Teddy eating his fusili pasta
Eating this meal has to be, hands down, one of our best moments with Baby Led Weaning thus far. I feel like this meal has been the real ‘click’ moment so many other parents doing baby-led weaning often talk about. The moment when it all comes together and your baby really chows down on a real meal. This was our ‘click’ moment.
My in-laws are in Hong Kong at the moment visiting our boy (let’s call him Teddy from now on). On their first day in Hong Kong I decided to make pasta for dinner as I was keen to give Teddy – who is now 7.5 months old – a bit of pasta and see what he would do with it. Up until this point, we had mainly been offering Teddy fruit, vegetables, a bit of toast and rice crackers, all of which he had been happy to munch on and get quite a bit down (remember the peaches?).
We sit down to eat our pasta and my husband offers Teddy a few pieces of fusili on his highchair tray. He looks at it, grabs it with his little hands and shoves it into his mouth so quickly and so accurately that my in-laws were left sitting there, captivated. Teddy continues to eat his pasta, one fusili at a time, until his tray is empty. My in-laws sat there, through the whole meal, absolutely delighted at the sight of our boy, sitting up at the table, eating pasta with his family.
For my husband and I, this really was the defining moment in our Baby Led Weaning journey. We couldn’t have asked for a better family meal and were so enthralled watching our son sit up at the family table, quietly eating his pasta and showing his grandparents what a Baby Led Weaning baby can really do!
Here’s my recipe.
Ingredients
1 red capsicum
1 yellow capsicum
1 zucchini
1 eggplant
1 clove of garlic, crushed OR 1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tins of crushed tomatoes
1 packet fusili pasta
olive oil
Preparation
- Wash capsicum, zucchini and eggplant. Cut capsicum in half and remove seeds. Cut the top off the zucchini and eggplant.
- Dice vegetables into large cubes and place in a roasting tray with the garlic.
- Drizzle vegetables with 1-2 tablespoons of oil and toss to coat vegetables evenly with oil.
- Place roasting tray in preheated 180C oven for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, remove tray from oven, add crushed tomatoes to pan and stir until mixed.
- Return tray to oven and cook for a further 20 minutes until sauce is bubbling and vegetables are tender.
- Whilst vegetables are cooking, boil a pot of salted water and cook pasta according to packet instructions.
- Drain pasta, add to sauce, stir and serve.
Serves 4 adults (or many meals for baby)
Tip
If your baby is confident with finger feeding you can offer him this dish as is, allowing your little one to eat both the pasta and the vegetables. Alternatively you can keep a little of the sauce aside and process in a blender until smooth, before stirring the pasta through so it is coated with the blended vegetable sauce.
This sauce also freezes well and can be reheated and tossed with pasta for a lunch or dinner meal for your baby.
How do you make pasta for your little one?
