we're having the same problem here so we've started this week with tiny Pastina pasta. it cooks up in about five minutes, rinse and strain under cold water, and then sprinkle onto high chair trays. the pasta is star shaped so that's got its charm, and the babies seem to like the taste and texture (it took a little getting used to). it looks like a huge mess, but in reality you can just shake them off (works best with two people) and let them go on their way. Of course, you have to mop the floor, but who doesn't after every feeding these days?

I find the finger foods stage so much easier (in some ways at least) than spoon feeing purees, because I can pause to feed myself while they eat (they still need some help). The biggest hits at our house:

"brown bread" (whole wheat), cut into little bits. Love it.

pieces of fruit (some of these yours might not be old enough for): pears (the current fave), apples, mango, banana, blueberry, peaches, strawberry, raspberry, oranges

cut up pieces of veggies: peas (the absolute fave for months), green beans (we buy frozen organic as they're softer than fresh), carrots, zucchini, squash, tomato, avocado (apparently we have more variety in fruit than veggies)

sweet potato fries. This buys us tons of time to eat our own dinner, if we can supply them fast enough. Slice sweet potato into fry shape; put on baking sheet with a little olive oil; bake until crispy; then cut to smaller bits. Grown ups like them, too.

beans, all kinds: chickpeas, pinto, black, red, lima, white.

eggs, scrambled or boiled. We added whites around 11 months.

around 11 months or so we added chicken to their diet. I never pureed, just went straight to little pieces. I find the organic chicken is softer than regular chicken and is fail proof in cooking.

Bagels. Wow, a whole bagel can last a REALLY long time. You have to watch they don't get huge pieces off, but they are a big hit.

Cheese - we buy cheese sticks and slice them very small. Started around 9 mo.

Grilled cheese, they love it, started around 10 months.

More recently, around 1 year, we added pizza (the absolute fave); fish (halibut, salmon, mahi mahi); quesadillas; pasta with sauce; cous cous; frozen whole wheat waffles

I'm sure there's others I'm forgetting. There's a lot of eating around these parts.

We're pretty adventurous, and my son, though only 9 months, seems willing to tackle just about anything. We've done veggie burgers (cut very small and cooled  to be just warm to the touch) and bits of grilled chicken (diced). He's gobbling down bananas and cantaloupe (again, cut very small), bits of cheese...for pasta, I've done the ones that look like corkscrews (that's fusilli, maybe?) but cut up into about 4 or 5 pieces per spiral and elbow macaroni. Whole wheat is best. I remember giving my daughter whole wheat pasta 11 years ago, and it was disgusting--very, very gritty. It's not that way at all these days--or maybe I'm just cooking it long enough.

But why am I actually bothering with all of this? All he really wants to eat is Cheerios. He looks longingly at the box on top of the refrigerator the entire time he's eating other things. There truly does not exist a more perfect food. But I guess he hasn't had sushi yet. :-)

Fusili/rotini - great to cook ahead and keep in the freezer to thaw in small portions.  I've developed a quick and easy high fat cheese sauce to serve w/ the noodles when she's decided not eat her protein.

Frozen veggies cooked in broth.  Whole wheat bread w/ pb (we waited a year) or w/ cream cheese.  Canned salmon, blueberries, cherry tomatoes chopped up smaller.

Avocado - great no cook food. Papaya is also great, helps keep 'em regular.  Applesauce - on its own w/ cinammon or mixed into oatmeal.

Have fun!

Ooooh! It became so much easier when the baby learned to feed himself. We pretty much give him whatever we eat (watching for chokables and too much spice). It's so nice!

Try cutting soft fruits or stuff that might be too big into short strips instead of chunks, it makes it a little easier to eat.

Good luck!

I stopped feeding my daughter the first time she spit smushed chicken in my eye.  

