Recipe

Vegetable crudites dunked into a tasty homemade dip are a great way of encouraging your baby's independance at snack times and also helps improve their hand to mouth co-ordination. It's also a fun way to try and encourage your children to eat vegetables to ensure they recieve their '5 a day'.

Why not try Hummus, Avocado Dip and Cheesy Dip with:

carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, red, yellow and green peppers strips and courgette strips.

Lightly cook these vegetables to make them easier to eat:

french beans, baby sweetcorn, broccoli florets, cauliflower florets and mangetout.

Other ideas for dippers are:

pitta bread (lightly toasted) & cut into strips, flour tortillas or wraps cut into wedges, mini breadsticks, mini rice cakes, thin slices of toasted French bread and toasted bread cut into strips.

Hummus
Age: from 9months

400gms   Chick Peas (no added salt or sugar) drained and rinsed
1              Clove Garlic
1 Tbsp     Olive Oil
1 Tbsp     Plain Yoghurt
A little freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method

1. Place the drained chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice and yoghurt in a blender.
2. Blend to a smooth consistnecy.
   Tip
   It really is worth making your own hummus as ready made versions contain a lot of salt and this recipe takes minutes to prepare!

Avocado Dip
Age: from 9 months

1          Ripe Avocado
1Tbsp  Lemon Juice
1          Small Clove Garlic

Method

1. Cut the avacado in half, remove the stone and scoop out the flesh.
2. Place all the ingredients into a blender and blend to a smooth consistency.
   Tip
   The lemon stops the avocado from turning brown.

Cheesy Dip
Age: from 9 months

30gms      Cheddar Cheese
15ml         Full Fat Soft Cheese
5ml           Single Cream or Full Fat Milk

Method

1. Grate the cheddar cheese finely.
2. Place the ingredients into a blender and blend to a smooth consistency.
   Tip
   To make the dip more exciting for older children why not try adding some freshly chopped chives or spring onions.