Everyone knows babies love sweet. From the moment they are born, the breast milk they drink does not only nourish them it also satisfies their sweet tooth – sorry… gums :). Formula is crafted after the sweet mothers milk and once it is time to start solids, well you’ll find lots of veggies and fruit combos.
But it isn’t necessary to mix fruits with the veggies. Personally I’m a big proponent of giving fruit and veggies separately to allow baby to taste everything. I’m not a big fan, though, of bland food. If I don’t like it, how can I feed it to my baby with a straight “eat-it-baby-it’s-delicious”-face.
Enter herbs. I love boiling or steaming veggies and add in a herb or spice to make it more tasty. It is also a great way to introduce different tastes and smells to your baby’s developing tastebuds. Look at mothers in countries like India, Thailand, Mexico, Morocco, Greece, France… well, just look around you at the diversity of cuisines and cultures and know that mothers all over the world start early with mixing in spices like turmeric, black pepper, cardamom, coriander, parsley, oregano and and and…
Here are a handful of combos that I made for my son and daughter after their 6 months mark.
- Carrots and staranis (boil together, take out staranis and blend carrots with the aromatic boiling water into baby food)
- String beans and parsley (boil or steam beans, add chopped fresh or dried parsley and purée)
- Broccoli and basil (boil or steam broccoli and add chopped basil then purée)
- Peas and mint (boil peas then add some chopped fresh or dried mint and purée)
- Prunes and ginger+cardamom (boil a cardamom pod together with the prunes then add a pinch of ginger powder (fresh ginger might be too overpowering) remove cardamom pod and purée)
- Sweet potato and black pepper (mix sweet potato wedges with some olive oil and add a pinch of black pepper. Spread out on baking tray, bake on 425F for 45-60 minutes until soft, remove skin if left on and purée with some (filtered) water)
These are wonderful and tasty babyfoods to make yourself, but not every mama has time to do this – I know this just too well. That is why I use a 50-50 system, half store bought half homemade, it’s all about balance right? There are some great organic baby foods out there right now. Here a few of my favs, some are only vegetable combos, some combine veggies and fruit, but all are organic:
Remember never to add salt which is damaging to your baby’s organs. Also just use a tiny bit of spices and herbs, it’s only for a variation in taste.