Today we’re excited to share with you our very first baby food recipe! This recipe comes hand in hand with the Thermapen thermometer to help you check the temperature of baby food and milk. The Thermapen offers a combination of speed, accuracy and convenience for parents – helping to ensure that your little one’s food is just right.

We have a registered nutrition consultant Charlotte Stirling-Reed. Charlotte works as a Nutrition Consultant on a variety of projects and areas of nutrition, but her specialist areas are Maternal, Infant and Child Nutrition, Nutrition Communications and the Media. She created this wonderful recipe especially for Thermapen – a delicious and nutritious meal for your little one to enjoy along their weaning journey.

Use a thermapen to quickly measure the temperature of:

• warming breast or formula milk
• cooling formula milk to the right temperature
• first foods such as purees
• complete baby meals
• finger foods or baked product

Ingredients

Serves around 2 portions – depending on the age and stage of baby

• A dash of olive oil for the pan
• Small pinch of dried coriander leaves & a small pinch of cumin
• 180g butternut squash – peeled and chopped into small chunks
• 30g dried red split lentils, rinsed
• 150mls water
• 1 tbsp of Greek or natural yogurt

Directions

• Heat the oil in a pan on a medium heat and, once warmed, add in the coriander and cumin and stir for a few seconds.
• Next add the lentils and the butternut squash and mix nicely with the oil and herbs for a minute or so.
• Once well mixed, add around 150mls of water to the pan, pop a lid on and bring the mixture to the boil.
• Once boiling, turn down the heat to a simmer and allow the mixture to cook for around 10 minutes or until the butternut squash is soft.
• You might want to take the lid off and give the mixture a stir every few minutes, and if the mixture is getting dry, add a little splash more water.

• Once the mixture is soft, remove it from the heat and add the yogurt.
• Give the mixture a stir and then use a potato masher or a fork to mash the mixture together (you can blend it with a hand blender if you’d prefer it smooth).
• If you want the mixture smoother or slightly more liquid you could always add a splash of baby’s usual milk which will help in the cooling down process too.
• Mashed foods should be served between 21 – 37.5° C. This ensures the food is properly warmed through but will not burn your child’s mouth.