Welcome to my lovely little lunch box, celebrating tiny food for tiny tots! As a first time mummy I am delighted to be introducing my daughter to a world that I absolutely adore…the world of food. Witnessing the classic expressions sprawled across her face as she takes her first bite of what surely is an exciting and exotic new flavour makes my heart smile and melt all in the one moment. I am constantly blown away to see the pace at which her enthusiasm and appetite grow, quite often faster than her very own motor skills, but somehow and not so surprisingly she manages the most basic of human instincts, that of ferrying food to mouth. I am beyond thrilled to be sharing healthy, nutritious, easy-to-prepare, simple, fun and most of all delicious food with you and your family! So as we enjoy our food adventure together please join in and share your experiences, thoughts, recipes, lunch box ideas and food philosophies! Let the fun begin!!!
When Grace began to take an interest in food I was absolutely delighted, I couldn’t wait to get started. I did my research and came across a few different baby food and eating philosophies. What best suited us was definitely the baby lead weaning approach which quite simply means letting your child feed themselves from the very start of weaning. You just hand them the food in a suitably-sized piece and if they like it they eat it and if they don’t they won’t. That’s the essence of Baby Led Weaning. No purees, no ice cube trays, no food processor, no potato masher, no baby rice, no weird fruit and vegetable combos. Just you and your child eating food that you enjoy.
I really love the social aspect of baby led weaning, when we eat, Grace joins in and enjoys the same food as us. I can see her watching us and mimicking what we do, so adorable. I also love her enthusiasm as she experiences different flavours and textures. So far she has loved everything we’ve offered, especially these carrot fritters! They make a wonderful dinner and leftovers make a fantastic lunch!
These carrot fritters are very easy to prepare. You simply place the carrots and onion in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped, then add the flour, eggs, baking powder and herbs and pulse to combine. You then ladle big spoonfuls of the batter onto a nonstick frypan over medium heat and griddle until golden brown, flipping halfway.
To serve, I put together a very simple salad of tomato and avocado by simply slicing wedges (big enough for Grace to grip) of fresh and wonderfully fragrant tomatoes and long wedges of smooth and creamy avocado. I drizzled the salad with a little extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice and finished with a sprinkling of fresh herbs. Our pick from the garden today was parsley and basil.
Carrot Fritters
Adapted from Bill Granger
INGREDIENTS
4 small carrots, chopped in thirds
1 small red onion chopped in half
2 eggs
15 g chopped fresh herb leaves
125 g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Vegetable oil for frying
METHOD
Place carrots and the onion in a food processor and process until finely chopped. Add the eggs, fresh herbs, flour, baking powder and process until combined.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium to high heat.
Place 2 heaped tablespoons of mixture per cake into the pan and cook in batches for 1 minute each side. Drain on paper towels and keep warm in the oven while you are making the rest of the cakes. Serve with the avocado salsa.
Avocado Salsa
INGREDIENTS
1 avocado, cut into wedges
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
A handful of fresh herbs, basil, parsley, mint
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs lemon juice
METHOD
Place the avocado, tomato and herbs in a small bowl and toss to combine. Drizzle with oil and lemon and serve with carrot fritters.
Made these for our dinner last night, along with some salad. Yum. My 13yo, 11yo and 13 month old loved them. Thanks.
Fantastic! I am so happy to hear your family enjoyed the carrot fritters!! X
Great website and recipes!!! I’m going to some of the recipes for sure. May I ask how old is your little one? Just so that I have a comparison to my 12 months old son. Thank you!!!
Welcome! My little girl is 15 months old:-) Happy cooking and please report back, I’d love to know how you and your little one go! X
I stumbled across your site while searching finger foods for my 20mnth old son. He is fussy ( much more so than his sister at that age ) but it seems to be textures. I got up straight away and made your tuna cakes and sweetcorn fritters. Just waiting for him to wake up. The main reason I love your recipes is even if he only eats a small amount of the meal they are so packed with goodies that I am happy he will get enough protein and vitamins to keep him going and keep me happy and so will my 5 yr old girl. Thank you for these recipes and I look forward to trying lots more xx
I forgot, I’m making these carrot fritters tomorrow 🙂 just have to go out for ingredients ( I live in the irish countryside so not a quick visit to the store )
Just made my 6month old these carrot fritters and much to my surprise he ate almost 2 whole ones! We’ve been struggling to get him to eat as i started off with the traditional purees and he just wasnt having any of it – the only way we could get any into him was to let him hold the spoon himself! Over the past few weeks i noticed him eyeing up our food so gave him a bit and he loved it! And so the journey of baby led weaning begins!
This website is a life save as I have been looking for simple recipes and so far the carrot fritters have been an absolute hit!!! Cant wait to try the rest of them out! 🙂
Yay! That’s fantastic! I am so happy he enjoyed the fritters. Good luck with your blw journey and happy cooking! X
Can these be frozen once cooked?
How can I do that wihtin the eggs ?
I just made these with flax eggs (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed to 3 tablespoons warm water per each egg called for in the recipe) and I also used chickpea flour (for added protein, fibre and nutritional benefit and they turned out great
After a traditionally weaned baby, 6 month old baby no2 is refusing purees and has flummoxed me- until yesterday! I realised he wants proper food! After all, he hasn’t seen us eat a single puree in his life! Your recipes sound easy and yummy so I will be following them religiously- please post more!!!
Will do x
When I made these some of them were still uncooked in the middle but the outsides were getting burnt. What did I do wrong? If I freeze them when I thaw put under grill do you think they’ll cook through properly. Thanks
Hi! It sounds like the frying pan was a little too hot. The outside of the fritter has browned before the centre had a chance to cook properly. Next time keep the frypan heat down nice and low (low-medium) and allow the fritters to cook a little more slowly. This will also help flipping them with ease. To cook the fritters too, I would pop them onto an oven tray (cover with foil so they do not brown further) and pop into a hot oven for ten minutes or until cooked through. I hope this helps. X
Hello, silly question but roughly how many do they make as I want to do them for my baby’s party. Thanks 🙂