I bought a lot of plums. Way too many plums. But they were all so beautiful—dusty purples, greens, and gold. The littlest ones, the yellow mirabelles, are the sweetest. Eula likes to grab them in her fist and eat them straight out of the bowl, as do I. I also throw them in quick breads, poach them for topping pancakes, or, my favorite, put them in this plum clafoutis. Clafoutis is like a mix between custard and cake, a little bit like a Dutch baby in that it puffs up dramatically in the oven but settles down immediately upon pulling it out. My clafoutis has a bit of almond meal because I like the texture and orange blossom water because it’s my favorite flavor, and it’s made with whole milk & eggs. It’s custardy, fruity, not too sweet, and perfect for a weekend breakfast served with a creamy glass of milk, one of the original farm-to-table foods (and the namesake of this blog!) Eula rarely gets anything sweet other than fruit, so this was a revelation. Her eyes were saucers, and she bopped her head with joy between each bite. Read on for more about our experience with “baby led weaning”.
First, for those who may not know what “baby led weaning” is, it’s just the practice of letting the baby wean herself at her own pace and start eating solid foods at her own pace. Usually purees and baby food aren’t used, and the baby just eats whatever the parents eat or soft chunks of finger food. Weaning is used in UK sense of introducing solids, not in the US sense of taking the baby off of breastmilk. Eula is still, at almost 13 months, breastfed whenever she wants. Usually about 5-10 times a day or so. I don’t really know exactly—can’t say I count. Once she’s fully weaned she’ll be eating a wide range of foods like whole milk and other nutritious dairy products like yogurt (and, of course, French cheese!) as well as the obvious healthy choices like local, organic produce and whole grains and breads.
I didn’t set out to do it this way because of anything other than it’s fuss free (big selling point for me), intuitive, and seemed to be a great way to introduce her to food textures and diverse flavors & nutrients at a young age. But this is what we’ve been doing, so I just wanted to share that experience for anyone who is curious about the experience of another mom. We decided not to do purees or “baby food” and instead at around 6 months we just started to offer her bites and tastes of whatever we were eating (providing it wasn’t total trash and she could swallow it…haha). She nibbled here and there, but it wasn’t really until 10-13 months (with the advent of more teeth!) that she started eating a good amount. So, this has been the summer of Eula exploring food.
What she does get is all the beautiful farm-to-table produce I buy at the market and minimally processed things like farm-fresh milk—which typically arrives on shelves in just 48 hours, on average, from many family owned and operated farms about 300 miles from your store. I personally love and drink milk and seek it out whenever I can find it. Which might be obvious by the title of the blog. She loves it too along with yogurt and cheese, and it’s a simple way to get her nutrients and protein along with local produce, nuts & seeds, and whole grains.
She eats what we eat, and so far she has proven to be none too picky slurping down everything from chia seed pudding to fistfuls of green olives to gnawing on a ring of grilled calamari. That said she does have a talent for finding any raw green leaf and pulling it out of her mouth and she did spit out a pickled boquerone the other day. She still has mom milk many times a day and whenever she wants, but slowly she’s going a bit longer in between feedings and incorporating more and more food into her diet voluntarily. Since she’s still breastfed, we don’t worry too much about how much she’s eating. She’s growing well, fat and happy, and that’s all we really look at. Once she weans completely I’m confident this method will have introduced plenty of whole foods like milk, yogurt, cheese, fruit, legumes, vegetables, and whole grains to sustain her growth and get her all the nutrients she needs. Dairy, produce, pulses, and grains are the main categories of food we focus on feeding her.
