Healthy recipes for baby and toddlers: ABC Muffins

Mealtime is a somewhat easy and simple process during the first four to six months of a baby’s life. But soon, as babies start making the transition from breast milk and formula to solid foods, parents find themselves asking some difficult questions - when to introduce solids, what foods are age appropriate, how much and what healthy foods can I prepare? The list goes on…

Thankfully Kim McCosker, co-author of the internationally bestselling 4 Ingredients series, has prepared the ultimate guide to helping parents establish healthy eating habit with BABY BOWL: Home-Cooked Meals for Happy, Healthy Babies and Toddlers. A devoted mum of 3 boys, Kim has built the 4 Ingredients franchise on the idea that it is possible to prepare simple, healthy, cost-effective meals at home for any size family. Baby Bowl was written by one loving mother and is aimed at introducing a variety of flavours to baby’s palate.

BABY BOWL provides fast and easy-to-follow recipes, organised by age, so it has never been easy to prepare health, allergy-aware and cost-conscious purees, snacks and meals made from the freshest ingredients for your baby or toddler. It even includes sample menus for baby’s first months on solids - making that transition even easier (plus ideas for kind lunch boxes too)!

Here, Kim shares her ABC Muffin recipe for us, perfect for babies from 8 to 10 months old, from the BABY BOWL book. This recipe is peanut free, sesame free and vegetarian, with no added sugar (and is freezable too).

ABC Muffins (with Apple, Banana and Carrot)!

Makes 24 delicious (and healthy) muffins

1 small apple (150g), cored and diced

1 small ripe banana

1 small carrot, grated

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons coconut oil

1¼ cups (185g) self-raising flour

Preheat oven to 180°C and line two 12-cup mini muffin trays with papers. Place the apple and carrot in a pot with ⅓ cup (80ml) water, pop a lid on and simmer until tender, 5 minutes. While cooking, place banana in a large bowl and mash with a fork; add eggs, vanilla and oil. Purée the cooked apple and carrot and cool before adding to the other wet ingredients; mix to combine. Add the flour and stir to combine. Spoon across the prepared muff-trays. Bake for 15 minutes (25 minutes if using a large 12-cup muffin tray), then cool before serving. Store in an airtight container for 3 days.

TIP: To refresh old muffins (or cake) you can add icing, drizzle with a syrup, serve with ice-cream or simply place the muffins on a microwave-safe plate on top of a moist (not dripping wet) paper towel and microwave twice for 10-seconds. This has a fairly short window for imparting moisture, so do it directly before serving.

Yum! This is just one of the easy, healthy and delicious recipes in the BABY BOWL book from Kim McCosker.You can access even more free recipes from the BABY BOWL book here including vegemite scrolls, poached salmon and vegetables and 3-ingredient banana pancakes plus heaps more. Order your hardcopy from www.4ingredients.com.au/product/baby-bowl and get cooking with delicious fresh options for your baby and toddler. Even better, it’s on sale for only $19.99 (usually $24.99).