Finger Foods Recipes

We make 95% of our own baby food from scratch. We only purchase things like lunch meat and green bean starch glass noodles. I try to purchase organic and preservative free items. Our babies eat a WIDE variety of foods and love spices and flavor. Here are some of our finger food recipes. I will continue to post recipes that I've created for the babies. I have a Curry Fish and a Turkey Cheese Burger recipe that I created recently that they love that I will post soon. My husband is Chinese and we primarily eat home cooked Chinese food and have started feeding the kids some of our food. They love it and a lot of what I post will be Chinese. Bok Choi and mushrooms are making them especially happy lately plus chives and eggs!


Baked Cinnamon Apples
Any type of apple, we've used Fugi, Gala and Golden Delicious so far all good
Preheat oven to 400
Peel apple
Cut into bite sized pieces appropriate for your kids age
Place in baking dish and cover bottom of dish with enough water to just cover the bottom
Sprinkle apples with cinnamon
Cover tightly with foil
Place on middle rack and cook softer apples around 20 minutes, harder apples around 30
Test with fork for mushyness
Cool and serve

Chinese Eggplant
The chinese variety of eggplant (long and skinny) is best
Ginger
Green onion
Lite Soy Sauce
Coconut Sugar
Star anise powder

Peel eggplant
Cut into thick rounds
Steam until soft
Cut into bite sized chunks
Cut fresh ginger into tiny pieces
Cut green onion into tiny pieces

Heat a little olive oil in a wok with ginger and green onion
When hot throw in eggplants and stir around
Put in a little soy sauce and sprinkle with sugar and star anise powder
Toss so the eggplant pieces are coated
Remove and cool

I refrigerated it and warmed it to serve. I have not tried freezing any yet, didn't think it would come through that well

Grey Zucchini
Get a zucchini called grey zucchini, it's less bitter - for those of you local to me I've found them at Sprouts and H-mart
Peel, cut into rounds and steam until soft
Cut into bite sized pieces

I have served it just steamed and plain and my kids like it. You can also saute it similar to the eggplant with a little lite soy sauce and coconut sugar

Acorn Squash
Cut in 1/2 from stem to point and scoop out seeds and strings
Place in baking dish cut side down add about 1/4 inch water
Bake at 350 30 to 45 minutes possibly 1 hour - test for softness with fork
Remove and cool until you can touch it, still warm
Peel skin
Cut into bites and refrigerate extra

When serving I sprinkle a little coconut sugar and coconut flakes on it and warm

Turkey, Veggie, Pesto Bites
Preheat oven to 350
Organic ground turkey, around a pound
Spinach and or Kale
Red and Yellow peppers - either bell or sweet baby bell peppers
Steamed carrots

Puree spinach/kale, peppers and carrots with 1 egg and about a tablespoon of basil pesto (we got some at Costco that is good but any brand will do)

Dump in with ground turkey and mix with your hands - I added a second egg but that was really runny so you might try not adding a second egg

Use a large pan with sides, either a baking dish or a cookie sheet. If it's non stick I didn't spray it with Pam or anything, but if it's not non-stick give it a quick coating or some sort of oil. Dump on the turkey mixture and spread it out to between 1/4 and 1/2 inch, closer to 1/4

Place in middle rack and I have no idea how long I cooked it. I just cooked until done, not soft anymore. Let cool. Use a spatula and cut into large squares or rectangles to remove from pan. Place on cutting board and cut into bites. This does freeze well. Warm and serve

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs
You can start with only egg yolks.  The whites are what people have allergies to.  We served egg yolks hard boiled, steamed to a soft tofu texture, and scrambled into yolk omelets.  In the omelets we added a tiny bit of salt, some Parmesan cheese and a veggie like fresh spinach or asparagus.  I don't scramble them as they cook I cook them more like a fried egg then cut them into bites.  So much easier to pick up with less egg waste.  Once the babies showed they weren't allergic to the egg yolks I tried a whole egg.  I buy organic free range Omega 3 eggs.  You can sprinkle the hard boiled eggs with nutmeg or turmeric if you want to try some extra flavor.

Steamed eggs are something I learned from my Chinese family.  Scramble an egg (or yolk) in a heat safe bowl.  Add an equal amount of water as egg.  Put in a drop or two of sesame oil, chinese vinegar and lite soy sauce and mix up.  Place the bowl of egg in a pot on the stove with water that comes up at least 1/2 way up the sides of the bowl.  Cover and cook.  Check and stir a few times.  When it is the texture of soft tofu it is finished.  This is NOT a finger food, must be eaten on a spoon, but it is so yummy!


Other finger foods my kiddos like:
Broccolini- steamed
Regular Broccoli - steamed
Cauliflower - steamed
Bell peppers, red yellow and orange - steamed
Baby carrots - steamed, start with cut bites then move to whole carrots they bite
French green beans -steamed, start with bites then move to whole beans they bite
Squashes, all kinds, but I prefer to prep acorn squash it's easiest
Lunch meats - low sodium, no nitrates, no preservatives, all natural organic. They love all of them but the flavored ones make them happiest. Either jenny-o or healthy-ones makes a rotisserie chicken lunch meat that I think smells awful but they love. Honey ham is yummy. I got an herbed turkey once they liked.
Yams and sweet potatoes - just baked and cut up. You can always sprinkle some coconut flakes on them
All fruits! Berries, grapes, plums, nectarines, peaches, pears, bananas, kiwi, melons, pineapple,
Cuties - we don't do them just yet because of the acid but my friends baby loves them, she started them by cutting the pieces into 2 or 3 bites and the baby was able to mash even with the skin/wrapping whatever it is called on it.  
Prunes and apricots - buy dehydrated and re-hydrate them by boiling them for about 10 minutes covered in water. Ready when you poke them with a fork and they are tender.Watercress - cooked, cut smaller and mixed with "angry mama" sauce, chinese vinegar and sugar