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Protein & Cereals for Baby

I have been emailing with a client who is looking for inspiration regarding sources of protein for her (almost) 9 month old. I was giving her tips, tricks and my favorite recipes for cereals and I thought it was good information to post here. (It is an excerpt from emails, so that explains how it is written):

"OK CEREAL, my favorite topic. I love to cook him hot cereal. Some grains I prepare:
- whole bulgar wheat
- 6 grain cereal
- steel cut oats
- brown rice
- quinoa
- amaranth
(the last 2 are about 30% protein each!)

I cook a small pot of hot cereal every 2-3 days and refrigerate leftovers for easy reheats. When preparing a serving mash in some banana, a tich of soy milk, a tablespoon of dessert tofu, applesauce, whatever. Dollop with yogurt and it's a great meal FULL of protein (several sources too) anytime of day.

Your challenge will likely be the chunky consistency. Try blending it down with some water and formula or rice milk or whatever using a hand blender.

I also just bought Seth some canned vegetarian brown beans in maple syrup that mash super easily and he ate a whole bowl of them- good protein too. You could water them down easily once mashed to achieve desired consistency.

I also fold cold cooked cereal into pancake recipes for finger foods- Seth loves them and they are very nutritious. Also, adding frozen berries (I like raspberries and blueberries) to the cooked cereal is easy :)

Just more creative ideas.

Lentils! Don't forget lentils, a superfood! Slow release of glycogen, high in fibre, protein and folic acid. They blend super well with applesauce and/or pureed mango! Mmmmm. I like to blend proteins like that (beans & grains) with the sweetest fruits- like I said try pureed mango- he won't get that from a jar :) Papaya is also great and has a natural digestive enzyme in it- it blends well with the super sweet mango and makes it go farther too.

With legumes you can also mash chick peas, kidney beans, etc....

With the cereals I like the Uncle Bob Red Mill brand- available in any supermarket. Also, I add extra water and overcook- so if quinoa is 2:1 water:grain I use 3:1, amaranth is 3:1, I do 5:1. Cereal is great bc you can control consistency.Feel free to blend together- make a batch of quinoa and refrigerate, a batch of bulgar and refrigerate- blend small amounts together in a saucepan when reheating, adding the fruit etc...... Use leftovers! Brown rice is a common leftover around here that blends into cereal :)

Have fun!"

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