Homemade baby food recipes

spinach pasta

Have some fun with Spinach which is loaded with nutrition.

A rich source of vitamin A (and especially high in lutein), vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, magnesium, manganese, folate, betaine, iron, vitamin B2, calcium, potassium, vitamin B6, folic acid, copper, protein, phosphorus, zinc, niacin, selenium and omega-3 fatty acids…

And a must have for your baby

Spinach – 4 tbsp (chopped)
Whole wheat pasta – 2 tbsp
Cottage cheese – 1 tbsp (grated)
Seasoning

1. Boil water and cook pasta till done. Drain and keep aside
2. Cook spinach in about ½ cup of water. Simmer and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes
3. Add cooked pasta, cottage cheese, salt and pepper, mix well and bring it to a boil
4. Serve lukewarm as it is or puree it first in a blender depending upon how old you baby is

Cooking tomorrow … Palak Rice Recipe

I had never experienced a sit down formal (almost) dinner till I got invited by Alice at her lovely home in Greece where she treated us to Octopus (click here for recipe) and Pita. Your trip to Greece is not complete till you taste the absolutely delicious Pita. It involves some amount of work which pays off in the form of multi crispy layers in a Pita. Alice howver shared a comparitively easier recipe comprising of 2 thick and crispy layers instead of multiple one and still tasting good.

As soon as I can I am going to try this recipe out in my kitchen, meanwhile you try it too and do let me know how well it turned out…

All purpose flour – 2.5 cups

Butter – 225 gms / 1 cup

Salt – 1 tsp

Spinach – 1 kg (boiled)

Green Onions – 2 nos (chopped)

Eggs – 2 nos

Semolina – 1 tsp

Fetta / Mozarella cheese

Parsley / Dil – chopped

Olive oil – 1 tbsp

1. In a bowl combine cold butter and flour with hands till its forms a crumbly texture
2. Add salt and mix well
3. Add 7-8 tbsp of icy cold water and gently mix with a fork till the mixture starts to come together. Refrigerate this mixture for atleast 1 hour.
4. Divide the mixture into 2 halves
5. Roll one half and place it on a pie tray
6. Drain boiled spinach and chop.
7. In a pan heat Olive oil and saute green onions and spinach and leave it to cool
8. After you have turned the heat off add 2 beaten eggs and generous amounts of dil / parsley to the above mixture
9. Season with salt and pepper
10. Add cheese to your liking. More the tastier!
11. Add semolina to pull off the moisture of spinach
12. Add this mixture to the bottom of the pie
13. Roll out the second half of the dough and cover on top of the spinach mixture
14. Score the pastry into portions (see picture) so that the pie gets to breathe
15. Bake the pie at 200 degree C for about 45 minutes to an hour
16. Serve hot

Pita can be served for lunch or dinner with or without side dishes. Serve it with salad or team it up with a portion of Octopus and rice like Alice did!

If you are looking at making multi layer Pita, all you need to do is have roll out 8-12 layers from the dough. Combine 2-3 layers and roll out again

Till next time…..happy cooking!

Meet Alice Eppinga …..Alice is an retired English teacher with an undying love for travel and books and a very interesting person.

It is always a challenge to feed kids as nutritious as spinach. I was one of them.I don’t know when I developed a liking for it. May be it was the horrible hostel food that did the trick. You suddenly become less fussy and appreciate good things . I simply love this dish now. And how simple and quick this dry spinach recipe is!

Spinach – 1 bundle (finely chopped)
Onion – 2 big (finely chopped)
Green chilli – 2 (finely chopped)
Desiccated coconut – 2 tbsp
Turmeric – 1 pinch
Chilli powder – 2-3 pinches
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Red chilli – 2 nos
Rice – ½ tsp
Salt to taste

1.    Wash and finely chop the spinach. Put it in a colander and leave it for some time for the water to drain completely. It should be almost dry.
2.    In a wok heat oil and add mustard seeds and let it splutter
3.    Now add red chilli and rice.
4.    After 5 seconds add spinach, onion, green chilli, turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Spinach already has salt content so be careful while adding salt.
5.    Stir and cook in slow heat in open vessel.
6.    Keep stirring in between. Don’t add any water
7.    Add desiccated coconut.
8.    Serve with cooked rice / chapatti (Indian bread), daal.

More than daal I love combining it with rice and fresh curd/ yoghurt. Check it out!

Till tomorrow…. happy cooking and healthy eating!