Weaning recipes

Dietary information: Dairy-free • Egg-free • Vegetarian • Vegan

Cost per portion: 42p

Ingredients:

• 1 heaped tablespoon (10g) puffed wheat
• 1/2  mango (100g), skin and stone removed, and sliced lengthways

Method:

1. Put a heaped tablespoon of puffed wheat into a container.
2. Store the puffed wheat and mango slices separately, to prevent the puffed wheat from going soggy.

Dietary information: Dairy-free • Egg-free • Vegetarian • Vegan

Cost per portion: 13p

Ingredients for one portion:

• 1/2 chapatti (25g)cut into slices
• 2 medium carrots (100g), washed, topped and tailed, and peeled

Method:

1. Cut the chapatti into four slices lengthways.
2. Cut the carrots into sticks.

Top tips:

• Choose lower-salt chapattis or other lower-salt breads.
• Choose lower-sugar puffed wheat or other lower-sugar plain cereals.
• A range of fruits and vegetables can be offered. Choose those that can be easily cut into sticks or are easy for a small child to hold, and which won’t go brown or mushy.

Dietary information: Dairy-free • Egg-free • Vegetarian • Vegan

Cost per portion: 32p

Ingredients for one portion:

• 1 heaped tablespoon puffed wheat (10g)
• 1 slice melon (100g), washed, with skin and seeds removed, and sliced lengthways

Method:

1. Put a heaped tablespoon of puffed wheat into a container.
2. Store the puffed wheat and melon slices separately, to prevent the puffed wheat from going soggy.

Dietary information: Egg-free • Gluten-free cherry tomatoes

Ingredients for one portion:

• 1 rice cake (8g)
• 1/4 mozzarella ball (30g), chopped into small chunks
• 3 cherry tomatoes (30g), chopped into quarters

Method:

1. Mix the mozzarella chunks and the tomato quarters together.

Dietary information: Gluten-free • Egg-free • Vegetarian

Ingredients for four portions:

• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 100g
• 100g natural full-fat yoghurt

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F / Gas 6.
2. Scrub the sweet potatoes and cut each one into eight wedges lengthways.
3. Put the sweet potatoes and oil into a bowl and mix together until the potatoes are coated.
4. Place the potato wedges on a baking tray in a single layer and bake for about 30 minutes, turning once after 15 minutes.
5. Allow to cool and then serve with the yoghurt.

Ingredients for four portions:

• 50 g (4 dessertspoons) red lentils
• 1 medium potato, peeled and diced into small pieces

Method:

1. Place lentils in a pan. Add 300 mls water and bring to boil. Cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Add potatoes to same pan and cook for a further 15 minutes. Cook until mixture is soft, adding more water if mixture begins to stick to the pan.
3. Drain the mix using a sieve but reserve the liquid to add later.
4. Mash the mix with a splash of the cooking liquid. Add more liquid if the mixture is too stiff.

Dietary information: Gluten-free • Egg-free • Vegetarian

Ingredients for two portions:

• 1 eating apple, peeled and finely chopped
• 5 canned apricots (natural juice, not syrup), chopped into pieces
• 2 tablespoons water

Method:

1. Place apple and apricots in a saucepan with the water and gently simmer until the fruit is tender. Add a little more water if necessary during cooking to prevent drying out.
2. Mash well.

Makes eight portions of sauce and could be served with pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 dessertspoon vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/2 a red pepper, washed, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1/2 a courgette, washed and finely chopped
• 400 g can chopped tomatoes in juice

Method:

1. Heat oil and gently soften onion for 5 minutes on low heat, stirring continually.
2. Add pepper and courgette and cook on a low heat for a further 5 minutes. Keep stirring.
3. Heat oil and gently soften onion for 5 minutes on low heat, stirring continually.
4. Add tomatoes, cover with a lid and cook for 15 minutes or until vegetables are soft, stirring occasionally.

Makes seven portions of sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 dessertspoon vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 small carrot, scrubbed, grated or finely chopped
• 100 g (8 dessertspoons) split red lentils
• 1/2 teaspoon mild curry powder (not paste)
• 200 mls water
• 1 small carton pasteurised full-fat natural yogurt

Method:

1. Heat oil and gently soften onion for five minutes.
2. Stir in carrot, lentils and curry powder.
3. Add water, stir and bring to boil. Cover with a pot lid, reduce heat and simmer for 15–20 minutes. Stir continually (as this sticks to the pot very easily) and add a little more water if necessary. The mixture should be quite thick but not dry.
4. When the lentils are soft, remove from heat and stir in natural yogurt.
5. Mash as required and serve with boiled white rice.

Makes six portions

Ingredients:

• 100 g minced beef or minced lamb, chicken, pork or quorn
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 small carrot, scrubbed and grated
• 1 tablespoon of frozen peas
• 4 medium ordinary or sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into four equal pieces
• 1–2 tablespoons pasteurised full-fat milk

Method:

1. Place mince and chopped onion in a small pan and cook gently until the mince has browned.
2. Add 2–3 tablespoons of water and the grated carrot. Cover and allow to cook gently for 15–20 minutes.
3. Add peas five minutes before the end of cooking time.
4. Stir occasionally, adding more water as required.
5. Cover potatoes with water in a pan and put a lid on the pan. Cook until soft. Add more water if needed. Then drain and mash together with 1–2 tablespoons of milk.
6. When mince is cooked, serve with the mashed potato.