is also rich in nutrients that help in the baby’s physical development.

Ingredients:

• Sabudana/Sago – 1/4 cup
• Sugar – 1 tbsp
• Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp
• Ghee – 1 tsp optional
• Water – as needed

Method of preparation:

• Soak sago in water for 1hr. Soaking time depends on the sago variety. Then wash the sago well in running water 2- 3 times and drain the water. In a saucepan, take the drained sago and add water till it is immersed level. Cook on a low flame until sago becomes transparent. (give it 1 whistle)
• Add the boiled milk now to the cooked sago and mix well. Simmer for 5 minutes until the milk thickens. To avoid curdling, keep the pan on a low heat.
• Add cardamom powder and give it a quick stir. Then add sugar and mix well till it dissolves.
• Cook for five more minutes until the sago is blended well with milk. Switch off the flame once done.

Important tips:

You can add honey instead of sugar and saffron according to your kid’s age.

7. Phool Makhana Porridge

First, make the Phool makhana mixture and keep it in an airtight container. Use this mixture whenever you want to make Phool makhana porridge.

• Take one roasted makhana, eat one & check whether it’s crispy and not chewy. Once the makhana is roasted well, remove it from the pan and switch off the flame. In the same pan, add cashews and roast them for 30 seconds. Remove it from the pan and cool it down.
• Transfer the roasted Phool makhana, roasted cashews, and cardamom to a blender/mixer/food processor. Grind them to a smooth powder. Cool it down and store it in an airtight container.

Ingredients:

• Homemade Phool Makhana Cereal – 1/2 cup (here)
• Hot Water – 3/4 cup
• Ghee -1/4th tsp optional
• Dates syrup/any sweetener/fruit puree – 1-2 tbsp optional

Method of preparation:

1. Take 1/2 cup of Phool makhana cereal in a bowl. Add hot water little by little and mix well with a spoon or whisk. Make sure there are no lumps remained.
2. Add sweetener at this stage if using. Give a quick stir. Add melted ghee at the end and mix well.
3. You could also use 3/4 cup of boiled cow’s milk or breast milk instead of water for babies above one year.

The instant Phool makhana porridge is ready! Feed your baby warm!

This is best if you are traveling with your baby.

https://www.messymom.co/post/travel-tips-for-flying-with-kids

8. Vegetable Upma

Ingredients:

• Semolina (Sooji/Rava) ¾ cup (here)
• Mustard Seeds ¼ tsp
• Asafoetida1 pinch (here)
• Turmeric Powder 1 pinch
• Jeera Powder ½ tsp
• Mashed Vegetables 3-4 tbsp
• Ghee2 tbsp
• salt to taste
• Chopped Coriander Leaves
• 2 cups Water

Method of preparation:

1. Turn on the gas stove and heat the pan.
2. Add sooji to the pan and roast it on low flame for around 5 minutes. Keep stirring it as it’s roasting.
3. As the sooji starts turning to a light brown colour, add 1 tbsp of ghee to it.
4. Continue roasting it for a couple of more minutes while stirring it.
5. Add water. You can add 2 cups of water if you want a runny up which will be better and easier to eat for kids younger than 1 year. You can add 1 cup of water if you are making it for older kids.
6. Once the sooji is boiling, lower the flame and let it sit and simmer and stop when it has reached the consistency you prefer.
7. Take another pan and heat it.
8. To this pan, add ghee and jeera powder.
9. Stir it and add turmeric powder and asafoetida.
10. To the pan, add mashed vegetables.
11. To prepare mashed vegetables, take fresh vegetables according to your or your baby’s preference, and boil them. Once boiled properly, mash them finely depending on the consistency you want.
12. After mixing vegetables in the second pan, add it to the cooked sooji and mix well.
13. After mixing, your Upma is ready. Add some ghee before serving it.

Try this homemade popsicle for your older kid, a fun way for children and adults to experiment in the kitchen is to make homemade fruit popsicles.

Easy home made fruits popsicle

Important tips:

• Skip the sweetener for babies under one year. Use any fruit puree, mashed sweet potatoes, date syrup, or raisin paste (soak raisins overnight and make a paste with a little water using a blender and add it)
• Always check with your doctor before giving any new food to your baby.

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