Celeb MasterChef champ Kimberly Wyatt shares 5 handy weaning tips
2015's winner shares what worked for her and daughter Willow...
When we had a catch up with former Pussycat Doll and mum-of-one Kimberly Wyatt - there was one thing we were dying to ask her about: weaning recipes.
After all, she is a Celeb MasterChef champ, so we reckon she knows what she’s talking about, right?
“Since I got pregnant [with daughter Willow, now 1], I got this bug to keep the house super-clean and cook really good food," she says.
"Luckily, that led to MasterChef and winning MasterChef gave me a lot more kitchen confidence."
So, what did she do with all that new confidence? And what would she recommend? Here are some of her top tips.
1. Make meal times important
"Max [Kimberly’s husband] and I like to cook together in the kitchen over the weekend. We now [host] Christmas and Thanksgiving... and on Sundays we have family over.
"Breakfast is the most important meal for my family - and anything to encourage Willow to eat spinach and greens and make it still taste good."
2. Get crafty when it comes to sugar cravings
"Fruit 'leather' or dried fruit is something Willow really loves,” Kimberley says. "That combats the craving the sugar - if I’m giving it to her in a more natural way.
"Taking two mangoes and putting them on a baking parchment paper and putting it in the oven at, say, 80 degrees for 3/4 hours... it turns into a nice fruit leather."
3. Have a back-up plan
When you’re testing different things, and you’re not sure which way the pendulum’s gonna swing, Kimberly reckons its wise to have a Plan B. Something you know will go down well. Or down at all.
“It’s another really simple one - wrap a sweet potato in tin foil, oven at 180, pop it in for an hour, done, open.
"There’s your pretty much pureed sweet potato, mash it up a little bit, and it’s been Willow’s favourite from the beginning. If I introduce her to something and she doesn’t like it, sweet potato is my fall back."
4. Do something different
Ever heard of celeriac? Er, nope, neither had we.
"One of my favourite [recipes] is celeriac or a celeriac puree,” she says.
"It’s a vegetable not many people go for, but it’s really cheap, it’s in the supermarket. All you have to do is cut it into pieces and put it in a pot with some butter and salt and let it simmer.
Once it’s really soft. Put it in a blender and it creates this really nice puree."
It also works for mum, too. "It makes any meat red meat you’re eating taste really good. It gives it a really good nutty flavour. I swear by it.”
5. Keep it simple, then let baby lead the way...
"For the beginning stages, I just kept everything as soft as possible. Just doing your own purees.”
(Something Emmerdale star and fellow MasterChef alum Sheree Murphy recommends if you’ve got the time, too. And we've got some amazing, simple puree recipes for you to try.)
“I enjoyed doing baby-led weaning as it went to solid foods," she admits. “If I try to give her avocado, she just won’t really go for it, but if I leave it, she’ll go for it herself.”
Hmm... that sounds familiar ?
What are your go-to recipes?
Do you have any swear-by secret weapons of your own to share? Or would you give Kimberly's celeriac puree a go?
Let us know on Facebook or Twitter
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