Breakfast for Baby!

Breakfast is my favorite meal and an easy meal to make fresh daily for baby!  (As opposed to using defrosted baby food cubes which are fresh, just previously frozen.) Since around 9 months, Henry has been eating traditional breakfast food such as eggs, fruit, and oatmeal for breakfast.

Egg Yolks are one of his favorite foods!

For easy breakfasts, I hard boil organic eggs: cook approximately 10 minutes in boiling water, shock in cold water, peel, and keep refrigerated.

Henry's favorite combos:

1. Egg yolk + mashed avocado + plain yogurt
2. Egg yolk + mashed banana + plain yogurt

  



This is also a great weekday breakfast for me! I eat the egg white, a quarter of the egg yolk, and a quarter of the avocado. My husband puts the rest of the avocado on his salad for lunch. Avocados are best when used within a few hours of being cut.


Henry has also eaten egg whites since 9 months. My pediatrician said there was no evidence suggesting any benefit from delaying egg whites. Read an interesting overview of the topic HERE.

I love soft scrambled eggs, the kind where you constantly stir as they cook so they are soft and delicate...but those pieces are not baby finger friendly!

Easy Scrambled Egg

1. Heat a small non-stick skillet and melt 1-2 tsp organic butter
2. Scramble 1 organic egg in a small bowl and add to the skillet
3. Sprinkle with some herb - I like to use dill or thyme
4. Allow the egg to cook undisturbed over medium heat until the bottom is firm, then flip like a pancake to cook the other side
5. Once cooked through, remove to a cutting board or plate, cut into bite size pieces, and allow it to cool

  

On the weekends, I will make oatmeal. I prefer the texture and flavor of steel cut oats to the rolled oats. Henry has been able to eat either without any pureeing since around 8 months. We haven't done cow's milk yet or nuts, so I just cook them in water. I always add a spoonful of yogurt for serving which adds some creaminess. The downside of steel cut oats is they are time consuming to prepare. You have to stir frequently to keep them from sticking and they take 25-30 minutes to cook.

Here is Henry, waiting with some muffin pieces (recipe HERE) and his favorite Tilty Cup:

  

While the oats simmer away:

I filled an 8 oz jar to keep in the fridge and froze the rest into cubes for later.

Here is an oatmeal breakfast: oatmeal + blueberries + raspberries + yogurt:

Raspberries are a little tart for baby! I froze them into small cubes, about 1/2 oz each, and always add them to another fruit for serving.

The following day, I made peach and apricot puree, just simmering two bags frozen peaches and with one bag frozen apricots until very soft (no added water needed) and pureeing in the blender. I added some puree to the leftover oatmeal and topped with plain yogurt.



Another great option for finger food is coating avocado chunks (avocado must be ripe but cannot be extremely soft) with ground cereal. I use Happy Baby brand puffs, but any will work, then toss the avocado and the crumbs in a bowl to coat. He also had oatmeal this day. I find that if Henry has some finger foods to occupy himself, he takes less swipes at the spoon. He is becoming very independent!

Loving the Avocado!