Author Archives: Emily @ Joyful Abode

Emily @ Joyful Abode lives in California. Her daughter Anneliese was born July 27, 2010, and was exclusively breastfed until she was almost 7 months old, when she began baby-led weaning. Emily's family eats a grain-free diet and cooks from scratch most of the time.

High-Protein Grain-Free Pancakes

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Egg-Based Pancakes – Cinnamon Almond Version When Anneliese started actually eating more food around 10 months or so, I needed to find a good breakfast food for her. Eggs were obvious. High protein, cooked in butter for good fat, filling, and sustaining. The problem was she didn’t like eggs. I don’t know if it was…

Skip the Plastic with Baby Led Weaning–Gear 101

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There are entire aisles in Target and Babies R Us full of “essential” baby dining products. There aren’t just cups – there are training cup SYSTEMS, with a variety of “stages” including endless combinations of removable handles, bottle nipple tops, sippy tops, straw tops, sport bottle tops, wide fat cups, tall skinny cups, and so…

BLW Faces–loving bacon

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Ham and Cheddar Cheese Roll-Ups

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Deli meat is easy. But for a baby who doesn’t necessarily do well with a big floppy piece of meat, it is sometimes a bit of a puzzle. Like trying to eat a blanket. Not the simplest lunch idea out there. But warming up some deli meat with a bit of cheese on it, and…

Edible Paper–Nori

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Anneliese likes to eat paper. She tears apart my magazines with her teeth (when I let her), LOVES tags from items of clothing or other new stuff, and has sucked on a bunch of my business cards (which I can’t pass out after that, obviously). So I figured I’d give her some edible paper! Nori…

More Stir Fry for Baby

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Stir fry is so good for baby led weaning. It gives a variety of options for the baby to try, it’s quick to cook, and the whole family will enjoy it. Don’t be tempted to make “healthy stir fry” by just steaming everything or using a tiny bit of spritzed oil (basically trying to eliminate…

BLW Faces–Scrambled Eggs

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I’m not sure what was so surprising about the scrambled eggs.

Raspberries

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There’s a little berry farm near us, and they grow the best organic berries around. I picked up a basket of raspberries at the farmer’s market, and Anneliese and I went to town on them. It started off innocently enough… Anneliese wanted to be sure they could be trusted before diving in full-force. And within…

BLW Faces – Carrots and Hummus

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Finger-licking good.

Watermelon Girl

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When I tweeted that Anneliese was eating watermelon, I got a couple responses along the lines of, “What if she eats a seed??” and “I want to give my son watermelon but I’m afraid he’ll eat some of the rind!” I will ask you though – WHAT IF she eats a seed? Do you think…