They say that when you finally get into a rhythm with your bebe, everything changes, and boy are they right! After months of making, trying, adjusting and building on purees, I finally had a really good handle on what my child loved. I figured out how how to efficiently make everything for the week, all the while maintaining a solid meal lineup – breakfast, lunch and dinner – to ensure she was getting a nutritious variety that gave her good exposure to a combo of flavors, spices, herbs, fruits, veggies, fats and fiber. Then – boom!

It felt like overnight my 10-month-old suddenly became much more interested in feeding herself. The tricky part was that she didn’t totally know how to yet. She also wasn’t quite ready to eat all the things. She only had a few teeth and needed to learn how to chew and swallow real food. And so it began.

I asked for everyone’s advice on Instagram (here), as a blogger does, and the feedback was incredible! I put the advice to use and started with soft, easy-to-pick-up items like avocado slices, ripe bananas, steamed peas, roasted pear spears, etc. Once she got a handle on the chewing and swallowing, I started cutting blueberries and grapes in half/fourths, offered her soft cooked beans like black beans and chickpeas, and from there, I started whipping up “meals.” I found that anything circular was easy for her to hold so I made her things like sweet potatoes circles, small gluten-free pancakes, zucchini crisps, baked falafel, black bean burgers, etc. Regular and black bean hummus have also been huge hits and are great on top of her favorite lunch and dinner combos.

It’s still a major learning curve for the two of us as it’s only been a couple of months, but it’s been a lot of fun watching her feed herself. I’m having such a great time cooking for her, too. If you’re transitioning out of purees and into solids I hope you find this helpful!

Recipes to come!