If she’s disinterested in something, she shakes her head no. We never try to force it if she doesn’t want something or isn’t hungry. What we do is just offer it again at a different time and continue to expose her to things she didn’t take to right out of the gate and get her to try them—best done with a baby that’s hungry but not starving! And she loves to feed herself. With some foods that’s so messy it isn’t practical (like yogurt), so we help her or feed her, especially if we’re out at a restaurant. But in so far as it’s possible, I let her feed herself. Easy things like bananas, whole grain bread, pieces of cheese, sippy cups, chunks of fruit and cooked veg—all of those give her the opportunity to feed herself. If it’s something a little more, ah, challenging, we spoon feed. She doesn’t seem to mind either way. The key for us is making sure she has opportunities to try food and to feed herself. It happens pretty naturally, that said. I don’t find we’ve ever had to go out of our way to feed her using this method, and that’s what I like best.
A little more about feeding her what I eat. I regularly give her yogurt, the milk foam off my cappuccino, and cheese. I let her try the things I bake (including her one year birthday cake!), and she tried gelato in Venice because Venice. I’m most mindful about limiting her sugar intake and highly processed foods, the latter of which we don’t feed her at all. I let her try special things at special times and follow my intuition. I let her try my meals at restaurants and she’s tried everything from oysters to black truffles. We let her try the foods around the world to broaden her palette, and we aren’t neurotic about what we let her eat. I don’t ever want to be a hypocrite and not let her have things I eat myself, but at the same time, we always care more about our children’s health than our own, so I basically make decisions for her that I would make for “my best self”. So no chips or candy or Coke Zero for the baby (haha….obviously!) Basically anything that I consider a personal fail, she doesn’t get. Eventually she’ll start asking for it, and I’ll have to either stop failing to start explaining!
But for now it’s an easy mix of breast feeding, sharing our meals & nutritious food, and even sharing our homemade treats like a slice of this Mirabelle Plum Clafoutis on a Sunday morning! Expect another post updating you on our experience once we walk down this road a little further!
Ingredients
- 2 cups (about 360 grams) plums, halved and pitted
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar or coconut sugar
- 3 large eggs
- seeds of half a vanilla bean
- 2/3 cups (70 grams) flour
- scant 1/4 cup (25 grams) almond flour (aka "almond meal")
- 1 teaspoon ground mahleb (can substitute 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg)
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon orange blossom water or to taste (they vary wildly in strength)
- 1 cup (240 grams) whole milk
- about 1 tablespoon of butter and 2-3 tablespoons of sugar for greasing and dusting pan
- powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 350°Ff (180°C), and grease a 10" pan or skillet (cast iron works great) with butter and dust with sugar, shaking the sugar around the pan so it sticks everywhere on the butter and then dust out the excess. You want the entire pan coated with butter and a find dusting of sugar.
- In a bowl combine the sugar, vanilla bean, and egg, and beat it with a whisk until thoroughly combined.
- Add the flour, mahleb, and sea salt and whisk gently to combine until no dry bits remain. Gently whisk the milk and orange blossom water and stir until homogenous and combined.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, arrange fruit on top, and sprinkle with the chunky raw sugar. Bake for 30-45 minutes until brown and just set.
- Remove from oven, cool for about 5-10 minutes. Dust lightly with powdered sugar if desired. Serve warm and fresh...this is best right out of the oven!
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This post was created in partnership with Milk Life. All opinions and recipe are my own!
I was missing your posts…
Happy to pass by here and found a new one!
cheers from Bz!
Always make wonderful photos, make me dream. Have a good day. Eleonora
Thank you!
Oh! Those plummy colors. Plums are now at the top of my shopping list. I love the look of this recipe and am going to make it this weekend to celebrate the incoming change of season, welcoming in, finally, Autumn. Can not wait for your cookbook. Thanks, Beth!
Oh YUM, can’t wait to throw one together in the morning!! Now on to other important business….can you please share with us where you got your dreamy blue grey linen bedding??? Perfect color, not too gray, not too blue. At least, not in the pics!
It actually belongs to our landlord…I think it’s from BHV here in Paris. That said… In Bed Store is my FAVE for linen sheets! inbedstore.com
This is such a beauty. Love this and loved reading about your journey in baby-led weaning. (I mean, really, I love anything Eula-related.) May we all enjoy things so much that our eyes are saucers and our heads bop with joy!
