I'm in a rut...

[MamaHobgoblin]

We're BLW, DS is 30 weeks now. Loves his food, has a paddy when mealtimes end, and he's now on 3 meals a day (and heaven help us if one is much delayed!). But I'm still giving him stuff I started with - which is mostly: roasted root veg, cheese sticks, a gargantuan amount of mango, peach slices, crushed berries, avocado slices etc. Occasionally offer brocolli to see if he likes it yet... He does love chicken, if I 'fray' it a bit for him. His dad's tried giving him porridge pancakes at breakfast but they don't get much reaction. And we do spoon yoghurt into him, which he adores.

My problem is just that I don't think I'm doing 'meals' for him - just giving him a range of tried-and-tested finger foods, and I wonder if he'd get more out of 'complex' meals. I do bung him what I'm having sometimes, but I haven't yet embraced the no-salt thing for us, and often it's just not suitable in any case. What quick BLW 'recipes' could I try? I looked at the blog but there's so much and I honestly don't know what a 7 month old could handle. Rosti cakes? Tortillas? Frittata? Help!

Spaghetti bolognaise
Chilli con carne
Ratatouille
Risotto
Couscous with bits
Stew
Pizza
Pesto pasta
Tuna pasta
Fish fingers
Fish cakes
Sausages
Chips even
Soups with lots of bread in to mop it up

Anything really. I've always given ds2 exactly what we're having. It's messy, but I can cope with that (just about). Only thing ds2 has struggled with was a rather spicy curry.

Yes, I know...we should give him what we're having. Except my lunch tends to be mouthfuls of whatever I can find in the fridge - salad, bread, cheese, maybe quiche (and he does get bits of those things) because there never seems to be time to cook something for lunch. Our main meal is after he's gone to bed, about 8.30ish. That's the only prob I have with BLW - I know it's good for them to eat with you, and we do it whenever possible, but there's no way he can have his tea at the same time as our supper, as bedtime/DH's hometime/cooking times just don't go.

Oh, forgot. He has had chips! Nice homecooked ones on holiday. Ok, I'll try pesto pasta tomorrow, then I can have some too!

What if you cooked a little bit more of whatever you are having in the evening then he could have it reheated for lunch (as could you, if you can bear it!) You might need to embrace the saltless cooking thing but it won't take long for you to get used to - it - I only salt a very few selected dishes these days.
This book is quite good for ideas - though be warned you will need to be a reasonably competent cook because 90% of the recipes don't work as written and need to be tweaked (gah).
Meatballs? Chicken nuggety things (much as I generally dislike Annabel Karmel, she has a recipe for chicken nuggets with apple in that are delicious if you add some tarragon)? Cheese on toast, crumpets, pitta bread with tuna?

Oh, buy some filo pastry and make tiny samosa things (which are in the Maizels book) with almost anything inside.

Hello! Did you have a good weekend then?

I just feel a bit as if we've found some stuff that works and have stuck there. It's being organised enough, really. I'm still suffering a bit of a culture shock at the degree of togetherness and organisation needed to be a mum! Have discovered that what with BFing him, running about and perhaps going off to a group or a friend's house, I often don't have time to actually cook anything - for me or him - at lunchtime...

Hey, meatballs! That's an idea, and they'd probably come apart nicely in his mouth rather than in awkward chunks (I think). I want to try pitta pockets with cheese+something else in them, and might do fritatta tomorrow if I'm sufficiently together. He did have some of lunchtime's spag bol (no salt! Well, a mere sprinkling of low salt stock powder) this evening but didn't think much on't.

Will have a look at that book, anyway.

Had a lovely weekend thank you ;)
Weetabix can be an ok fingerfood if you put just the right amount of milk on. (Am now trying to think of things that don't need to be cooked - though I stand by my cook loads make it do several meals approach.) I rarely cook for lunch either, or nothing more taxing than a bit of toast or some pasta.