4 Ingredient Turkey Sticks

By Alicia of Lollygag Learning

Only four ingredients go into these easy turkey sticks! Nova loved exploring a new food and feeding herself this wholesome, simple dinner. They are great for Baby Led Weaning because your little one can grip the turkey for self feeding and the texture is easy to nibble on. If you want to try Baby Led Weaning, but find it a little nerve-wracking this would be a great recipe to try!

4 Ingredient Turkey Sticks

• 16 oz package ground turkey
• 1/4 c pumpkin
• 1/4 c baby oatmeal
• 1/8 tsp cumin

Mix ingredients together with hands and form into log shapes. Brown on all sides in an oiled cast iron pan. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.

I used canned pumpkin puree from the baking aisle. If you can’t find pumpkin you can substitute baked and mashed acorn squash, or you can even try a jar of butternut squash baby food puree. It’s fun to experiment with different ideas! My idea for this recipe was inspired by meatballs. The pumpkin holds the ingredients together as eggs would, and the oatmeal gives the turkey a light texture. When mixing ingredients together, you will be able to feel if you need to add a sprinkle of oatmeal or an extra dollop of pumpkin.

I made a batch of Turkey Sticks and used a flash freezing technique to store for quick meals. This process, a.k.a. freezer cooking, takes a lot of stress out of our dinner routine. I love being able to cook once, and freeze several portions. Not only does freezer cooking save me time, but it also saves me from throwing away leftovers that got too old.  

To flash freeze, line a baking sheet or cutting board with wax paper. Place the turkey sticks on the sheet, spaced out so they are not touching each other. Freeze several hours until frozen solid then store in a zipper freezer bag. To defrost, simply warm with your microwave or toaster oven.

When I defrosted the Turkey Sticks for dinner a few days later, I served them with steamed asparagus and diced cherries.

Another time, I served the sticks with a side of peas and pears for Nova, and Josie had a side of tortellini. 

Thank goodness I had my Bumkins Splat Mat ready to catch all of the mess! Josie (2.5 years old) is learning to keep her food on her plate, but the Splat Mat saves me a lot of sweeping and mopping after Nova’s meals. I lay it down under her chair before her meal then I shake the crumbs into the sink before tossing in the washing machine. It’s like a giant bib for the floor! Sometimes I even sit these sweet sisters next to each other and they both fit under the Splat Mat. They are too cute sharing their meals!

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Celebrating Nova's 6 Month Half Birthday

By Alicia of Lollygag Learning

Reaching Nova's 6 month "birthday" felt like a big milestone in our family. She has learned so much in the past few weeks- sitting unsupported, pulling herself to stand in her crib, first words and signs, and she is working really hard on crawling. As parents we have survived half a year of parenting two little ones. We decided to celebrate Nova's half birthday and the start of a new phase of her life. I made a cupcake out of pure avocado by filling a silicone cupcake liner with sliced and mashed avocado.

Avocado Cupcake

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado

1 silicone cupcake liner

1 candle

1 Bumkins Superbib

Paper towels

Directions:

1. Cut avocado in half. Slice one half and cut a couple slices into small segments to fit in the silicone cupcake liner. These slices will hold the candle in place. Reserve the other slices for your baby to explore.
2. Scoop the flesh of the other half of avocado into a bowl and mash as desired. You can add a bit of water, breastmilk, or formula if you want to make it more creamy.
3. Fill a Ziploc bag with the mashed avocado and snip the bottom corner off with scissors. Pipe the mashed avocado into the cupcake liner to create a frosted look.
4. Serve immediately to enjoy the pretty, fresh color! This recipe will work with a variety of first foods such as banana, sweet potato, or butternut squash.

Be ready for a huge mess! We took the celebration out to our back porch and used our Bumbo Seat with the tray that way it could all be washed down after her meal. Our Bumkins Superbib saved a lot of cleaning and stains. The thing I love about Superbibs is they can be washed a few different ways. If it’s not a major mess I wipe it down with a damp cloth. I also toss them in a sink of warm soapy water, rinse, and hang to dry. A few times per week I toss the Superbibs in the laundry with my kitchen towels and washcloths then hang to dry.

