Food / 15 December, 2022 / My Baba

Batch Cooking Recipes & Expert Tips To Save, Time, Money, And Energy This Christmas

If your baby’s first Christmas is just around the corner and you’re in the middle of, or just about to start weaning, you might be feeling a little overwhelmed. Fear not, Beaba’s Christmas batch cooking tips, recipes, and weaning ideas will give you the helping hand you need in the kitchen.

Christmas weaning ideas: top tips to get you started!

Be prepared and batch cook!

Get ahead of the game, by batch cooking and making meals for your little one in advance.

Batch cooking is easy when you’ve got the tools you need to do the job, so investing in a baby food blender is worthwhile. The award-winning Béaba Babycook Neo, 4-in-1 baby food blender is brilliant for creating home-cooked meals made in advance when your hands are full. This must-have kitchen companion can steam, cook and blend your baby’s food in around 15 minutes. It’ll even defrost and reheat meals too!

The Béaba Babycook Neo is simple, safe, stylish and convenient with a unique blend function that means it’ll be there for every stage of your weaning journey and beyond. You can adjust the time of blending and amount of cooking juices to gain the desired consistency for your meals based on age and stage, so as baby grows, chunkier purée and different textures can be created to suit their tastes.

Save time, money and energy

Right now, families are more energy and environmentally conscious than ever, and Beaba’s next-generation baby food maker is made with respect for the environment and the nutritional quality of food. It’s an eco-designed product using 48% less carbon dioxide and 50% less water and energy consumption than the Babycook® Solo model.

Invest in storage solutions

Get your storage solutions sorted! Look for portion-sized, freezer-safe storage solutions such as our silicone multi portions, which come in two handy portion-size trays (90ml and 150ml) with a handy lid, each separating 6-portions that be stored in the fridge or freeze and easily ‘popped out’ when needed! Alternatively, our durable glass conservation jars are made from highly resistant glass, which is heat and thermal shock resistant, and have airtight supple lids to preserve flavour and aroma and a handy measuring scale for accurate portion sizes.

Your admin duties

Make the most of your freezer and use the space efficiently! Plus label each meal with its contents and preparation date.

Keep a list on your phone of what’s in the depths of your freezer – it can take the stress out of dinner when you are out and about and avoids food getting forgotten at the bottom of the freezer for months.

Prepare your finger foods

Prep your finger foods too! Wash and chop broccoli, carrots, mini corn cobs, cucumber, quartered cherry tomatoes on the day of the week you have more time, then store them in an airtight container (important to prevent oxidation) and keep in the fridge to use during the rest of the week.

Batch cooking recipes perfect for Christmastime weaning!

A baby’s first Christmas is a special milestone, and a great opportunity to introduce them to a whole host of new tastes and traditions. And so without further ado, here are four festive weaning recipes they’ll love. Merry Christmas!

Baby’s First Christmas Dinner

(Turkey and sweet potato purée with cinnamon and Cranberry)

Suitable from 7 months

Ingredients

• 85g turkey leg, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 30g Brussel sprouts, washed & halved
• ½ tsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp dried cranberries (no added sugar)
• a pinch of cinnamon

Method

1. Combine the turkey, sweet potato, sprouts and cranberries in a bowl.
2. Pour water for steaming up to level 3 in your Béaba Babycook and add the combined ingredients to the steaming basket.
3. Once the turkey is cooked, reserve the cooking liquid.
4. Purée the turkey, sweet potato, sprouts and cranberries in your Béaba Babycook with ½ tsp extra-virgin olive oil and a pinch of cinnamon until you reach the texture you need for your baby. Add some of the reserved cooking liquid to blend if needed.

@my.little.food.critic

Method

1. Peel the bananas and it into large pieces and put it in the Babycook blending bowl with the eggs, butter and vanilla essence. Blend until you get quite a smooth consistency.
2. Add the flour that you have already mixed with the baking powder and blend. Consistency should be similar to a pancake mix.
3. Gently heat a non-stick frying pan, add a knob of butter or touch of oil if needed.
4. To make one roll, pour ¼ of the ‘pancake-like’ mixture into the pan and aim for 1/4cm in thickness. Leave it to cook slowly then turn it over so that both sides turn a golden colour.
5. Put the pancake on a plate and roll the pancake up whilst it is still warm and cut the two ends to make a nicely formed log.
6. Repeat the above steps for the remaining 3 logs.
7. Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a microwave-friendly bowl with 4 teaspoon of water. Cover with cling film and put in the microwave for 30 seconds (or until melted), stirring halfway through.
8. Cover each log generously with the melted chocolate. For an even more attractive log, use a fork to make ridges in the chocolate similar to a wood effect.
9. Leave the logs to cool for a few minutes before placing in the fridge.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly grease and line a 500g loaf tin.
2. Start by processing the seeds in your Béaba Babycook. Once the seeds are ground to a powder, add the bicarbonate of soda and flour to the Béaba Babycook bowl and pulse a couple of times to mix well. Transfer to a bowl and reserve.
3. Now mix the eggs, sugar or honey, orange zest and vanilla extract in your Béaba Babycook. Pulse a few times until well mixed. Add the melted coconut oil and mix again.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and add the cranberries. Gently fold with a spatula until just mixed.
5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 35-40 min until golden brown and firm to the touch.
6. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 min before turning out onto a wire rack to cool down. Cut into slices to serve warm or enjoy lightly toasted.

Chestnut Sweet Potato Clementine Puree

Suitable from 6 months

Makes 4 servings

This festive purée is bursting with Christmas flavour! It’s a great way to use seasonal veggies and fruits.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chestnuts (vacuum packed or tinned for example)
• 1 sweet potato, diced & peeled (medium-sized)
• 1 clementine
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Method

1. Add the chestnuts and sweet potatoes to the steaming basket.
2. Using a zest grater, grate the zest of a clementine and add to the steaming basket.
3. Next peel the clementine and the orange slices.
4. Add the mixed spice.
5. Fill the water reservoir to level 2.
6. Select steam cook.
7. Once steamed, carefully open the lid and remove the steamer basket.
8. Tip the contents of the steam basket into the blending bowl.
9. Blitz to purée to your babies preferred texture.
10. Serve and enjoy!
11. This puree can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 days or frozen for up to 3 months.

@my.little.food.critic

Find out more

For further recipe inspiration head to Béaba, where recipes can be searched for using age and stage of weaning. Visit Béaba for product stockists and follow @beaba_uk to join the conversation.

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