Happy Baby ** Happy Home: Baby Food: Spinach and Asparagus

After about 2 months of eating solid foods, I realized Everleigh was not getting enough green vegetables. She was eating peas and I was struggling to feed her green beans. So I started looking for more that maybe, hopefully, she would like. I am surprised that she really does like spinach. I love how healthy it is and how easy it is to make so I am super happy with this. However, there is one problem. Even if you buy that huge plastic box of baby spinach from the grocery store, once you steam it and puree it, as you can guess, you don't get a whole lot out of it. So it's not really the most efficient or cost-effective of the homemade baby food items.

Next, I tried asparagus. I like using asparagus because it is very versatile. It makes a great finger food because if you steam it long enough, it smushes up in your mouth really easily, but it is still easy for little fingers to grip. Also, if your little one tolerates a thicker food, then you can just fork-mash some very well done asparagus. No need to get out the food processor. Or, if your little one is like mine, and she can't decide from one day to the next whether she prefers thin purees, a little chunk, or finger foods, then you can also toss it in the food processor and it thins out quite nicely. However, it, like spinach, is not super cost-effective. It is not the cheapest produce item you'll find in the store and one bunch of asparagus, once steamed and pureed, does not make a whole lot.

Enter solution. Mix the two! It pureed very evenly and turned a lovely deep green color. It froze well and once thawed, it is a little runny, but these days that is what my daughter prefers. If you wanted, you could always add some rice cereal to thicken it. A little poured over pasta would make a yummy sauce for babies too. You can taste both the vegetables in the mixture but of course, spinach has a more powerful flavor and it is dominant. Like I said before, Everleigh likes spinach so this works for us. When I offered her asparagus alone, it was a little more of an effort to get her to eat it.

I want to point out that the spinach is super easy to cook. You don't need to go to all the hassle of pulling out the steamer, which you will probably be using for your asparagus anyway. For mine, I sprinkled it with some water and popped it in the microwave for about a minute. For extra nutrients, use the asparagus water you used in the steamer. For older babies that can tolerate raw veggies, I would not cook the spinach at all. Once it's in the food processor it chops up into tiny bits anyway. But then, maybe you would not be processing your older baby's food. I don't know.

Hey! Speaking of older babies and pasta. Throw some olive oil, parmesan and garlic into the food processor and you've got yourself an easy uber-nutritious pesto! (Don't add water to thin if you are going to do this.)