Black bean & Chickpea Cakes

I had half a can of black beans leftover from a midnight black bean quesadilla (don't judge me!) so I decided to make black bean burgers for lunch. Turns out half a can wasn't enough for me AND greedy :). So I mixed in a can of chickpeas too to make chickpea-black bean burgers.

I started off by mashing all the drained/rinsed beans together and added cumin, garlic powder, chile powder and pepper.

Then I separated the mixture into my burgers and MJ's. I added panko and wheat gluten to hold my burger together, but since MJ hasn't been introduced to wheat I used brown rice flour for his (I also added salsa to mine--yum!).

I decided that perhaps a whole burger might be a tad overwhelming for him, so I made what I called "cakes" in my mini cupcake pan.

Going into the oven

Finished product:if I didn't know better I'd think they were chocolate chip cookies (minus the chunks of chickpeas!)

Did he like them?

I don't particularly love rice flour the texture is weird to me, so when I tasted the cake they were a bit grainy. He loved them though. Next time I will probably use oat flour instead. They were also pretty messy (why i envisioned him eating them bite by bite I don't know....). 

All those crumbs---UGH!

Fun World of Finger Foods

Although I enjoy making my own finger foods for Marley (cubed & steamed veggies are a favorite of his), it isn't always convenient when we are on the go. When looking at the snack selection in the baby food aisle one thing I noticed was that the majority of baby finger foods contain wheat. Major no-no for MJ. There are however a few snacks (intended for babies) and others that I have found that MJ really loves.

Baby Mum-Mums

http://www.mummums.com/
Organic rice biscuits
The shape is great for starting finger foods and dissolves easily in baby's mouth.
(One issue I had with these is that they do contain sugar, but when I tasted them it wasn't overpowering.)








Earth's Best Pop Snax

http://www.earthsbest.com/organic-baby-food/toddler-food/pop-snax
Air popped rice and potato snack
(Earth's Best is a brand I trust when I do buy jarred baby food so I was comfortable trying the snacks, they are intended for toddlers, but when your baby has developed the pincer grip they are a good snack.)








Veggie Chips/Sticks

 These can usually be found in the "health" section (at least at my grocery store), but check the nutrition facts for added salt, etc.
www.nuts.com
Have great salt-free chips/sticks that can easily be broken into small pieces for baby.







I'm sure there are other brands/options on the shelf, but these have been good on-the-go snacks for us.