How to make food yummy & healthy for 1 year old kid

My colleague shared these two recipes that she has tried making for her one-year old: Spinach Cake Muffins (She forgot where to got this recipe from) Ingredients 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce 1 large egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup fresh spinach, packed 1/3 cup sugar 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oilv 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt Preparation: 1. Preheat oven to 175 degress. 2. Place the first 6 ingredients in a food processor and puree. 3. Place the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and combine. 4. Pour the spinach puree in a large mixing bowl. 5. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet until combined. 6. Scoop batter into a greased mini muffin tin, filling each cup 2/3 of the way. 7. Bake for 12 minutes. 8. Serve. Blueberry Oatmeal Muffin (recipe from:http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/blueberry-oatmeal-muffins) Ingredients 1 2/3 cups quick-cooking oats 3 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2/3 cup) 2.33 ounces whole-wheat flour (about 1/2 cup) 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk 1/4 cup canola oil 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind 2 large eggs 2 cups frozen blueberries 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour Cooking spray 2 tablespoons granulated sugar Preparation 1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. 2. Place oats in a food processor; pulse 5 to 6 times until oats resemble coarse meal. Place in a large bowl. 3. Weigh or lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add flours and next 5 ingredients to oats in bowl; stir well with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. 4. Combine buttermilk and next 3 ingredients in small bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. 5. Toss berries with 2 tablespoons flour, and gently fold into batter. Spoon batter into 16 muffin cups coated with cooking spray; sprinkle 2 tablespoons granulated sugar evenly over batter. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove from pans immediately; place on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. (she used almond milk instead of butter milk and it still turned out fine)

I've observed that baby foods can be quite "boring" sometimes, limited to porridges and pureed fruits/vegetables. Perhaps, you can make things more interesting for baby by mixing textures -- instead of just soft and mushy foods, you can include some crunchy bits. For example, if you are cooking a porridge with minced meat, you can sautee the meat first and sprinkle it over the porridge instead of mixing the meat in with porridge from the beginning. The ingredients are still the same, healthy and nutritious - just with varying cooking styles to keep baby's taste buds interested.

Your baby must be bored with his or her purees. By age one, let them experiment with food that is cooked for the rest of the family. Take note of spice levels and also allergenic food when doing so. Try baked dishes like a mac and cheese with baby pasta, creamy roast chicken with cheese mash, lamb cassarole with buttered veg etc. When my kids were small I got such wonderful ideas from Annabel Karmel's website. http://www.annabelkarmel.com/gb/ She also has some pretty nice books.

Have you considered Baby Led Weaning? It where you avoid mushy, bland purees and give your baby what you eat, of course cut into suitable sizes and with less salt and sugar. http://sg.theasianparent.com/is-baby-led-weaning-a-good-idea/

Yummy and healthy food for baby basically is not that hard. I always do the 3C: 1. Change the sugar and salt with other ingredients 2. Cooked it correctly 3. Color combination attract kids. Good luck! :)

thanks