motherandbaby.co.uk| June 2020 | 4 5I WAS CLUELESSABOUTWEANING...
Theideaforthiscookbookcameaboutthree
orfouryearsagowhenmy brotherNickysaid,
‘Oneday, whenwe havekids, youshoulddoa
weaningbookcalledWeanin17,’andI waslike
‘Maybeoneday!’We both wentawayandhad
childrenandit wasa reallynaturalprogression,
asI wantedto startmy daughterIndieonthe
rightfood,thebest nutritionI could,andreally
giveher a topstart.ButI hadnoideawhatto
do.I metCharlotteStirling-Reedat aneventwe
did,andshecoachedmethroughmy weaning
journey withIndie, motivatingme, andhelping
metostaycalm.Togetherwe wentontomake
thisreallywonderfulbookwith 100 recipes,and
allthetopquestionsandconcernsparentshave.
It’scoolthat I’mleadingtheway asa dadto be
the first mandoingthis kindof thing, and to
encourageotherparentstoenjoy thejourney.MYDAUGHTERTAKESAFTERME...
BecauseI’vegotCharlotteat theendofthe
phoneandI canWhatsApporcallher, I had
hercoachmethroughweaningIndie. Charlotte
wouldchallengeme, “Keepgivingher variety”,
“Givehersomespices today”,“Don’t getstuck
onpurées.”Andthat,coupledwith hergenetic
love forfood,meansIndieis a veryadventurous
eater and will try anything. She gets so much
happiness out of food and that also comes down
to the fact that we all sit together to eat. In the
kitchen, she’s stirring the pot and throwing
in oats, making a mess, but she feels like she’s
involved with the food, which is one of the
reasons I think she’s been so fantastic. I just
hope it’s the same with Marley – I’m obviously
going to do all the same things, but every child is
different, so who knows?BEGIN WEANING WITH GREENS...
When we first started weaning, my approach
was to begin with sweet food, mashing up things
like banana and apple for a sweet purée. But
Charlotte encouraged me to give Indie two
weeks of eating bitter green vegetables. So,
rather than sweet stuff, we offered her spinach,
broccoli, kale and green beans, all mashed up
and finely chopped, so it got her palette used to
those bitter green vegetable tastes. Babies are
predestined to really like sugary things, so it’s a
case of trying to get your child to try things that
aren’t sweet, and then you can start introducing
veggies like carrot and sweet potato.Makes 1Ingredients
● 17 5g self-raising flour
● 1 tsp baking powder
● 1 egg
● 200ml whole milk
● 1 clementine
● 150g raspberries
● knob of butter
● 150g Greek yoghurt
● 4 strawberries, sliced
● handful of blueberries
● ½ small mango, sliced
● ½ kiwi, sliced
Special equipment:
● 1 bamboo skewer1 Add the flour and baking powderto
a bowl and whisk to combine. Makea
well in the centre of the flour, crack in
the egg and add half the milk. Whisk
together, incorporating the flour.
2 Using a zester, remove zest from the
clementine and add to the bowl. Add
the remaining milk and whisk until
smooth. Rest the batter for 5 minutes.
(^3) Blitztheraspberriesinamini
blenderuntilsmooth,thenpassthem
throughthesievetoremovethe
seeds,andsetasideassauceforlater.
4 Greaseanon-stickfryingpanwith
thebutterandsetoveramoderate
heat.Usethebattertomakefive
pancakesaround 10 -12cmindiameter,
cookingtheminbatchesandflipping
tocookthereversesidewhen
bubblesappearonthesurface.
5 Toassemblethestack,topfourof
thepancakeswiththeGreekyoghurt
andthentopwiththestrawberries,
blueberries,mangoandkiwi,setting
asideafewchoicepiecestodecorate
thetop.Stackallthepancakesneatly
ontopofeachother,insertinga
bambooskewerthroughthemiddle
tokeepthewholethingtogether.
Threadtheremainingfruit onto
the skewer for a rainbow effect.
Drizzle the stack with the raspberry
sauce to serve.
Note! Don’t forget to
remove the sharp skewer
when little hands get close.
Charlotte’s rainbow
birthday pancake
stack
Suitable
from
12
months
ney
S CLUELE
weaning
journey
Joe and indie’
journeyyyy