Well, I mean I stopped handing her the food and let her scoop it up herself.  I gave my kids chunky cottage cheese, cream of wheat, teeny chunks of fruit, yogurt in the container, all kinds of goopy stuff that they could get to their mouths even if only by sucking the edge of the high chair tray.  When my son was young enough not to notice I'd mix steamed, chopped cauliflower with homemade macaroni and cheese.  When they finished eating I'd give them a wet washcloth and urge them to wipe the table; if they even waved the rag before dropping it to the floor they'd get an armload of singsongy praise.  After a particularly messy meal I'd kill two birds with one stone by plunking them in the bathtub.  This is a great age, when they're young enough to be interested in eating anything but unable to tell you're sneaking healthy stuff into their meals.  ;)

Hmmm. What do I remember from 18 years ago? Albondigas! (Meatballs!) That is my favorite Spanish word and an excellent early finger food. I would make up a big batch of teeny chicken or turkey meatballs (you can work in a bit of cheese and finely chopped spinach). Saute just long enough to firm up the outsides, add chicken broth to finish cooking. No time? Steam Trader Joe's party size turkey meatballs, cut in quarters. Mira! Albonidigasitas!

As for pasta, I found that whole grain pastas were just as easy to fix as ones made with white flour. Probably a good habit to get into, too.

Tofu cubes, great! Cubes or strips of low-fat cheese, easy! Organic canned chic peas can be had at Whole Foods (of course, my kids liked those with garlic). Blueberries fresh or, freeze in plastic containers and serve frozen.

And for the occasional sinfully easy treat - oyster crackers.

By the way, Bobbie is now in France cooking for her roommates. That's how fast the feeding stage flies by. Enjoy the face time, even if the faces are most often gooey.

MRB

My son got so bored with plain steamed vegetables that he started hurling them around the kitchen. I found he was much happier eating things with more flavour.

-Try making tiny little meat balls or steamed dumplings using wonton wrappers. You can use minced meat - beef, chicken, pork, or fish, and add all sorts of vegies. My son loves things flavoured with herbs or middle-eastern spices (not chilli), or you can add garlic and ginger and a bit of low-salt soya or teriyaki sauce. You don't have to fry them, you can steam them or cook them in a tomato-based sauce and serve with penne, or you can boil them in stock. Really quick too, and later when the twins are a bit older (around 2) they can help form the balls.

You can freeze them before or after they have been cooked - so you can still make big batches.

I love them too - I usually make small ones for baby and bigger ones for the rest of the family.

-Felafel are great too - very tasty (yellow or red lentils, chickpeas, corriander, middle eastern spices, onion) served with plain yoghurt.

-little 'soldiers' with polenta (cornmeal),

-Little buckwheat (wholemeal) pikelets/pancakes (add berries for healthy fruity snack).

-You can buy wholewheat pasta shapes which are high in iron, etc.

-Four bean mix is great for a quick snack too.

-Wedges of hard-boiled egg (if they are already eating egg).

You can make little risotto balls or sticks from left-over risotto - the arborio rice sticks together nicely. You can make them savoury (vegies, meat, tuna, etc)or sweet (finely chopped dried fruit inside, bit of cinnamon)

Thats it.

Happy cooking

I'm going to come back and read these ideas more thoroughly later, but I'm in a bit of a time crunch now.  My 10 month olds love... string cheese, cut into bits.  Zapping a sweet potato in the micro for 6 minutes, and cubing it.  "No salt added" canned veggies and those little fruit cups for traveling and park play dates.  Sliced deli-style turkey.  Avocado.  Chicken patties, zapped and cut into pieces.  Mango.  Banana.  Mac and cheese.  Cream cheese sandwiches.  Buttered wheat toast.  Blueberry pancakes.  Hamburger.

Looking at this list, I guess I'll pretty much feed them anything small and soft enough!  :)

I made a "oatmeal" consistency food with sweet potato soup. I would make cous cous and instead of using water to boil it I would use the soup. When it was done it would be ready to eat. She LOVED it! Plus it stuck to the spoon so there wasn't much mess.

I've had to adopt finger foods as a tactic to keep our 8 month old in her highchair, too. Her favorites are (in no particular order):

black beans

blueberries!!! (totally her favorite, but sometimes she spits out the skins)

tofu (silken is better than extra firm)

peas - either steamed or from a can

sliced carrots from a can (break them up first)

avocado, but it's slippery

banana, but also slippery - someone suggested rolling the pieces in cheerio dust but that was too labor intensive for me

cheerios, of course

mini wheat toasts - you know, the ones you used to use for goat cheese when you had a social life (at least, I did)- these are perfect as long as they don't break

I also often hand her a pretzel log. She only has half of her bottom two teeth, so it's mostly not for eating, but it does the trick and she's a big fan of pretzels. So much neater than those stupid teething biscuits, too!