Healthy recipes for a 1 year old baby

[HeadChef]

My niece just turned one, and I usually baby sit her and i need some home healthy recipes for her. Any suggestions?

[chubbyalaskagriz]

One thing I can recommend is that when babies are teething- frozen Ego Waffles do the trick! They give them something hard and cold to chew on and sooth their gums...

[Mama Mangia]

Good old fashioned home cooking - nothing too spicy - pureed in the blender or processor - they love it! Spaghetti and meatballs - nothing dry of course - and they like saucy/gravy things. Mash those veggies and puree - and a little salt and seasoning makes their eyes light up! Mac and cheese sing more of a white sauce with a little cheese in it.

A simple soup with rice and carrots (mash!) and break up a saltine into tiny pieces and let it smush in the broth.

Puddings, applesauce, whipped cream, jello - banana mashed in pudding goes down good too or cut into such tiny pieces that there is barely any chewing.

Mashed sweet potatoes or white potatoes - nice and creamy with applesauce. Unsweetened applesauce with taters is nice or baby applesauce if that is all the baby will eat.

[HeadChef]

spaghetti and meatballs blended? will that taste good?

@chubby: where do i get those ego waffles?

[Mama Mangia]

spaghetti and meatballs blended? will that taste good?

@chubby: where do i get those ego waffles?

OMG! of course blended together and it is delicious!

No different than chili mac or beefaroni type dishes............

Eggo waffles - frozen food section of your grocery store.

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

For a 1 year old you may blend any foods you normally eat, but adjust the salt way down, toddlers do not need as much!

As they get more used to table food you can offer finger foods for them such as rice, boiled vegetables (bite sized), fresh banana and soft fruits cut into small chunks, fresh breads to gnaw on and just keep it simple, they do not need alot of sugary foods either. A little pudding, jello and ice cream from time to time is fun!

[The Ironic Chef]

OK, thought I would just throw this in here, of course no one in there right mind would feed a 1 year old a hot dog.

In the news up here they are trying to do a couple of things, make hot dog manufacturers put warning labels on hot dogs because they are a choking hazards to toddlers, change the shape of hot dogs because they are a choking hazzard for toddlers...

OK, who are the idiots out there feeding their children hot dogs and either not watching them, or not knowing life saving procedures if they are choking to death on a hot dog.?
Morons..... I swear, next they will be putting warning labels on Lolli Pops.

Bab enough on the construction sites I have to see warning labels on my spackle buckets showing that children can drown in them. I have yet to see or find a toddler face down in a bucket of spackle but you know,,,,, someone has. And just a reminder, don't stick a curling iron into any bodily orfices, One could suffer severe burns.

[Mama Mangia]

IC -

Hot dogs are so popular with kids. And you don't have to be a child to choke on one either! Ditto with sausages and I just love the idiots who think that corndogs are safer than hotdogs! DUH! with an added stick to shove down their throats!

Although my babies are 8 and 10 (I'm an adopted gram - the little ones aren't adopted - I am) I still cut up the hot dogs and tell them small bites. I have such a fear of choking. And I don't believe in kids sucking in (inhaling) long strands of spaghetti - I break those up too.

I think my fingers have been in more mouths than anything. Take too big of a bite and I am yanking it out! The Heimlich remover is nothing compared to Mamas-yank-it-out-system! Just dive right in!

One little fattie I watched had those pudgy cheeks and had a habit of storing food in them. I was constantly in his mouth!

Italian mothers and grandmothers (even those that are adopted like me) eat with one eye on the babies and they use the eyes in back of their heads - which never close, blink or rest to keep an eye on them at all times.

Did you ever notice - Italian mothers/grandmothers never blink? Their eyes close, and their hands stop doing things when they are in their caskets!

Regarding hard candy and suckers - well my babies know that they are not allowed to have it - not with me. And they know exactly what I am going to say when they grab hard candy - "put it back and I'll let you have TWO candies that are chocolate or softer" - and they know it - so they grab hard candy and look at me - I go through the routine and they get two candies instead of one. That's what grandma's are for.

I have bought them those really large suckers on a stick that last a long time. I let them lick them - if they bite it, then they have to spit it out and throw away the sucker. After a little while they don't want them anymore - so we place them on a paper towel, which of course sticks to the sucker making it unattractive and unpleasing so we have to toss them. We can buy another some other time.

I almost died when a candy cigarette lodged in my throat when I was 5 years old - I could not breathe and was blue. I don't care what anyone says about hard candy - they can have it when they are 50 years old. I'll be gone by then and I won't have to face it.

[crazybuoy]

hey

great discussion here.

[One-i-]

For snacks I always used breadsticks which are really handy when out and about. One of my favorite dishes was a simple fish pie using white fish and a light cheese sauce with creamy mashed potato. I would blend everything together and serve with some little broccoli florets as finger food or trees as my children like to call them.