Two Easy Recipes for Matti

As someone who didn't grow up in the kitchen, one of my challenges is preparing food for my husband and me. When we were still in Cebu City, living all by ourselves, we would either cook one viand for a day then the next few days, we will be ordering food from restaurants and have them delivered to our doorsteps.

Thankfully, our neighborhood had made a Facebook group where vendors and "carenderia" owners can post their goods and food options. The customers like us would just message them and request for either pickup or delivery. We had been requesting for delivery for years if we won't be able to cook something. It was my duty indeed to cook and prepare meals for my husband but because I am not a cook myself, I would instead resort to ordering, I have failed in many cooking attempts although I have some recipes in mind that I can cook but I don't want to bore him with the same recipe.

I am glad that my husband never complains, he loves it when I cook something for him and would appreciate me too! He would often tell me to explore more recipes. 

So, when I became a mother, I somehow feared that I won't be able to cook for my baby. When he turned six and that he was about to become ready in eating solids, I was scared, what if he won't like the food that I will be serving? What if he would just reject them?

There were so many "what-ifs" running in my head, I felt like I was being eaten by my insecurity in cooking. Until I found this Facebook group for baby-led weaning and they shared their recipes for their babies. I became aware that it was not just me who have troubles with cooking, there are a lot of moms in there asking for recipes, asking if the recipe is easy to do, some were brave enough to admit that they never cooked their entire life until they became passionate in giving healthy food options for their little ones.

Indeed, our love for our little ones has overcome laziness and all the fears and doubts. I began to look up easy recipes and in today's article, I would like to share with you these that are my go-to food for Matti.

He is currently ten months old, he has already developed a pincer grasp and his hand and mouth coordination are very good at this point. His favorites are pasta, banana, and oat pancakes. And that's what I am going to share with you today.

Oat Pancakes

This is my go-to breakfast recipe for Matti because it is very easy to make plus he would always eat it. What I just need are the following:

• Rolled Oats

• Any available fruit

• Oil for frying

As for the rolled oats, I use the Australian Harvest brand because it is lower in sodium, as much as possible, it must be low or zero sodium! The rolled oats as well as a better option because it is less processed.

For the procedure, I just add around two tablespoons of rolled oats, place it in a blender, I then add two tablespoons of fruit, I usually use banana, dragon fruit, or mango, sometimes, if there are avocados, I use that too, in fact, any available fruit can be added here. But so far, these three are Matti's favorites.

I used to add eggs before but then, I find that it is softer and Matti likes it more when there's no egg. So I blend it and once the texture looks okay for me, I let it sit on the counter for a few minutes, I just want the oats to absorb some of the fruit's liquid especially if I used mango or dragon fruit. If I use a banana, I add a bit of water.

Once the mixture is a little thicker, I then start frying it using unsalted butter, olive oil, or coconut oil. With coconut oil, the pancake smells sweet! I started using it after discovering that it smells better than using unsalted butter!

For better presentation, I use some molders like star shape, they look cuter that way and Matti can pick it up better, size-wise, it is perfect for one bite!

White Sauce Pasta

This, I always offer in the evening, Matti eats early, around six in the evening which will allow me to prepare him for bed by 7:30 PM. Matti eats a little longer, I have to wait for his pacing, I don't want to hurry him so I have to wait for around 30 minutes to an hour until he shows signs of being done.

As for the pasta, Matti likes it just plain boiled pasta but I would often cook it as white sauce. Here are the ingredients:

• fusilli pasta 

• full cream milk

• Arla Cheesy Spread

• Boiled or Steamed Chicken (optional)

• garlic and onion

• unsalted butter

• oregano powder

• white or black pepper powder

• nutmeg

I use fusilli pasta but any pasta will do, it's just that that's what I have been buying because of its shape, it can be held easily because of its shape. 

As for the procedure, I overcook the fusilli pasta in water without any oil or salt. Then I drain it but I also set aside a few spoons of its water. In another pot, I saute the garlic and onion using the unsalted butter then I add the chicken, if I don't have a chicken, I skip this part, I will just immediately proceed with adding the full cream milk, I don't measure this anymore. Then I let it simmer, I add two tablespoons of Arla Cheesy spread and let it boil, I also then add the oregano, nutmeg, and pepper powder to taste. I will wait for it to thicken, I add the pasta water stock if it's too thick.

Then I toss the pasta and mix. That's it, let it cool and serve! 

These are two of my go-to recipes which never fail me when I serve them to my little one. I still have other easy recipes which I will reserve for the next blog article.

Thanks for reading! I hope this will help other moms out there too!

xoxo,

mommy jean of momentswithmatti

Love harder than any pain you've ever felt.