How do you help your baby love the taste of healthy food? Cook from scratch. I like to do this as much as possible and make more to freeze. Making a little extra means that, I can conveniently have ready made food later on and ultimately spend less time cooking. Oatmeal is an easy to make, healthy food that you can cook up in an endless amount of ways. Keep reading for some winning oatmeal ideas. The main idea is: you pick a fruit or vegetable (or two for flavor), then add spices, nuts and or seeds. Do not add any sugar what so ever.
And no chocolate please!
No, babies don’t need banana chocolate oatmeal. Banana, yes. Chocolate, no. Trust me your baby will still think it’s so incredibly tasty. These recipes are a spring board for endless ideas. You can cook up a bigger batch and 4oz portions can be frozen in containers such as these.
Oatmeal freezes beautifully and can be thinned out with cream, milk of your choice (cow, goat, breast milk you name it) or water before serving a younger baby. Alternatively you can bake them from breakfast bars for older babies.
To save money and to commit to oatmeal, haha, I like to buy a big container – not the individual packets. This way, I save my child from added sugar and the added flavors that they begin to get accustomed to. These added flavors, I believe, lead to future unhealthy eating. Read more about the benefits of oatmeal. Help your baby love the taste of healthy food!
For one cup of oats cooked according to instructions…
Apple cinnamon
Grate the 1/2 an apple and sprinkle 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. This is great of any fall produce pears, persimmons, butternut squash etc.
Carrot cake
Add these ingredients to raw oats and cook all together:
Grate half of a large carrot or one small carrot or a few baby carrots, 1 tablespoon of raisins and 1 tablespoon of walnuts, a pinch of nutmeg.
Sweet Kale
Add these ingredients to raw oats and cook all together:
1/3 cup of finely chopped kale, 1 tablespoon of raisins.
Note: Dried fruit is VERY sweet, so add only a little.
Nuts and berries
Add 2 tablespoons of walnuts to raw oats and cook all together. Then add 1/3 cup of mixed berries (or any berry of your choice).
Pumpkin pie
Add 1/3 cup of pumpkin purée, a pinch of nutmeg, a pinch of allspice.
If after you cook up the oatmeal it seems too grainy. You can:
- Make your oatmeal creamier by adding more water and cooking for longer or
- Put it in a food processor/blender
Have fun with it by substituting any seasonal produce such as squash, sweet potatoes, peaches, dried fruit etc into your oatmeal blend and spice it up creatively! Go get the ingredients with your little one. I trust that these tips will help your baby love the taste of healthy food! You can both enjoy the adventure of introducing so many colorful and delicious foods from the start.