Lunch
Lunch Description
Baby – Lamb and Sweet Potato Purée
3 little ingredients for little ones to tuck into.
Makes 6 -10 portions:
Change things up a little by adding different vegetables to this recipe e.g. carrots, peas,broccoli or spinach.
Toddler – Salmon Fish Fingers with wedges, roasted carrot & parsnip
“Salmon fish fingers – Ditch the processed fish and give this nutritious alternative to fish fingers a try!”
– Jessica Schram, Paediatric Dietitian, Dublin
Tip – Swap salmon with cod for a tasty alternative.
Pregnancy/Breastfeeding – Chicken Tikka
A simple way to spice up chicken.
Michelle Gray, Dietitian, Danone Baby Nutrition
Serves 4
A great substitute for Indian takeaway but don’t forget to wear gloves when preparing the chilli!
Baby – Kiwi-Cado
“A quick and simple, nutritious and delicious snack for the little ones”
Jessica Schram, Paediatric Dietician, Dublin
Serves 6
Tip!
An avocado is ripe when its skin turns from green to a dark brown/green color.
A ripe avocado should “give” slightly when it is gently squeezed.
Never refrigerate unripened (hard) avocados because they will not ripen in cold temperatures.
Unripened avocados are best stored in a cool dark place until they have ripened.
To speed up the ripening process you can put the avocado in a brown paper bag and it should ripen in 3-6 days.
If you add a tomato, apple or banana to a paper bag in which you have placed an avocado this will speed up the ripening process and will usually only take one to three days to ripen.
Toddler – Cheesy Egg Tortilla with chickpea and tomato salad
“Quick, easy and open to adding your own favourite extras.”
– Roberta McCarthy, Clinical Specialist Dietician, Dublin
This tasty vegetarian dish is packed with Iron which is important for your toddler’s brain development.
Serves 4
Toddler – Pitta Pizza
“A great dish to get the kids involved with the meal when they are big enough to add their own toppings”
– Michelle Skelly, Clinical Dietician, Laois
Who would have thought a pizza could be both tasty and nutritious! This is a great finger food for toddlers.
Serves 2
Toddler – Sun dried Tomato Frittata
“This is so easy to make and serve and a great way to include well cooked egg which is a cheap, nourishing food for everyone. The natural sweetness of the tomato combined with the savoury herbs and cheese make it a choice that ’s full of natural goodness for your toddler to enjoy”.
– Ruth Charles, Paediatric Dietitian, Westmeath
A twist on your average egg dish, packed with vitamin D and Calcium which are important for your toddler’s rapidly growing bones.
Serves 4
Baby – Chicken & Vegetable Soup with Barley
“One of the very first soups I cooked with my mother Vera. This is full of goodness and nutrition and, as they say in Cavan, there is eating and drinking in it! I make it for the twins but I replace the barley with Orzo which is a rice shaped pasta and they love it.”
Neven Maguire, Chef and Father
Tip! Once your baby is taking soft finger foods you can cut up small soldiers of brown bread for them to eat with their soup.
Toddler – Chicken and Vegetable Risotto
“This creamy, nourishing risotto goes down a treat with my own children”
– Niamh Brannelly, Dietitian, Danone Baby Nutrition
You can add variety to this recipe by swapping chicken with fish such as salmon or cod.
Serves 6
Baby – Pear and Avocado Puree
“Avocados are often over looked by parents when it comes to preparing baby foods but they are a fast, heart healthy easy to prepare food”
Deborah Griffin, Senior Paediatric and Neonatal Dietician, Waterford.
Serves 8:
Avocado are a brilliant first food for your baby due to it’s
nutritional value and also it’s creamy texture. You can make
variations of this recipe by using other fruits to blend with
the avocado such as bananas, peaches, or mango.