Imaginative meals for a 9mth old vegetarian

[BornSicky]

Hi all,

Any ideas for spicing up my 9 mth old's diet? He's not great with lumps, unless it's finger food and am a bit bored (and know he is) with standard mashed up veg combos.

He loves cheese and i sprinkle it on pasta with a tomato and veg sauce, but need some inspiration.

any ideas gratefully received!

I've just made the cheese and spinach muffins from the BLW cookbook. DD loves them. Maybe you can give savoury muffins a try?

I've also made the falafel and the spinach and cheddar filo tarts from the river cottage baby and toddler book. Both are vegetarian and very yummy.

I must make a disclaimer that I did BLW with DS but i'm sure most things could be adapted if needed.

Risotto? I make a plain risotto and then add some puréed veg (see jamie Oliver's spinach and goats cheese risotto for recipe) can use loads of different thing like beetroot, butternut squash, roasted fennel etc etc.

Frittata cut into chunks for him to gnaw on - spinach and mozzarella is a favourite here.

Any pasta - our favourites are spagetti with creamy spinach, broccoli and cheese bake or tomato and fennel

Veggie soup to dip bread in.

Dips with crudités/toasted pitta to dip in, DS loved hoummos, broad bean dip, guacamole, tomato salsa.

Dhal with naan bread?

ooh yummy ideas! think i might eat some of these myself.

hadn't thought of dips to go with breadsticks or pitta, but that's a really easy thing to try as not too different from what he's already having.

he's not been keen on egg so far - have done scrambled and eggy bread with cinnamon and he refuses both - texture perhaps?

dhal is brilliant - i love this too and would be a great lunch food.

as for the muffins... nom, nom. off to find the recipe.

thank you all!

Oooh - glad I found this thread, I'm in exactly the same situation! Some brilliant ideas here, thank you - just off to supermarket now...

For protein we do beans (black, baked, anything!) and I give him any vegi burgers, tofu, meat replacement stuff we're having. Have not tried quorn yet. Am making a pesto / quinoa / tofu thing for dinner so will try him with that (from 101cookbooks.com which is great for all things veggie).

I've made a lentil and sweet potato shepherds pie that he loves - I think the recipe is on the BBC website but you can just improvise.

He also enjoys dahl and i just made a winter squash / chickpea / aubergine tagine w/couscous & minty yogurt which he ate - just go easy on the harissa!

Will keep watching this thread with interest :)

clarejane tried quorn and the result was extremely farty and didn't digest well at all. from reading up on it, it's not advised regularly as it's not got enough nutrients for young babies.

the shepherd's pie sounds yummy.

Have just made up a big pot of thick soup - parsnip, swede, carrot, potato and leek - i thought it was good! just have to wait to see if DS agrees tomorrow.

he's rather partial to sweet potato and carrot mash with cream cheese and skinned aubergine with a tomato sauce!

There is a cranks recipie for lentil and cheese wedges thing that is delicious and great for blw and also lentil croquettes

yup soup was a big hit. he managed to load up his piece of bread and get most of it in his mouth!

thank you!

Good info re Quorn - thanks BornSicky. I'll leave that for now!

Soup is a great idea, lots of veggies and DS is obsessed with bread anyway so some of it should go in.

babyocho - what is cranks? That sounds good!

tonight's dinner will be : Vegetable Nuggets

these look great. will make a quick tomato sauce to go with for dipping, or perhaps a broad bean dip.