It’s been truly easy. I really think my parenting style is “don’t try”. hahahaha
We are about 6 months behind you in the parenting journey; encouraging to see a good way to baby-lead wean!
Favourite bit “she tried gelato in Venice because Venice” – I FEEL YOU!!
Also, my goodness are your photos stunning – I want to dive right in!
Rebecca
xx
http://www.peppermintdolly.com
Your path through this is always such a breath of fresh air. My husband and I are currently trying for a child, and so many of the things I read about children seems to limiting, with so many rules. Obviously we want our children healthy, but your intuitive way of raising Eulalie as a happy healthy babe makes me excited for my own, and for forging my own path when the time comes.
We definitely don’t follow any rules. I’ve only ever read one book on parenting, Kiss Me! It’s just about loving them and not being so hard and trying to “mold them”. My only “rules” for myself is to follow my intuition, not “punish” or get angry (so far, so good!), and to be relaxed. We never stressed about sleep, eating, travel, anything. It’s worked great so far! Nothing against people who enjoy or feel comfortable with lots of planning and routines and stuff…I’m sure that works great for some families but it’s just not our style! That’s the good news: whatever your style is, it can work.
I just made this clafoutis today and it was exceptional! The blend of flavors was so exotic yet the whole thing came together in no time. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Also, loved the post. I find babies are a great measure in helping us realize what we truly, deep down, believe is nutritious and beneficial food. We become so mindful of in giving them the best, regardless of trends or fads.
That makes me so happy to hear! I really love how easy this recipe is. Good for someone like me (discombobulated working mom :D) And yes. Babies all of the sudden force you to give up the BS! Haha.
We took a similar route with introducing foods. It’s been great. I recently had a minor epiphany over refusing our daughter unhealthy things that I myself eat–she’ll have to understand that boundary with alcohol for a really long time! It’s really no different, to me. Of course, by the time she’s old enough to really argue, I’ll have kicked all my bad habits 😉
I thought the same thing, that lots of parents drink alcohol but deny the kids, obvi. But somehow junk food just felt different, like hypocrisy. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I still totally do it. But I’m cool if she drinks wine. But I don’t ever want her to have my affinity for flamin’ hot cheetos! hahaha
I have so missed your posts and your thoughtful musings on daily life. This clafoutis recipe looks wonderful…I may try it with the local apples we are starting to get here in the Midwest. Thanks for sharing.
yes! apples would be awesome…I’d throw in some nutmeg!
I really like colour of plums!
When “baby led weaning” start, you need more carefulness for what food baby will eat. And this is sensitive time, her intestine start to get used to food and diarrhoea can happen! I think you know what should you do. Actually, I learn a lot from your articles!
I love how the plums sort of crinkle during baking and end up giving that fall leaf feel. Of course the colors and dusty skins are reminiscent of autumn, but the post-bake crinkle just heightens that sense! These are beautiful photos and I am so happy to be reading your new posts.
Beth it’s so good to have you back.
Thrilled to be reading a motherhood post along side such a beautiful dish, please keep the mama wisdom coming!
xo from Canada
Can’t wait to share more about our food journey with Eula…she’s upped her food intake insanely in the past two weeks! Like we can’t feed her enough!
Those plums look magical!! We just moved out of our house with an italian plum tree and I’m not sad to move, but I was sad to leave that tree! Will have to live vicariously on this one as most of our stuff is still boxed up. Love clafoutis!
I feel you with moving…we are so lucky to split our time between places but in a way it feels like we are always “moving”. Stuff here, stuff there, a lot of chaos! I’ve never had a fruit tree…maybe in a future life!
I honestly love your style! Everything you tried on was super cute on you! I think my baby will love it too. Many many thanks.
Our little lad just turned a year old. We tried giving him water and milk from an open cup, but his hands find their way inside or the contents end up not making it to his tummy. Does Eula have a preferred type of sippy cup? Thank you for sharing! Also dug your post on traveling with baby 🙂