how can you disguise chicken in potatoe/veg for 7mth old?

[alibo]

Have been struggling for 2 weeks now introducing chicken to 7mth old. Weaning so far was going well, and he was having sweet pot for lunch with other veg. Has tried carrot, swede, green bean, courgette, parsnip,brocoli. First day I added one cube of chicken casserole instead of one veg cube, and he was fine with it. Since then, he has pulled his face, and every mouthful has been a struggle. The casserole was cooked with sweet pot, parsnip, onion, and veg stock, (no carrot as think this has bunged him up before). Is there any ways in which I can disguise the "chicken taste" a bit more. His appetite is generally not so good at the moment anyway with teething, sleep disturbance etc. Should I sack the chicken and try another meat, or leave the meat altogether for now.?

yes dont use chicken breasts as theor texture s hard to cope wiht
use thighs - jucier and wsweeter

I hid it in sweet potato mash and butternut squash for mine. Also managed to get him to eat in in a cheese sauce with broccoli.

do you not think 7 mths is a bit young to be developing definite likes and dislikes?

It's a texture thing - no matter what you do with it, cut/chop/whizz it's quite fibrous. Try the thighs and start with small portions and gradually increase the amounts??

could you get it from a butchers an ask them to mince it-the chicken will be nice and fresh too and if you use a good butcher it wont be full of preservatives like supermarket stuff

or just leave it out until he is ready to accept it

chicken thighs, how much thigh meat would be roughly equivalent to a recipe that uses 2 chicken breasts? was unsure about the likes/dislikes things at his age, until this lunchtime. Opened his mouth wide when I started out, and then pulled his face after first mouthful. Persisted for a while,then he got upset and wouldn't let me shovel any in even if distracted. So, I offered him just some sweet pot on its own, which he ate some of. ??!

Alibo I would say at least 4/6 thighs would equal 2 breasts, depending on the size of them.

Thanks folks, am off to buy some thighs later, lets hope this casserole is the third time lucky one!!??

Are you blending it completely? I found that if you just blended chicken without adding loads of other veg and liqiud it did funny things to your mouth - made it go all dry - Try it you'll see what I mean as the un-blendied version was fine. It may just be a texture thing rather than flavour.
I hid meat in with other veg for ages with DS. DD was happy to eat whatever she was given

Use chicken stock for mixing with other veg. as an alternative to the meat itself.

Alternatively, my dd2 (8 months) will eat almost anything if it's mixed with petit filou yoghurt. Vegetable lasagne? Yuk. Vegetable lasagne with a dollop of strawberry yoghurt? Yum.

Strange things, babies.

You could try chicken and aprictos which was my ds's first introduction to chicken. Soak about 8 apricots overnight. Put in an oiled dish with one chicken breast and about 5fl oz water. Bake for 20/25 mins and puree adding more water if necessary. It's not too sweet. Ds still loves it. Alternatively, instead of making casseroles why don't you just cook up some chicken on it's own and puree it with plenty water to get a good smooth texture. Then that way you can add whatever veg and if your ds doesn't like that comibination you're not wasting your efforts, iyswim.

Or blitz with apple - normandy style?

My dd, also 7 months, has pretty much stopped eating anything at the moment, but for a while we had a bit of success with chicken casserole mixed with loads of butternut squash. In desperation I also resorted to chicken cass mixed with strawberry yoghurt, so your dd is not the only one frogs!

i make it with butternut squash and apple. dd loves it

Thanks guys, i was going to just cook this next lot of chicken on its own, as the first two casseroles were made with Waitrose organic chicken breasts-cost me a fortune!!
What is the best way to cook it on its own, if using chicken thighs? Alison222 could you explain a bit more about blending or not blending the chicken?

Just cook the chicken wrappped in foil in the oven and then let it cool wrapped up. It absorbs some of the meat juices again and stops it being too dry, and at this age a little bit of chicken fat wont hurt at all.
Take the skin off and blend with plenty of liquid of some description whether it is lo-salt stock or water or even milk. but once it is blended, taste a bit yourself. If it is too stiff it sort of dries your mouth out when you eat it, not like the normal taste and texture of meat. Its difficult to describe, you need to try it, but i found I needed to make it much sloppier than expected. Because of this I made casseroles with tonnes of veg and liquid then pureed it, or like others suggested, mixed it with veg as it is going to be eaten, and it went down fine either way

Did you use chicken breast or thighs alison222?

I tried both but found the thighs were better

just another question alison222, if you did cook chicken thighs with other veg, what veg did you use and what quantity of chicken and veg. Also, did you just use the thigh meat, or the thighs with the bone still in when cooking a casserole? Is it best to leave the skin on the chicken whilst your casseroling it?

Sorry to hijack but Portree, the chicken and apricot sounds gorgeous and I'd like to do that. How many portions did it make, say for an 8 month old? I bet my ds would scarf that one up.