Rice Noodles Primavera

Mommy Rating: ***
Baby Rating: ***

Ingredients:

• asparagus (1/4 cup chopped)
• fresh or frozen peas (1/4 cup)
• fresh or frozen artichoke hearts (1/3 cup chopped)
• rice pasta (1/4 lb)
• unsalted butter (1 Tbsp)
• zucchini puree (2 Tbsp)
• fresh dill (1 tsp, minced)

Directions:

Select a pot with a steamer basket insert and fill two-thirds full with water.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Have ready asparagus, peas, and artichoke hearts in steamer basket.  Add pasta to pot and, after 4 minutes of cooking, insert steamer basket of vegetables in pot.  Cover and cook until both pasta and vegetables are just tender, about 5 minutes.

Remove steamer basket from pot.  Drain pasta, reserving 1 Tbsp cooking liquid, and put in a large bowl.  Cut pasta noodles into baby bite-sized pieces with kichen shears.  (I found brown rice elbow noodles.)  Add asparagus, peas, and artichoke hearts to pasta.  Add reserved cooking liquid, butter, zucchini puree, and dill to bowl and stir to combine.

Depending on your baby's age and chewing ability, serve whole or mash the peas, asparagus , and artichoke hears with a fork.

**Taken from Cooking for Baby**

Asparagus Spears with Feta

Mommy rating: ****
Baby rating: ****

These are DELICIOUS!!!

Ingredients:

• asparagus (1 bunch)
• olive oil (2 Tbsp)
• kosher or rock salt (2 tsp)
• feta cheese (1/3 cup crumbled)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400*F.  Line a 9-by-12 baking pan with aluminum foil.
• Snap off woody ends of asparagus spears and place speans in pan.  Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt, and roll to coat.  Roast until spears are tender, 8-10 minutes.  Remove from over and sprinkle with cheese.
• Depending on your baby's age and chewing ability, mash the spears coarsely with a fork, cut them into pieces, or let her nibble on the spears.

**Taken from Cooking for Baby**

Root Veggie Medley

Mommy rating: ****

Baby rating: ****

Ingredients:

• sweet potato or yam (1)
• parsnips (2)
• carrots (2)
• extra-virgin olive oil (2 Tbsp)
• fresh rosemary (2 tsp minced) - I used dried
• salt (1/4 tsp)
• pepper (1/4 tsp)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400*F.  Peel sweet potato, parsnips, and carrots.  Using a mandoline or chef's knife, carefully slice vegetables into rounds 1/2 inch thick.  Cut sweet potato rounds into quarters or as needed to roughly match the size of the parsnips and carrots.

  

Put vegetables in a ceramic or glass baking dish.  Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with rosemary, salt, and pepper, and toss to coat.  Roast until vegetables are tender, 15-20 minutes.

Depending on your baby's age and chewing ability, mash part of the cooked vegetable medley and puree part in a food processor and then combine for a variety of textures.  Or, simply cut vegetable pieces smaller to accomodate little mouths.

**Taken from Cooking for Baby**

Confetti Slaw

Mommy rating: ****
Baby rating: ***

Ingredients:

• red bell pepper (1/2 large, stemmed, seeded, and coarsely chopped)
• balsalmic vinegar (1/2 tsp)
• extra-virgin olive oil (1/2 tsp)
• zucchini (1 medium)
• Fuji apple (1 small, peeled, halved, and cored)

Directions:

Put pepper in a food processor with vinegar and oil.  Pulse until pepper is pureed.

Using the large halves on a box grater, shred zucchini and apple. 

Put shredded zucchini and apple in a clean, dry dish towel, hold over a bowl, and gently squeeze out excess liquid.

(Reserve the juice for baby's cup or add it to plain yogurt.)

Put zucchini and apple in a medium mixing bowl and toss with a fork to seperate.

Add bell pepper mixture to shredded mixture and toss to mix.

Yum!

**Taken from Cooking for Baby**

Potato & Butternut Squash Stew

Mommy rating: ***

Baby rating: ***

Ingredients:

• butternut squash (1/2 small, peeled and seeded)
• yellow potatoes (6 small, peeled)
• Fuji apple (1 medium, peeled, halved, and cored)
• extra virgin olive oil (1 Tbsp)
• Baby's stock or water (1 1/2 cups)

Directions:

Cut squash, potatoes, and apple into 1-inch chunks. You should have about 1 cup of each.

Potatoes                                             Fuji Apple

Heat all in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add squash, potatoes, and apple and cook, stirring occasionally, 8-10 minutes.  Apples will begin to turn golden brown. 

Add stock or water and bring to a boil. 

Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer, cover, and simmer until vegetables are soft, 30-35 minutes.

Mash and combine with wooden spoon, potato masher, or food processor to a consistency your baby can handle.

I kept this pretty chunky since Christopher is 11 months.

**Taken from Cooking for Baby**