Rebecca Wilson - Fast Family Food: Easy Meals for You and Your Baby Prepped in 10 Minutes

To my darling daughter Nini,
forever my inspiration, my love,
my best friend.

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introduction | CONTENTS

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hello and welcome to fast family food!

If youre picking this book up, it means youre a fan of good, honest, wholesome grub. The type of food thats really easy to put together and everyone wants seconds of. Whether you have a child at weaning age, fussy older children to cater for or its just you adults at home, this book is for you.

Forget the stress of long, complicated recipes, which require you to stand at the stove and stir for ages. Every dish in this book can be prepped in 10 minutes or less. Start cooking with a quick initial burst of activity, then before you know it the food will either be done and ready to eat or you can allow the hob, oven or slow cooker to do its thing while you relax or, lets face it, get on with some other jobs on the to-do list!

Itll make your life easier if you know what youre doing before you start, so read the recipe through first and get the required pots and pans out. Find all the ingredients on the list and get them ready on the counter. Check whether the oven or grill wants preheating and put the kettle on if boiling water is needed. Crucially, set the kids up with an activity so you at least have a chance of cracking on uninterrupted (you can find a few of my favourite tips on ).

The 10-minute prep time will be a cinch on some recipes, but others may require a little more focus and speed. However, if you prefer to be a little more leisurely in the kitchen, or you do get interrupted by the little ones, dont worry about it taking a little longer. Cooking should always be done at your own pace.

Some recipes in this book have been photographed with a few extra side dishes these are completely optional and just there to give you an idea of how you might want to adapt the meal to suit the individual needs and tastes of your own family.

I hope you and your family love these recipes as much as mine do! I love to see your handiwork, so tag me on Instagram at @rebeccawilsonfood with all your delicious creations!

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cooking for all the family

Studies show that eating with your children helps to raise confident little eaters. Our little ones watch us and naturally want to copy what we do, so by showing them how much we enjoy a variety of healthy foods, we can encourage them to be a little more open to trying new tastes and textures. The hope is that as they grow older, fussy tendencies will be minimized by us leading with a positive eating example. Not only this, but modelling how you physically chew, swallow, eat, drink and use cutlery is invaluable for helping your baby learn how to do it themselves. And the best bit you only need to cook once, making feeding your family that much easier!

To make the meals we cook suitable for the tiniest of taste testers, we need to cut and serve the food in an appropriate way. The aim is to make it easy for little ones to hold the food and feed themselves, so cutting foods into finger-sized strips where possible is ideal. Items that come in a round patty shape, like a small pancake which babies can easily hold themselves, can be left whole. The idea is to encourage little ones to independently enjoy eating in the safest way possible. Food that babies can take bites of is usually safer for them to eat than food thats cut into bite-sized pieces, as they are determining how much they can handle, which reduces the risk of choking. There are some exceptions to this rule whole foods which must be cut into a smaller size to be safe to serve to little ones. Grapes, for instance, must be at least halved lengthways (I usually go for quartered for peace of mind). As a general rule, if the food is a round shape approx. 14cm (1in) in diameter, then this should be cut into a smaller size, and ideally into long thin pieces rather than wide pieces. Any foods larger than this generally can be served whole or cut into finger strips. However, theres no need to get the ruler out, this is just an example if youre seeking more specific guidance. Its always good to play it by ear and trust our instinct when it comes to feeding our kids. Heres a few examples of first foods and how to serve them:

Citrus fruits Peel the whole fruit and cut it in half widthways, keeping the segments attached. Baby will be able to pick up the whole fruit and eat from the cut side, which will mash easily in their mouth.

Bananas Separate into strips by pushing your finger down the centre of a peeled banana, it will naturally divide into 3 long strips which arent slimy and are perfect for baby to hold.

Toast Lightly butter or top toast with some mashed fruit or yogurt to soften it a little, then cut into finger-sized strips.

Hard-boiled eggs Peel and cut into quarters, lengthways.

Peas, sweetcorn kernels and pomegranate seeds These can be served whole as they are too small to be a choking hazard. Corn on the cob can be served cut into 5cm (2in) rounds so its easy for little ones to pick up.

Some parents worry a lot about the risk of choking when serving solid food to their little one for the first time, especially with finger foods. Its something to be taken seriously, however, let me reassure you that it is rare for babies to choke. Therefore, it is equally important to avoid letting this worry stop you from serving a wide variety of foods to your baby. By holding back from offering finger foods, you may unintentionally restrict their diet or avoid allowing them to develop their eating skills. Note that studies have shown there is no greater risk of choking when offering finger foods to baby vs just pures. Nonetheless, it is still important to be vigilant, just in case. I recommend taking a first aid course if you can, or researching baby CPR before you start weaning so you feel confident that youd know what to do in a worst-case scenario. Here are a few steps you can also take to lessen the risk: