Category: BABY FOOD

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BABY FOOD

I am happy to share with you here the first episode of Mother’s Spell Recipes for making easy, healthy food for babies. Food is so important and I would like to encourage each mother out there to go online and read about the importance of fresh, healthy food for our children. Using as little processed food as possible and making it yourself also costs less. Here are some basic recipes for baby food! I have many more to come also for the adults and during pregnancy, so stay tuned ☺

I hope you like it

With love JM

Videos by thebigmama.it
Thanks to centrobotanico.org

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QUINOA PORRIDGE

Good morning, we all have very different needs when we wake up.  Some of us awake  hungry  and need a bigbreakfast, while others may want something warm and comforting and the rest might fancy something fresh and light. Some are in a hurry and others have more time. I would like to share some healthy breakfast ideas with you. As promised I will start off with quinoa porridge. This is the simple version that may also be given to babies from 9 months up.

The first thing is to make quinoa as I showed you guys a while back.

For simple Quinoa preparation,  please click here.

If you don’t have  time in the morning to boil the quinoa then you may do so the night before. You can  store it in your fridge overnight or if you have any left over from a previous meal then you can just use that. If you do have the time , boil up the quinoa for 15 minutes – one cup quinoa and two cups water.

When it’s ready place it aside, whether cold from the fridge or hot, and add it into a small pot :

– one can of coconut milk in the pot with the quinoa – heat up and stir

– teaspoon of cinnamon (organic). I love cinnamon but if you like less, then adjust it to your taste.  If you are making this for your baby just add 1 to 3 dashes.

Then you take a hand controlled food processor and work the mixture until the texture is creamy and pudding like. This feeds around  two to three people depending on how hungry you are in the morning. This is also a simple recipe to share with your baby if you are at home. Make one serving and share a meal with him  or her 🙂 For your portion you may also top it off with your favorite fruits such as: dates, goji berries, blueberries, strawberries, banana or apple.

Hope you like it. Enjoy 🙂

Love JM

@Photo, www.mamafedona.com

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FIRST LIST OF BABY FOOD

It’s been said that the first three years of a persons’ life is the most important when it comes to food, love and care. During this time period babies are growing and learning so much at a fast speed. If the mother is able to breastfeed it is known to be the greatest gift she can provide to her child. If for unfortunate reasons a mother can’t then she will find other ways to give it back.

Graduating from milk and embarking on food can be a very tricky time. What to feed and what not to feed our babies… All parents want to provide the very best and sometimes we just don’t know better because the advertising industry want us to trust them. There are even some doctors that will suggest for us to buy food that is factory mass produced. These foods have a very long shelf life, are stored in room temperature and claim to contain “FRESH” vegetables, and also fish and meat! I have never seen real FRESH food not rot if put in a situation such as this. That means these foods are chemical – laden and contain ingredients that are definitely not on my menu. I started to research and find this out as I became a mother. I really started to dig deep into what foods would give my son the benefits and nutrients that his growing body and mind needed.

After all my reading and research on the topic of food, I discovered clean-eating as a much better alternative for my child. Clean-eating is made up of fresh food and mostly organic vegetables and fruit. It is all natural for children to digest and to receive all the most important vitamins and minerals.They use these nutrients to grow and blossom without too much of the usual complications such as rashes, constipation and runny-noses which many times are completely food related.
Therefore I have created a list of my favorite foods for babies that I am delighted to share with you. I personally made all of the food for my kids. I find it much more convenient, affordable and I always know exactly what my child is eating.
This list includes foods for around 6 months and up but it does depend on how curious your child seems to be on trying food. I do believe every mother knows how to read her child on when the right moment is but it also depends on how much milk that mother has; it is completely normal for a breastfeeding baby to want to drink often. My firstborn showed no interest in food up until 8 months of age. He just drank plenty of milk and seemed very happy with it. While my second was very curious and super excited when I was eating so I took that as a sign that he was ready to try out some food. At just over 6 months he started on solids but also continued on breast-milk as his main source of energy for a little while longer.

