TORONTO
It may be tempting to buy jars of prepared baby food, but you might not be doing your child any favours nutritionally, says holistic nutritionist Jill Hillhouse.
In The Best Baby Food: 125 Healthy & Delicious Recipes for Babies & Toddlers (Robert Rose), co-author Hillhouse offers tips on introducing babies to real food and tempting toddlers with a variety of flavours and colours.
She says some commercial baby foods may have additives like tapioca starch or potatoes.
“Not to say that potatoes don’t have value. [But] if it is a meat product or a broccoli product, then shouldn’t we want to get all those nutrients? You’re diluting it,” says Hillhouse.
She cites a 2013 study from the department of human nutrition at the University of Glasgow that found commercial baby foods designed to be “first foods” had more calories than formula milk and fewer nutrients than homemade foods.
In other words, she says, babies would need more food to get the same amount of nutrients that they were getting from formula. This can set up a lifetime habit of eating large amounts of nutrient-poor processed food.
Chef Jordan Wagman and Hillhouse seek to banish the mindset that kids should eat bland food.
“It’s kind of incredible when you think about infants around the world. They’re eating spices and herbs pretty much everywhere else except in North America,” says Hillhouse.
“I don’t know why we need to feed them just plain rice and that kind of stuff, and from a nutritional perspective, it certainly doesn’t make any sense.”
Included are recipes for first foods such as puréed vegetables and integrating meats and fruits for those age six to nine months. Fennel, eggplant, quinoa, hummus and bok choy are suggestions for when babies near their first birthday, and recipes for toddlers include oven-roasted artichokes, salmon cakes and jasmine rice with butternut squash and saffron.
“It’s important to open the palate, expose little people to all sorts of tastes so they get used to it,” says Hillhouse.
The authors also advise introducing foods in a wide range of colours. “We know that the deeper-coloured fruits and vegetables and their skins have so many great properties to them, so it’s wonderful to include them, not just visually.”
Hillhouse suggests trying to carve out an hour or two every so often to prep some puréed foods.
Once a baby graduates to food, he or she eats only a few tablespoons at a time, the equivalent of a couple of thawed chunks frozen in ice-cube trays.
“Do up a whole bunch of ice-cube trays and you’ve got a ton of food,” she says. “You get the time back over the next four weeks while using up those foods.”
A huge challenge for many parents is satisfying picky eaters.
Be careful not to reveal your own dislikes, Hillhouse says. Children notice when a food appears on their plate but not on a parent’s dish.
Hillhouse also recommends organic produce when possible for youngsters. “Pesticides have a much stronger effect on small bodies and it’s well documented that they’re more detrimental to small children than they are to the rest of us.”
Included in the book is a list generated by the Environmental Working Group in the U.S., which has identified 20 fruits and vegetables containing the most pesticide residue unless organically grown, and 15 of the least contaminated fruits and vegetables.
“The key message with organics, I still believe, is it matters more that you actually eat fruits and vegetables, whether or not they’re organic,” says Hillhouse.
Recipes
Preparing your own food for babies and toddlers is a great way to set up a pattern of healthy eating, say chef Jordan Wagman and holistic nutritionist Jill Hillhouse in their book The Best Baby Food.
The cookbook features recipes that are full of flavour and colour to tempt children and help prevent them from becoming picky eaters.
Hillhouse grew up eating whole foods and when she had her two children, “the idea of just cooking the carrots and squash and roasting the potatoes, or whatever it was, wasn’t a foreign concept to me. So my kids grew up eating whole foods that I had prepared and frozen,” she says. “So when it came along to doing the book, it was like I was revisiting what I had done with my children, but with the extra-special stuff that Jordan throws in with a lot of herbs and that sort of thing.”
Recipes include nutrition information and are organized in sections by age — Starting Solids (six to nine months), Establishing Preferences (nine to 12 months) and Food for Toddlers (12 months and older). There are also snacks and desserts.
Here are some recipes from the book to try. Green bean purée with fresh basil is suitable for children ages six to nine months who are starting to eat solid food.
