Adventures in solids: Spinach, zucchini & parsnips

Once my daughter had gotten the hang of basic fruit & veggie purees, I decided to try a few less obvious options to provide her with more variety. Firstly I tried Spinach. I chose these because spinach is high in iron and her doctor had recommended iron supplements once she turned 6 months. I didn't really want to give her the supplement because it smelt awful, it looked awful and the taste was ugly! I decided to introduce iron rich foods to her diet instead.  I found out that similar to carrots, when spinach is cooked in water it releases nitrates into the water which isn't good for infants so its best to immediately remove it from the water and discard the water. According to wholesome baby food, storing it for long periods isn't advisable either. I decided to make a small batch of spinach as an experiment. I bought fresh spinach from the farmers market

Then I washed it and cooked it in a tiny bit of water. Once it was cooked I drained it, and put it in the blender. It looked freakishly green once it was blended! Then I poured the pureed spinach into my mumi & bubi trays and popped it in the freezer.  Because spinach on its own is a bit too plain, I mixed this in with other veggies when I served it to her. She especially liked spinach  with cheese and sweet potato!

Zucchini (Summer Squash): 

I know I said I would never touch a squash again, but Zucchini is a friendly squash so I decided to give it a try! I have an on again, off again relationship with zucchini, some days I love it and then some days I can't stand it. I decided to try making this into a puree for daughter; big mistake. Firstly zucchini is similar to a cucumber in the sense that its mostly water. so once its cooked, blended, frozen and then defrosted, it transforms into watery mush. Secondly it takes on a more bitter taste once its blended even though I peeled it and didn't over cook it. It tasted fine before I blended it and then just magically taste gross afterwards. My daughter was not a fan of this, and to be honest neither was I!

Parsnips 

I love parsnips, in my mind they are the love child of carrots and potatoes. I especially love to roast them after they have been glazed with honey.  Introducing these to my daughter was easy.  I peeled, cored and cooked them in the same way as I did with sweet potatoes and then poured them in the cube trays and froze them. My daughter really enjoyed these either on their own or mixed with carrots, spinach, egg or cheese.