Teething Biscuits and Sticks

So, we’ve entered a new realm of food in our household. Andrew is teething and although toys to chew on are great, I felt that a teething snack would be good also.

I made two different teething treats for Andrew to try out. I made a basic teething biscuit with no allergenic ingredients and then a teething stick that had a little more flavor in my opinion, but did have eggs in it. I know that some parents are very concerned about putting any allergenic ingredients or dairy into their child’s diet. I felt that these sticks would be ok to try since the eggs are fully cooked and we have no allergies in our family. I would not recommend using the sticks if you do have any family history of allergies, try the biscuits instead!

Basic Teething Biscuit

Ingredients:

2 Cups Flour
2 Cups Rice Cereal (May need 2 ½ cups)
2 Cups 100% Apple, Pear, or other Juice

Directions:

Mix all of the ingredients together into a very sticky dough; you may add more flour to get the mixture less sticky and more condensed. Flour workspace and hands before starting, either roll out dough and cut shapes or roll in hand to make tubes of dough. Place shapes or tubes onto cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. If making tubes, press each one to flatten into an oval shape.

Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through. Take off sheet and place on cooling rack, pack in an airtight container to store or into freezer bags to freeze.

Andrew really loved these biscuits, he actually got mad when I took it away from him because it was getting a little too messy and he was rubbing it all over his clothes and blanket!

Sweet Potato Teething Sticks

Ingredients:

1 Cup Sweet Potato Puree
½ Cup Oil
2 Eggs
¼ Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
1 ¾ Cups Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients then add all wet ingredients mixing until smooth and creamy. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan or 9X9 pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until the bread is firm and set. Take out of oven and let cool in pan for 15 minutes, take out of pan and let cool for 20-30 minutes. Once cool, slice bread into sticks – cut into slices, then cut each slice 4-5 times to get sticks.

Place sticks onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, spacing them out so that none are on top of each other. Bake sticks in a 250 degree oven for 1 hour or longer to get crispy, checking each 20 minutes and turning so each side is evenly baked. Once sticks are crispy and hard let cool and pack in an airtight container or place in a freezer bag to freeze for later use!

Both of these recipes yeild at least 30 biscuits or sticks. You can use some to eat and some to freeze for later. Not only are these treats good to chomp on for a while, but they also keep your little one entertainted for a while! Make sure your baby is sitting up and keep an eye on them while they are snacking on these because they can potentially be a choking hazard.

Garbanzo Beans

The most recent food that I have whipped up for Andrew is Garbanzo Beans! You might think…really, Garbanzo Beans? Yes, these beans are very nutritious and are great to mix with so many other foods. Andrew is fine just eating plain vegetable purees, but I really like to mix together little dinners for him that combine a vegetable or two and some kind of grain or protein. Since he is not eating meat yet, I like to use beans that contain protein in them so that he is getting that nutrient. The other great thing about beans is fiber! What baby could not use a little more fiber in their diet!!!

I found that pureeing garbanzo beans is easy, but the prep is more time consuming than most fruits and veggies. The pay of is well worth the extra time because you can get a bag of beans for a couple of dollars and you end up with 3 trays of cubes and a little extra to use for a few days after you make them!

Basic Garbanzo Bean Puree

1 1lb bag of Garbanzo Beans (dried)
16-24 ounces of purified or boiled water

Directions:

You must soak the beans for 8 hours before cooking them. Place beans into a large bowl or pot and rinse with water. Drain the beans, place back into pot or bowl and add 8 cups of cool water to beans and let set. You can let them sit overnight so they are ready the next day to cook.

Once beans have soaked, drain the beans and rinse once more. When beans are drained again, fill large pot with water and add beans. Bring the beans to a boil, turn down heat, add lid and let simmer for 2 ½ hours until they start to pop open. When they pop open, they are very soft and ready to be pureed.

Drain the beans and place half into blender. Add 8 ounces of water to begin with and puree until all blended, you may need to add about 4 more ounces of water depending on the thickness of puree you want. Once the first half is done, pour into trays and then puree the second half following same directions. You should get 3 trays of cubes and some extra to store in the fridge for a few days!

Add the beans to any veggie or veggie combo you want! Your baby will love the new taste and texture of these beans and you’ll love the nutrients they provide!

Cherry-Pear Dessert

Today I was trying to think of some new fruit mixtures for Andrew to enjoy because I am beginning to feel like he eats the same thing every day. This is hard to believe because my entire freezer is full of cubes of his food, however, it stills feels like he eats the same apple this or peach that each day. As I was looking at the freezer I saw cubes of cherries and thought that he needed a little cherry today. Now, the question was what to mix with the cherry…so I thought Cherry and Pear might be a good mixture. Since I have not posted a Cherry recipe yet or Pear, I will post those basic purees and then all you have to do is mix the two together. So Simple!

Basic Cherry Puree

1 Bag of Frozen Cherries (red sweet)

Directions:

Place frozen cherries into a microwave safe bowl and place in microwave for about 5 minutes depending on your microwave. Once the cherries are thawed and warmed throughout place them into a blender or food processer. Puree the fruit until it is a nice frothy mixture, cherries have a lot of liquid in them so there is no need to add any extra water.

Pour puree into ice cube tray. Normally one bag of cherries will equal one tray of cubes.

Basic Pear Puree

6-8 D’Anjou Pears

Directions:

Wash, Peel and Cut pears in half taking out core. Place cubes onto a baking sheet and place into a pre-heated 350 degree oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until soft. Once soft, take out of oven and let cool for a few minutes. Cut baked pears into cubes and place into blender and puree until soft. There is a lot of moisture in pears so normally there is no need to add any extra water.

Pour puree into ice cube trays, normally 8 pears is equal to two trays of cubes.

Once you have made these basic puree cubes you can easily make CherryPear Dessert! For a 7-8 month old baby, serve them 2 cubes of Cherry and 2 cubes of Pear. You may need to add some rice or oatmeal cereal to thicken the puree if your baby prefers a less runny mixture.

Cinnamon Apple Crisp

This recipe is very similar to the blueberry apple crisp that I have previously posted, but is a more simple fruit dessert recipe. You could serve this as a fruit course or as a dessert; I usually just serve as a fruit course, but normally at dinner time. Once your child has truly begun to eat more diverse foods you can begin to introduce simple spices into their diet. You should never add sugar and salt to recipes as they do not need them, but you can add spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and sprinkles of thyme and parsley. You want to introduce new flavors, but nothing that is too strong or too powerful for your baby’s developing taste buds. Normally as a rule, you can start to introduce these flavors around 7-8 months.

Cinnamon Apple Crisp

2 Basic Fruit Puree Cubes defrosted
1 TBSP oatmeal cereal or quick cooking oats cooked
1* tsp of purified water
1 light dust of Cinnamon

Mix the previous ingredients together and add more or less water to create a consistency that your baby will prefer. If using quick cooking oats you can add a little more to make a good serving size. Make sure to only add a little dash of cinnamon as you do not want too much of the spice, just a little taste of it.

*may need more or less of ingredient.

When I served this meal to Andrew he really loved the new taste! It is a great recipe to shake up the normal everyday meals! Have fun with your baby’s meal and it will make meal time a blast everytime!