Blueberry Coconut Breakfast Balls

After posting this picture to Instagram I had heaps of requests for the recipe, so here it is!

Blueberry Coconut Breakfast Balls

Makes approx 12

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup almond flour
1/3 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup berries of choice (fresh or frozen)
1 tbsp melted coconut oil

Method

Step 1

Mix all ingredients in a blender/food processor until well combined

Step 2

Form into balls and refridgerate until needed.

I used fresh blueberries this time, as they are Squishes favourite. I have some frozen mixed berries ready for the next batch. I also ended up making making the balls much smaller when she actually ate them, breaking in half and reforming them into balls as she ate. 

Recipe inspo here :)

 

Our 1st Month of BLW

Our first month of BLW has been a huge success. From baby's first meal to her first time eating in a restaurant, she's learned so much, so quickly and has blown us away.

The pictures below document everything our girl ate in her first month of BLW, I post them daily on Instagram. There were (and still are) a few days when she only has one or two meals due to sleeping through meal times or through us being out and about. Most days we try for three meals and she eats as much, or as little, as she wants to.

For interest, I'll list her meals after the images.

Obviously some meals fit more than one category, I've tried to be as clear as possible! :D

GRAINS
Weetbix
Whole grain toast (plain, vegemite and peanut butter)
Crumpets
Banana muffins
Porridge
Baked Porridge finger
Cheese Pizza
Naan bread
Pasta
Pikelets
Yorkshire pudding
Stuffing


FRUIT

Banana
Strawberry
Pear
Blueberries
Blackberries
Raspberries
Mango
Pineapple
Orange
Grapefruit
Peach



VEGETABLES
Green onions
Cucumber
Tomato
Potato
Celery
Red Capsicum
Cos lettuce stalks
Butternut Pumpkin
Brown onion
Broccoli
Carrot
Snow Peas
Zucchini
Sweetcorn
Green Beans
Cauliflower
Peas
Spinach

DAIRY & EGGS

Eggy Banana Bread
Greek Yoghurt
Scrambled Eggs
Cheesy Omelette
Cheddar
Cream cheese
Quiche

MEAT & FISH
Bacon
Steak
Minced Beef
Tuna
Hoki

Baby's First Meal!

 We had been planning baby's first meal for a long time. Initially we thought it might come later, around Christmas or her 1st birthday, when all we knew about was the 'traditional' way of introducing solids.

Once we learned about Baby Led Weaning, we knew right away what the first family meal we would share would be. The first meal hubby ever cooked for me was a roast chicken dinner, and that would be the first dish he would cook for our girl.

After all the build up, I had to keep reminding him that it was possible she wouldn't eat anything. Some babies don't really self-feed much until 8 or even 10 months according to what we had read. He was fine with that, you only get one first meal, so we wanted to make it special either way.

The next step was a matter of when. There are certain markers for readiness when it comes to starting solids, not just with BLW. Baby had been sitting up independently since 5 months, so we had that covered. She had lost her tongue thrust reflex. All we were really waiting for was to reach the 6 month mark.

The meal was a huge success. She was right into it! They say that one of the signs of readiness is interest in food. She had been watching us intently during meal time for the past few weeks, she put all that observation to great use! She not only picked up the food and brought it to her mouth, she actually ate some of it! We also learned some useful info on how to prepare food for her in the future (finding the balance between soft to eat, but not too soft to squish as she picks it up).


We were apprehensive about baby's 6 month appointment, wondering what they would have to say about the fact that we had only started solids the day before not two months earlier, and that we were doing BLW. When asked about solids, I said that no, we hadn't started cereal, we were going stright to 'table food' - the MCHN suggested we look into BLW! I told her that's what we were doing, I was just used to people not understanding. We showed her some photos from the night before and she was thrilled. Just popped in the reminder of no honey under 1 and to make sure that everything else was prepared appropriately. She also reminded up to offer lots of iron rich foods, and to breastfeed before meals.

We could not have asked for a more positive experience for baby's first meal!

Get Back In The Kitchen!

I used to love cooking until I got married. Hubby is a very fussy eater and all my favourite dishes that were a hit in Aus before I moved would get suspicious stares, pleas of "I'm not really hungry" and eventually end up in the bin. Very sad as I also have a severe aversion to waste.

I ended up taking on his bad eating habits (curry, bolognese and more curry was about it, and all straight out of a jar) until I realised one day what a mess I was making of my body and that I had to take control. He could eat what he liked, but I was going to get back to eating fresh cooked home made meals.

Any time hubby even hinted that something looked interesting, usually from an advert on TV, I would make it the next week. Happy to say he now eats a lot more widely, but still refuses to eat any fruit or veg. Strictly meat and potatoes only, which seems to be a UK tradition he was raised with.

As for me, after referrals to a dietitian here in Aus and trying many different types of meal plans, we finally hit on one that worked, low carb. I was really sceptical at first as I love all those high carb, starchy things like bread, potatoes, pasta and rice. I know the fact that I recovered my long lost joy of cooking has really helped, I spend ages looking up recipes on the web, trying out low carb substitutes and so on. Usually I stick with a fairly regular plan but every now and then I need something different or a little bit of a treat.

It was hard at the beginning, but now I truly think I would like to stay low carb in the future, not just till I lose this weight. I feel so much better (after the initial fatigue in the first week or so) and the weight is slowly and steadily coming off.

I don't usually photograph my food, but thought I would share a few pictures of the some of the low carb creations I have made.

From top:

Mini Zucchini Quiche

Chicken, Bacon & Egg Salad

Muffin in a Minute Burger

Mini Lime Cheesecake

Flaxseed and Almond Meal Loaf

YUM! =]