Healthy Baby Finger Foods: Homemade Meatballs

A few weeks ago when I picked C up from daycare, her daily report said breakfast was "cereal, bananas...and a biscuit." Her teacher said she swiped the biscuit from the poor, unsuspecting kiddo sitting next to her at the table. Harmless enough.... Then last week lunch said, "sweet potatoes, meatballs, pasta, and broccoli." Y'all, I only dropped off pureed sweet potatoes that day. Then last Thursday, I sat sweet girl down at the table and witnessed her go-go-gadget arms snag TWO handfuls of another baby's pancakes. So this mama went into over drive this weekend finding finger foods to satisfy her independence AND her nutritional needs.

Given what she had "sampled" of her friends and what purees had worked, we've tried the following items with overwhelming success:

• Carrots (steamed for a LONG time till they are nice and mushy)
• Avocado, very ripe and diced small
• Ditalini pasta (cooked a bit past al dente)
• Puffs and MumMums, of course
• Scrambled egg yolks (after reading about how highly allergenic the whites can be, I was nervous. I plan to slowly add the whites in a bit at a time after she crosses the 9 month mark this week)
• Waffles (we've used the Central Market HEB Organics Whole Wheat Mini Flaxseed Waffles...delish!)
• Silver dollar pancakes
• Cheddar turkey sweet potato "meat balls"....recipe below!!

I plan to incorporate more proteins soon (moving has slowed down the baby food making game a bit) and experiment with other vegetables cooked soft. C's top tooth finally busted through this week, so hopefully she'll be able to handle new and exciting things soon!!

What were your littles' favorite finger foods???

Cheddar Turkey Sweet Potato "Meat Balls"

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey, browned

1-2 sweet potatoes, peeled, boiled till soft, and mashed

1 egg

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray baking sheet with cooking spray. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl until well mixed. Measure out approximately a tablespoon of the mixture, form into a ball, and place on baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned and firm.

We set aside a few days worth of meatballs (C usually only plows through 2-4 in a sitting), and froze the remainder. A quick thaw and warming in the oven or microwave, and baby girl has a yummy, nutritious little finger food she can happily feed herself :)