Introducing your baby to the fresh flavours of herbs as early as possible will help him or her acquire a taste for these nutrient-dense foods.
To keep vegetables green without using salt, Wagman advises keeping the water at a rolling boil. When cooking larger quantities, cook in batches, being careful not to overload the water, which will lower the temperature.
Hillhouse says basil has long been used to help relieve stomach cramps, vomiting and constipation. It is packed with nutrients such as antioxidants, acts as an immune-system stimulant and also has antibacterial properties.
Wagman suggests using fresh basil because he thinks it’s one herb that doesn’t maintain its flavour when dried.
Green Bean Purée With Fresh Basil
1 cup filtered water
1 1/2 cups green beans, trimmed
1 tsp chopped fresh basil leaves
• Ice cubes
In a saucepan, bring water to a rolling boil over high heat. Add green beans. Cover, maintaining a rolling boil, and boil until beans are soft, about 10 minutes.
Add basil. Transfer to a blender or use an immersion blender in the saucepan. Purée until smooth. Pour mixture into a bowl and place over top of another bowl filled with ice. Stir often to stop cooking process and ensure beans maintain green colour. Serve when warm to the touch or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to three days or freeze for up to one month.
Makes about one cup.
Roasted Fruit
You can use seasonal fruit in this recipe, which is suitable for toddlers and up.
This recipe works for virtually any fruit and can be served with breakfast (try it on pancakes or toast), lunch or dinner. Roasting fruit takes patience, but the caramelization of natural sugars is worth the wait.
In winter, substitute apples for the peaches or cranberries or frozen berries for the berries.
2 organic peaches, pitted
1 1/2 cups raspberries
1 1/2 cups organic or wild blueberries
1 1/2 cups whole organic strawberries, stems removed
2 organic plums, pitted
2 Tbsp evaporated cane juice sugar or coconut sugar
Preheat oven to 150 C 300 F.
In lightly greased baking dish, combine peaches, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, plums and sugar, stirring until fruit is evenly coated with sugar.
Roast in preheated oven until fruit is soft and nicely caramelized, about 1 hour. Mash or cut to desired consistency. Let cool until warm to the touch before serving or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 1 month.
Makes about 1 l (4 cups).
Roasted Fruit Smoothie
Smoothies are a great way to incorporate a variety of fruits and vegetables into a glass for a snack or drink with a meal. The items can be frozen or fresh.
To make this smoothie more nutritious, substitute an equal quantity of frozen fruit, such as berries, for the ice.
2 cups roasted fruit (recipe above)
1/2 cup organic plain full-fat yogurt
1/2 cup ice
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
In a blender, combine fruit, yogurt, ice and mint. Puree until smooth. Serve immediately.
Makes about 625 ml (2 1/2 cups).
Chive Parsley Pesto
This recipe is geared toward children aged nine to 12 months who are at the stage of expanding their palate.
This spin on a classic Italian basil pesto, which would normally include pine nuts, contains only the clean flavours of parsley, chives, garlic and olive oil. It’s another way of introducing the robust flavours of fresh herbs to children at a young age.
The condiment/sauce can be used in a variety of ways, says Hillhouse. It is delicious over cooked grains or, as your baby gets older (past 12 months), with noodles or pasta and Parmesan cheese.
All green plants contain some amount of chlorophyll, but the greener the vegetable, the more chlorophyll it contains, Hillhouse says. Parsley’s rich green colour indicates it is loaded with this nutrient. Chlorophyll fights infections and stimulates new cell growth, two functions that are important for a growing baby.
You can freeze leftovers for future use.
3/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) or curly parsley
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
In a blender, combine parsley, oil, chives and garlic. Puree until smooth. Use immediately or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Makes about 125 ml (1/2 cup).
Source: “The Best Baby Food: 125 Healthy & Delicious Recipes for Babies & Toddlers” by Jordan Wagman and Jill Hillhouse (Robert Rose Inc., www.robertrose.ca, 2015).
