I WANT TO FEED MYSELF!!!!!

I have a nearly one year old (birthday next week!!! I'm in denial!). Having a nearly one year old means that you need to work on a few new skills.

1. To be able to change a nappy whilst a child is standing, dancing or rolling.
2. You need to be able to do up 30 million domes on a onesie whilst a child is either standing, rolling or crawling.
3. You need to convince your child that throwing food is not acceptable. Good luck. We're working on signing 'finished' as an alternative form of communicating "I'm full!"
4. You need to come up with as many finger food options as possible because after a lot of mess and frustration I've come to learn that the child does NOT want ME to feed him. Hold a spoon anywhere near him and he will flick it faster than you can retract.

So unless you want porridge, mince and couscous on every surface in your home (including yourself) you need to  get creative with the finger food. The options provided need to be suitable for young gums and very few widdle teef!

So here we go... I've got a few to share, but I'll spread them over some posts so I feel like I'm posting regular updates and on top of things... despite not being on top of things AT ALL!

Let's start with Vege Bites.

So all I did here was grab any vegetables I could find in the fridge and simmer them on the stove until they resembled a vegetable casserole. I added some left over pinto beans I had frozen in the freezer and added left over roasties from the fridge and fresh tomatoes to make a tomato based sauce. I sprinkled in some oregano, salt reduced vegetable stock, a teaspoon of tomato paste and some cracked pepper.

I then took about three tablespoons of the vege mix and put it into a bowl with a generous sprinkle of rice flour (you can use normal flour too) . Once I had a nice tacky mixture I made tablespoon sized balls of mixture and cooked them in a pan until golden. They held together well, but if you're having difficulty you could add an egg to bind the mixture.

I have about 3-4 tablespoon lots frozen in containers in the freezer labeled as 'vege bite mix'. Place it in the fridge the night before, and it will be ready for cooking for dinner the next night.

You can cook up a few more and pop them in a lunchbox cold for the next day too. I have another use for this mix too which I'll introduce in future posts.