It’s in my hopes that you can find my list helpful. Please try it out and I would love to read your feedback on what worked and maybe didn’t work.

 

Food for 6 months+

Avocado:
An incredible fruit packed with so much nutrition such as the very important good fats that your baby’s brain and skin needs to keep on glowing. Consumption of avocado helps support his/her digestion, provides enzymes, fiber, vitamin K, C , B6 and folate. Twice more potassium than a banana and without all the sugar. Simple and super delicious.

All you have to do is cut it in half , twist the two parts and either scrape out the meat with a little spoon or smash all the meat with a fork and it is ready for consumption. If your baby does not seem to like it, I recommend not to give up, keep re-introducing it and sooner rather than later he/she will give in and love it. Later on when your baby starts to eat mixed foods you can mix the avocado with many different things such as – sweet-potatoes, pears, bananas and peas.

Papaya:
Oh , how I love papaya! It is totally a super fruit with Vitamin C and digestive enzymes that prevent your baby from becoming constipated. Papaya gives your body Vitamin B as well. Papaya has been dubbed ” the fruit of angels” .

You can either scrape the meat out with a spoon but if that is way too messy you can just throw it in a blender and because it is so liquid just pulse it a few times then pour in a bowl. You can even leave a few of the seeds in the blender ( around 4 seeds) as they are packed with vitamins too 🙂

Sweet-potato:
The sweet flavor that sweet-potatoes have help your baby to love it, plus it is great for your baby’s eyes, hair and skin. It is loaded with Vitamin A and Beta carotene, also contains very high levels of Copper and Zinc. It may keep your baby full and satisfied because it is a natural carbohydrate.

It is super easy to prepare. I always steam vegetables for my boys as that helps to protect all the vitamins and minerals from being destroyed. I wash the potato first and then peel it, cut it down into cubes then steam it. After I will smash it with a fork or a blender and use a bit of the steamed water to create the right consistency. In the beginning it is better to have the texture thinner and then slowly try and thicken it. The reason I do that is because it helps pass through their delicate systems easier. I then always include a teaspoon of oil per portion at the very end. I rotate between Coconut oil and Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Organic and high quality brands. I prefer to spend a bit more on the oil I use for them because it is a 100% worth it 🙂

Banana :
Sooo easy, especially while travelling. Every baby loves banana and this is why I waited awhile to feed it to my sons. After they tried it all they wanted was bananas. It’s super sweet and the texture so creamy – what a great combo. You will only need a spoon to open the banana and scrape out the meat.

Pumpkin:
Pumpkins come in many different shapes and colors the nutrients they hold are all quite similar so just choose the one that you prefer or try them all 🙂 Very high in Beta carotene and gentle on the digestive track. Super sweet and tasty so your baby will adore it.

Simple like the sweet-potato – you will wash, peel and cut it down into small pieces. I always put the pumpkin into a blender because it can be hard to get very smooth by fork and then you end it with a bit of your choice of oil 🙂

Pear:
Pears are juicy and sweet, I don’t know any babies who dislike this fruit. Similar to apples when it comes to health benefits.

I wash the pear and peel it just a little less then half and then scrape out the meat or just use the same method as you’d use to make the applesauce to make a tasty pear sauce.

Apple:
Apples are an excellent super food that contains significant amounts of Vitamin C and fiber. It is also a great source of minerals – Zinc, Copper, Potassium and Calcium. Apples should always be bought organic. The very famous apple sauce has proven popular in my household with my boys and still is.

I peel the apples and then steam them for just a bit ( 3-5 minutes should suffice) blend with a tad of the steamed water. *Note: if you have some extra breast milk lying around you can use that as well which is even better. I add between two and five leaves of thoroughly washed baby spinach into my apple sauce. In the finale stage, along with your oil, just add a dash of cinnamon because you know cinnamon makes everything better 🙂

Well this is my first list of baby foods and I hope it’s helpful.
I highly suggest when you introduce a food to your baby that you give them only one new food to try at a time. In case your baby has any allergic reactions it will be simpler to trace it’s origin. I introduced one food at a time and waited 3-4 days before adding a new one.

Love JM