Quick and easy veggie recipes for baby?

[Babaquestions]

My baby is 8 months old and vegetarian (not vegan). Does anyone have any quick and easy vegetarian recipe suggestions for a baby? Most recipes online seem to be American and/or contain loads of ingredients and prep. Maybe recipe book suggestions for babies and toddlers? Thank you!

Tailor your food, leave out salt and cook from scratch. Puree some and make sure it is balanced.

Vegan baby led weaning group on Facebook is helpful.

When mine were babies, Rose Elliot's vegetarian mother and baby book was my bible.

Strips of omelette
cubes of cheese with batons of steamed veg
savoury French toast (I filled with cheese and low salt marmite)
risotto with peas and spring veg
dhal with basmati and chopped tomato
easy falafel (use tinned chick peas, onion, coriander, cumin and chopped parsley, blend, make into balls then shallow fry. Can be frozen)
pasta with tomato, ricotta and peas, or pesto, potato and green beans
chick pea pancakes/dosas with veg
mild chick pea and coconut curry with chapatis
Grilled halloumi and grilled courgette ribbons
quinoa and veg flavoured either with lemongrass and coconut or lemon and ginger

we did a lot of finger foods at that age and didn’t hold back on the flavours. No need for totally bland food, Introduce flavour gently, just hold off the salt.

I also used a book called Veggie Food for Kids, which was the one I used the most. I had Rose Elliot as well.

@Thedogsdindins @Melassa I just looked up the Rose Elliot book and found that it was first published when my parents were children! I should be able to pick up a cheap copy. Also, that list of food sound great. My DD loves egg and pasta but she hasn't tried omelette yet. @kikisparks I'll check that FB group out! Thanks everyone 😊

This is good
There are weaning charts in it which suggest weaning on purée from 4 months which is old hat now but if you don't look at that and just look at the recipes it's all very clearly laid out, written in a friendly style with anecdotes and beautifully illustrated.

My lunchtime go-to when DCs were first weaning was a selection of whatever veg was knocking about in the bottom of the fridge/cupboard, cut into grab-able strips/chunks, tossed with a bit of oil and a sprinkling of something from the spice cupboard, then grilled or baked. Minimal prep and a great way to use up any ends of veg.
The lucky dip from the spice cupboard kept the flavours interesting and changing, even if the veg was similar. I kept away from the cayenne and hot smoked paprika, obviously (at least at first 😬), but used things like garam masala, dried mixed herbs, paprika, 5 spice or mild curry powder. It was very well received!

We're not vegetarian but we try not to eat meat more than once or twice a week, so DD was mostly weaned on veggie stuff.

There's an instagram called Little Veggie Eats (it's a book too if you want to look for a cheap copy) that has some good ideas.

I found SR Nutrition incredibly helpful on all things feeding baby/ toddler - again not totally vegetarian but lots of veggie options. She has some books but I found plenty of ideas and recipes on her instagram and also blog - see here for example https://www.srnutrition.co.uk/category/recipes/ Not sure if she shares as many recipes on her insta any more but if you scroll back they're all there

Also a lot of our favourites were from the What Mummy Makes books - again not all veggie but lots of ideas - not sure how many recipes are available online but might be worth seeing if you can get second hand/ borrowing from library

Things I used to make lots of (still do quite a few of them -)

Eggy bread/ French toast - either as is, with cheese and spinach, or a sweeter version with smashed raspberries, vanilla extract and ground almonds

Different toast toppers - mashed avocado, easy home made hummus, different veggies made into dips/ paste by cooking and blending - can add herbs, garlic etc, cream cheese and raspberries, nut butters

Savoury muffins - our favourites (still) are from one of the What Mummy Makes books - smoky chickpea and cheese. I can't remember exact recipe off top of my head but basically mash a tin of chickpeas, grated courgette, grated cheese, eggs and flour, plus smoked paprika. They're really lovely - I'll see if I can find the proper recipe.

Creamy garlic mushrooms - wish my daughter would still eat these! We'd have them with rice or couscous. https://www.srnutrition.co.uk/2021/07/super-quick-creamy-mushrooms/

3 ingredient cheese scones - flour, greek yogurt and grated cheese - https://realfood.tesco.com/step-by-step/3-ingredient-savoury-cheese-scones.html

Creamy leek pasta - finely slice 2 leeks, soften them in butter/ garlic oil and meanwhile boil your pasta, splash in bits of the pasta water to help the leeks on their way, add in some garlic if you want extra, take the leeks of the heat once completely softened and add in cream/ creme fraiche, grated cheese and black pepper (could also be a tiny bit of mustard if you wanted) till all melted together. Combine with the pasta.

Lemon broccoli orzo/ whatever pasta

Dhal is another good one - I'm terrible at it for some reason and can never get it right despite knowing that it's objectively fairly easy! But DD always seems to quite like my attempts however they come out.

Bean stews

Lots of different soups - made them really thick and gave her bread to dip. She was always pretty good with a spoon too. If the soup wasn't quite thick enough I'd add couscous to her portion and let it cook in there/ thicken everything up.

Lentil cottage pie - I love this recipe and have always used it when I've made a veggie one, I would just adapt to use the very low salt stock etc - https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/vegetable-and-lentil-cottage-pie/

Frittatas

Fritters - carrot/ courgette or sweetcorn ones. Usually with some kind of yoghurty type dip and some other veg on the side.

Veggie bake topped with breadcrumbs - kind of like this, again adapt salt content etc accordingly, I'd just use whatever I had - https://www.easycheesyvegetarian.com/creamy-vegetable-bake/

Homemade pizzas - we'd do the yogurt and flour base, or you can use pittas or tortillas and cut into strips. If I'm feeling organised I cook up a ton of tomato sauce with extra veg in it to use as a base and keep it in portions in the freezer (also to use for pasta etc).

Also porridge - we still eat piles of porridge and sometimes for lunch/ dinner - I do a 'carrot cake' version with grated carrot, courgette, apple, ground almonds, raisins, vanilla extract and cinnamon or mixed spice. Make leftovers into porridge muffins (just bake long and low in silicone muffin tray) and keep a stash in the freezer - DD still loves them now at 3.5

I just use any basic recipe book and for meals with meat I can almost use a meat substitute in place (or paneer, or halloumi or tinned beans etc).

BBC Good Food website is great for quick, simple recipes. Start for Life website and app also have great ones aimed at babies.

Favourites here with our kids are:
Pasta dishes - pesto & veg, tomato veg sauce (grated cheese on top), bolognaise made with Asda's plant based mince or Quorn mince, mac and cheese etc.
Jacket potatoes with cheese and beans or spag hoops.
Mild curries with rice and/or naan bread. We usually use tinned chickpeas, Quorn chicken style pieces or paneer as the protein component.
Fajitas
Easy quick oven junk food like pizza/fishless fingers/Quorn nuggets and chips with mixed frozen veg/salad/ baked beans/spag hoops etc

Just give what you are eating without salt.