I’ve been reminded recently of the Burn’s quote, the ‘best-laid plans of mice and men oft go astray’. I had in my mind that introducing food to Baby T would be a doddle – I waited until he was six months, I attended a brilliant and informative class… but he really was not interested in anything I was giving him.
Stuff on a spoon was met with disgust and something put on a tray quickly discarded. Obviously, I kept trying but really we were making very very slow progress, if any. Thankfully, I got in touch with Tricia from Nurture Me – I’ve written about her class before – but I was reminded of how reassuring she was and how good it can be to have someone to turn to for advice.
Tricia suggested that I try offering Thomas food at different times of the day as we had been generally trying only at dinner time. This made sense as we were all at the table eating, but I had totally failed to take into account how tired he was by this point in the day.
I could not believe the difference in his approach to food just by offering something in mid afternoon. He quickly accepted a spoon and tried a variety of food with some gusto. Equally, he actually started putting things in his mouth and attempting to chew. A total contrast.
Although weaning is still a very slow process, it actually now feels like we are making progress so I decided I would be brave enough to take time to prepare something – confident that he wouldn’t immediately reject it this time!
My friend Jackie had prepared Apple and Oat Muffins for a playdate, and they had been so delicious just hot out of the oven that I was keen to try them myself. It also meant that I could use some for an afternoon tea that we had planned with Katie’s friend, Charlotte.
Ben was with us for the weekend so we decided that a team effort was required with this one. Mike was on hand to help with the oven whilst I was busy with my camera, and Thomas was observing and shouting happily from his highchair!
The process couldn’t have been simpler – flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar were combined in a bowl before adding in some grated apple.
A mixture of yoghurt, milk, egg and oil was then added in and everything was mixed lightly.
I measured out some mixture for Thomas before adding in some sultanas for everyone else
I was a little worried about overfilling the cases, but I needn’t have worried and could’ve actually topped them all up a little more because they didn’t rise all that much.
Once in the oven for 25 minutes I transferred them to a wire rack. This was the first time I had used silicone cake cases and I definitely won’t be changing back to paper. Aside from looking really nice, it meant that the muffins were easily pealed out – no issues with sticky paper.
Although Katie couldn’t eat these (given the dairy content), they were a big hit with everyone else – Thomas included! Hurrah!
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