Big sister Josie was very excited to be a part of the celebration and eagerly ran to Nova with a spoonful of avocado before we were ready! It was a lot of fun to watch Nova taste her cupcake and explore the texture. I did offer her a few bites of mashed avocado on a spoon but she was most interested in feeding herself the large slices I had set aside.

Keep in mind that your baby’s first meal will probably only be a few bites. The prep for our celebration lasted longer than the time she spent eating but it was a lot of fun to share the experience as a family. I am glad we have memories and photos to show the girls from Nova’s half birthday! Once Nova started showing she was done we hosed everything down... baby included!

Disclosure: I received Bumkins product in exchange for this post. All opinions are mine.

Finding Your Baby’s Style of Solid Food

By Alicia of Lollygag Learning

Nova is almost ready to enter a new phase of babyhood—eating solids! There is so much information about starting solids that it can easily become overwhelming. With our first baby, I did a lot of reading and researching, and I had a checklist of questions for the pediatrician and my breastfeeding support group. That was only 2 years ago, so it’s still fresh on my mind! After all of that preparing, the introduction of baby food was over in the blink of an eye.

I’m very thankful to have a pediatrician who takes the time to bounce around ideas about feeding. Also, since Nova has a sensitive belly, I am meeting with a nutritionist who is also a lactation consultant. While breastfeeding, I have pinpointed several food sensitivities for Nova including dairy, soy, wheat, tree nuts, and peanuts. The food sensitivities are a new challenge for me since my first baby did not have any issues with the food I ate. I have decided to wait to start solids until Nova is around 6 months old and sitting unsupported.

There are 3 different styles of feeding that I will experiment with when we start solids: purées, finger foods, and baby-led weaning (BLW). One thing I’ve learned since I became a mom is that it’s good to make a plan, but be willing to change it! With Nova, I plan to try a little bit of purées and finger foods and see how she does. We will see what she likes, identify her style and preference, and go from there. Maybe it will be 100% purées or a mix of two styles. I’m thinking it will be a little bit of each style. It will be so fun to see her learning and experimenting!

Purées: I don’t think you need any kind of special baby food making machine to make purées. If you have a good blender or food processor, or just a fork you can do purees easily. The stage of feeding baby food purées is so short that I don’t want to purchase another kitchen appliance that will sit in the cupboard unused afterwards. Start with a simple age-appropriate fruit or veggie, and blend it while adding breast milk, formula, or water until it is soupy and thin. The food should pour off of the spoon like a liquid. If it is so thick that it sticks to the spoon it might cause choking or constipation at this age. Some great first fruits or veggies are avocado, sweet potato, banana, pear, apples, or butternut squash. I like to bake the sweet potato and squash, and steam the apple to soften before puréeing. If you want to try mashing the food with a fork, you will notice it is more textured, which is great once your baby has a little more experience.

Not sure how thick to make your purées? Check out this video to see the consistency foods should be when it's mashed versus blended.

Finger Foods: Small diced fruits and veggies can be served for Baby to self-feed and get a great sensory experience, while learning about their food. Be sure that the food is very soft and you can easily squish it between two fingers the way that their little gums will mash the food. Teeth are not required for finger foods because babies learn to mash with their gums before they ever get molars. I tend to dice the food to about the same size of a baby puff snack or Cheerio. It’s small enough to pick up with their tiny fingers, but it’s not too big or firm to be a choking hazard. Follow your baby’s lead and interest!

Baby Led Weaning: Offering whole foods in their purest form, with no purées or dicing, is the idea behind baby led weaning. This approach is said to help baby have better eye-hand coordination, learn about their food, self-feed, and regulate how much they eat. You can try offering a large slice of avocado, a half of a banana with the peel as a handle to grip, or large slices of baked sweet potato.

At first, your baby might not eat a lot of the food you prepare, but that’s okay! Breast milk or formula should be the main source of nutrition until they are one year old, unless otherwise instructed by your pediatrician. Follow your baby and do what feels right when you are deciding how to introduce solids. There are many different styles and you’re sure to find one that works best for your baby.