Budsie Shares His Porridge

by Ezmy From Monday to Friday, it’s just me and Budsie for breakfast time (A. leaves early for a workout before work because he’s ambitious and amazing like that). Before having kids, ‘breakfast time’ was me fumbling about with the coffee grinder, blindly dumping hot water into a French press, and sitting my pajama clad self in front of the computer for a morning write. My eyes did not open until the first sip of jet black coffee hit my mouth.

Breakfast time is an entirely different affair now, of course, but I’m still pretty groggy first thing so when Budsie started eating people food, I had to figure out a breakfast that was fast and simple, yet healthy and delicious. Oh and fun! Because my boy likes to be entertained. Enter ‘Budsie Porridge’, a super fast recipe that, when combined with sound effects, makes for a fun morning with my little man.

Budsie Porridge - serves one hungry baby boy

-1 1/2 tbsp ‘Bob’s Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal’ - this is small grain oatmeal that works for babies as young as 6 months -1/4 cup or so water -1 cube pureed prunes* -pinch cinnamon -splash homogenized milk or breast milk

*Every couple of weeks, I lightly boil and then puree a container of prunes (make sure they are sulphite-free!). I pop this prune-y goodness into ice cube trays and then transfer the prune cubes to a freezer bag. Incidentally, the water the prunes are boiled in makes a tasty dinner time beverage for babies.

Now. It is possible to microwave this porridge (put all ingredients together - except the milk - and stick in microwave for 3 minutes). But I’m going to outline the details for cooking on the stove because believe it or not, we didn’t have a microwave until a couple of weeks ago.

First, pop the water in a pot and put on stove to boil. When pouring water, make rushing water sounds - whoosh! - and explain what you are up to.

Water will boil very quickly. Turn the heat down to low and slowly add the oats, stirring as you add. Make shaking oats noise - my noise of choice: shooka shooka weeee! - and explain what you are up to.

Once oats are stirred in, add your frozen prune cube - Boop! (Budsie loves this noise)

The prune cube will start to melt. Once it is all melted, your oats are done (about 2 minutes). During melting time, I like to do a little dance in the kitchen. It perks me up and sends Budsie into fits of laughter. When the porridge is done, take off the stove, pour into a baby breakfast bowl and stir in your pinch of cinnamon and milk. By the time you get this and your breakfast gear to the table, the porridge should be cool enough for baby to eat. Check first of course.

Result: One porridge covered baby!

 

Happy Breakfast Time!

Ezmy is a new mum to son Ewan (aka Budsie). When she isn’t working on her master’s thesis, or playing games with her boy, she’s blogging furiously about life as a stay-at-home mum in our nation’s capital. Follow Ezmy on Twitter (@ezmytweets) where she posts daily resolutions and updates on life with an active and very vocal baby.