Weaning inspiration We’re super excited to be working with top TV chef and presenter, Michela Chiappas; one of the famous Welsh-Italian Chiappas sisters who is back on Channel 4 in the show ‘’Eat the Week’ . Their new weaning cook book ‘Baby at the Table’ takes an Italian style approach to weaning and is all about cooking ONE healthy meal for the family (which has to be a good thing right?!). Michela shares one of her fabulous recipes with us : For us Chiappas, our cooking style is all about practicality and speed. We love cooking and eating delicious and nutritious food but it HAS to fit around busy lives. So our no-cook puree recipes are an absolute god send especially around summertime! Provided you have the fresh ingredients in your fridge/store cupboard, they can be blitzed in seconds (far quicker than grabbing that baby pouch!). The added bonus is that many of our no-cook puree recipes can be tweaked to double up as a dip for adults or even a pasta sauce. So a 10 second recipe that can feed the whole family – baby and all! One of our favourites is our Tuna & Cannellini Bean recipe. Fish is a brilliant taste you want to get your babies used to as early as possible. In fact, we highly recommend weaning your baby on vegetable and bitter or unusual flavours FIRST before you introduce them to sweet flavours like fruits. Babies haven’t fully developed their taste buds when you start weaning so they are far more willing to try bitter tastes like broccoli and spinach. You can blitz this into a fine puree for a baby who is 6-7 months or leave it a bit chunkier if your baby is starting to explore different textures. Getting your baby used to chunkier textures is important to do as quickly as possible so they don’t become picky eaters. Remember to always stay with your baby whilst they are eating. This tuna puree is a brilliant one to start with, when you are introducing small soft lumps as the tuna flakes are soft & easy to swallow. Ingredients: Tin of tuna (in spring water with no added salt – check the tin. Tin of cannellini beans (no added salt. Handful of fresh basil. Juice of half a lemon. Olive oil (or chilli oil for grownups!) Method: Throw all your ingredients in a blender (or use a stick blender). Blitz to a puree (leave chunkier if your baby is used to bigger textures). Serve to a baby warm or cold. For grownups – season to taste (salt, pepper & drizzle of chilli oil). Serve with a selection of crudités (fresh carrots, celery, cucumber, radishes etc. Enjoy! To find out more about the Chiappas sisters and their book ‘Baby at the Table’ click on http://thechiappas.com/