Many of you have asked about devoting a post to Baby-Bunching-friendly recipes. What does this mean? This is a meal that is suitable for mom, dad and your ENTIRE real-food-eating-Bunch. Meals where you're not playing short-order cook. Meals that help get you all to the table, together.
One of the best tips a fellow Baby Buncher offered us was to serve meals which include at least one item that everyone in your family will eat. Even if it just means you include rice for the picky toddler. No child will starve from rice alone. In fact, many other cultures call "just rice" dinner.
Here is a recipe I believe I got from both my mom and my mother in law. I think they each make a different version of it. It’s one everyone will eat (even if it's in parts), makes good leftovers, and takes less than 30 minutes.
Quick Sausage and Spinach Pasta
(Don’t let the spinach throw you off this one, my kids will eat around it and even occasionally try it.)
1 pound of any kind of pasta
1 package of sausage (anything that’s not too spicy will do)
1 bag of baby spinach leaves
1 carton of cherry tomatoes (I’ve even used canned in a pinch or regular tomatoes)
Pine nuts are optional
Parmesan Cheese
Boil pasta. Cook sausage until done. Cut up tomatoes or slice cherry ones in half. Once the pasta is done, drain quickly. Once the sausage is done, slice. Put everything back in the pot that you boiled the pasta in—pasta, sliced sausage, tomatoes, and spinach. (Add in a little oil or some of the juices from the sausage.) The steam from the pasta will “cook” the spinach and just wilt it. If you like, you can cook the tomatoes and spinach in the same skillet as the sausage for just a minute or two to wilt them both a bit. Right before serving add cheese and pine nuts, if desired.
(Note: This makes a lot. My daughter inhales the pasta and some of the spinach and a few bites of sausage. My son will eat the sausage, a few bites of pasta and if we’re lucky will eat a bit or two of spinach. Feel free to add more to this, zucchini might be good too.)
In our house we require everyone to take a "no thank you bite" and try everything. Helps expose them to different foods they might otherwise find scary. No one needs a scary meal.
Other meals we recommend:
get a good digital rice cooker! You can make a bunch of delicious white rice in it and steam salmon or veggies or chicken breasts at the same time-- put them on small plate, season (we like tiger sauce), cover with plastic wrap, and place in steamer insert in cooker before you shut it and turn it on to cook the rice. Dinner for everyone in 15 minutes.
Posted by: Rachel S | Dec 11, 2009 at 09:51 PM
Keep the recipes comin'! I'm always looking for food ideas for the kiddos, especially since my little guy does not like veggies.
Posted by: Knowles | Dec 13, 2009 at 10:55 PM