3 easy recipes for your 10-month old

Joe is a few years too young for “ants on a log,” - he might not have the teeth for it, for one
thing - but he also might be coming up on the age where he is starting to ask for a little
more variety from his food, just to keep things interesting. The days are passing when he
will be happy with a brownish-orangish-green mush when the rest of the family is munching
on a plate full of bright colors and interesting new shapes. What Joe needs, at this point, is
something in the middle.
Pasta and mini-meatballs
It’s entirely possible that you already know how good of finger-food large, interestingly
shaped noodles make for new self-feeders, and if the rest of the family is having spaghetti,
there’s no reason for Joe not to join in on the fun. Just make some larger, easily grip-able
noodles, like elbows, wagon wheels, or bow ties, and toss them in the spaghetti sauce the
rest of the family is eating, as long as it’s fairly low in sodium. That way, Joe will be getting
the same flavors as everyone else, but without quite the same opportunity for mess that a
whole bowl-full of sauce would provide - he’ll probably only get his face coated bright red.
Well, face and hands. Face, hands, clothes, and maybe a little bit of the floor. But that’s all.
Probably.
You can add a little protein to the meal by sauteing a few teeny tiny meatballs out of ground
beef or turkey to go with Joe’s pasta dish.
Pancakes
Who in the world doesn’t like pancakes? Well, besides Joe, maybe, but that’s just because
he hasn’t had the chance to try them yet! And right now, when he hasn’t had the chance to
try them with syrup yet, may be the only time you’ll be able to get away with giving him a
relatively healthy version.
 ½ cup white flour
 ½ cup wheat flour
 2 tablespoons sugar
 2 teaspoons baking powder
 1 cup milk or water
 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted butter
 1 egg or equivalent (1 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 Tbsp. oil, ½ tsp. baking powder)

Combine dry and then wet ingredients, then cook the batter in quarter-sized cakes in a
skillet over a medium heat.
Coconut rice
Coconut rice tends to be a little stickier than regular rice, which means it’s easier to serve
on Joe-sized silverware. Adding coconut milk to rice adds vitamin C, Iron, and a little
calcium into what is still a deceptively bland-looking meal, if Joe happens to be in one
of those phases. If he is longing for color instead, it’s easy to add a splash of bright orange
by serving the rice with mango. It’s also a great way to start exposing Joe to different flavor
palates which could make it easier to bring him on more daring adventures in eating out as
he gets older.
 1 cup rice of your choice
 1 cup coconut milk
 ¾ cups water
 (optional) 1 can of mango puree or mango chunks

Combine the ingredients in a saucepan, put them on a medium high heat, and stir until they
come to a boil. When it’s boiling, turn the heat down to low, cover with a lid, and let simmer
20 to 30 minutes, until no more liquid is visible. Then leave the rice to stand for 10 minutes,
and serve with mango if desired.