Kids

New flavours and colours evey day for Gaia

As I wrote on the previous blogs, I introduced a new vegetable every day, with a tasty, colourful texture. It was funny to see the different colours Gaia’s baby food was every time I added something new. After about 2 weeks, I had introduced my 6 and 1/2 month old daughter to 2 teaspoons of minced vegetables every day. This is was how I started:

• Day 1 & 2: pumpkin
• Day 3 & 4: carrot
• Day 5 & 6: potato
• Day 7 & 8: zucchini (if seasonal, remember to wash it carefully without peeling it)
• Day 9 & 10: chard or lettuce (1 leaf)
• Day 11 & 12: fennel
• Day 13 & 14: celery
• Day 15 & 16: green beans

I started to prepare meals in this way, because it takes some time before the baby accepts new dishes rather than just milk. So, as soon as I was sure that Gaia would eat her meal, I also started to prepare bigger quantities, this helps tired mothers to save a lot of time…someone said that you should prepare fresh vegetable stock everyday but I admit I was not a “purist” and preferred convenience. I stored both the stock and the vegetables in the fridge in 2 separate jars for no longer than 24 hours (2 meals), while I put the rest in the freezer for the rest of the week. In my opinion the best way to store the meals is in jars: they are easier to use and more hygenic than plastic tupperware because plastic can release toxic substances in warm temperatures. You can use jam, pasta sauce or similar jars as long as wash them thoroughly. You can use different shapes and sizes  because after a while you will be preparing 250gr of stock for each portion and you will need bigger jars. You can also add more minced vegetables if you see that your baby likes his/her meals and each day you can try bigger quantities.

My daughter Gaia tasted many different vegetables within her first year, she tried spinach, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, artichokes, aubergines and asparagus. Well, to tell you the truth, within her first year, Gaia was eating exaclty the same as us…

Letizia

Helping children to enjoy vegetables ( 3)