Cooking for Hazellbaby
As a new father with a quickly growing daughter, I had learned to adapt quickly in order to feed my little spawn. She has gone through the milk phase and then just rice phase and now she wants flavor. Well...flavor with some compromises. I have to get nutrients into my little girl while also making food fun. After all, I do have a reputation to uphold.
Feeding a baby is a fun challenge. Of course my little carrot would love to eat ice cream all day. Seriously. She loves soft serve ice cream, it is not very nutritious and I don't want her consuming so much sugar. She would also love strawberries all the time but at 20,000 won per container its not a viable snack.
My little meatball does love tofu but tofu is a tad salty. She also likes eggs, spinach and noodles. Actually, she likes a lot of food but they must be in a fun form factor for her to enjoy them.
Take carrots. She could take them or leave them. I could boil them and mash them but that doesn't do much. I could put them in soup, but she picks them out. Now inside dumplings, she likes them or if I make them into pancakes with a bit of tofu and oil; she'll devour them. Spinach is fine if they are chopped finely or if I get rid of the fibrous stem.
Tomatoes have been a godsend and she'll eat them raw or if I make a tomato and egg drop soup.
Meat is pretty easy. She loves them but they should be made easy to chew. She has teeth but not enough for something chewy. Fork torn chicken works and so does minced beef. I find that making them into a soup works best.
My goal is to have my daughter enjoy the many different flavors of the world while focusing on what is natural. But then again, isn't that how we should all eat?
Dan