Probably every experienced parent knows some recipe for broccoli puree for babies. This is really a healthy vegetable, which will be a great choice if it comes time to start introducing the first lure. Thanks to it, you can significantly enhance children's health, and if necessary, regulate the weight of the child. Therefore, every mother who seriously takes care of the baby’s health should know how to make broccoli puree for babies.
Beneficial features
First of all, it will be useful to talk about the advantages of such a vegetable. They are quite numerous.
To start with, broccoli contains vitamins A, B, C, and E, as well as phosphorus, potassium, folic acid, and iodine. The last element is very important - it is responsible for the thyroid gland, and its lack leads to a decrease in growth rates. And in many regions of our country there is a deficiency of iodine.
Vitamin C has a positive effect on immunity - a child receiving a sufficient amount of it is less likely to get sick and easier to tolerate any disease.
A large amount of fiber improves digestion - the baby will not have problems with stools. And experienced parents are well aware of how important this is. Still, constipation in children causes many problems to fathers and mothers.
Broccoli is especially recommended for babies who are predisposed to being overweight. On the one hand, broccoli puree saturates well, and on the other, it has a low calorie content. Therefore, its regular use reduces the risk of obesity.
A wonderful set of vitamins and minerals increases the elasticity and strength of blood vessels, and also positively affects the work of the heart.
So we can say with confidence - if you know how to make broccoli puree for babies, it will bring a lot of benefit to the child.
At what age can I give
We come to another important issue. At what age can broccoli be given to children?
Experts recommend making mashed broccoli for babies from 4 months. Yes, yes, it is at this age that you can introduce the first complementary foods, if by this time the baby is already short of mother's milk.
By four months, the baby’s stomach is strong enough to digest not only the delicacy prepared by nature and mother. The first foods that can be used for feeding are cauliflower and broccoli.
The choice is not at all random. These vegetables not only contain useful substances and trace elements, which were described above. They are also completely hypoallergenic. That is, when used in a child, the development of an allergic reaction will not exactly begin. Other negative consequences will not occur. In addition, most children enjoy this mashed potato with pleasure, which for many adults seems completely tasteless. Therefore, deciding to introduce it into the baby’s diet, parents make the right decision.
However, if mother's milk allows the baby to be fully saturated, then the introduction of complementary foods should be postponed until 6-7 months.
The rules of introduction to complementary foods
When the reader knows the benefits of broccoli puree for infants, it is worthwhile to talk about certain rules for introducing this dish into the diet.
In general, you need to act in the same way as with any other complementary foods. First, it is advisable to give a small amount of broccoli - literally on the tip of a spoon so that the child ate from half a teaspoon to a full day. The next day, you should follow the reaction of the body to complementary foods. If there are no problems - abdominal pain, crying, then a new dish had to be taken. After a day of observation, you can continue complementary foods, gradually increasing the portion - up to about 50 grams at a time.
At eight to nine months, a child can easily eat up to 100-150 grams, and up to 200 grams per year.
It’s worth mentioning right away - the vegetable stock left after cooking broccoli should never be given to a child. It can worsen the work of the stomach crumbs, causing many problems for him and his parents.
Choosing the right product
Before you learn how to make broccoli puree for babies, you need to figure out how to choose quality vegetables. Still, using not-so-good ingredients, preparing a healthy and tasty dish will fail.
Of course, it is best to grow broccoli in the country. If there is such an opportunity, then it is better to give preference to this particular option. Then you can be sure that during the cultivation the dosage of mineral fertilizers was not disturbed, the vegetable was not sprayed with chemicals to kill the parasites. That is, broccoli will turn out completely safe from an environmental point of view. It's nice that in frozen form it can be stored for up to 6 months - a very decent period. The main thing - do not wash it before freezing. It is better to simply divide into small inflorescences and put them in a plastic bag. To wash a vegetable is just before cooking.
Unfortunately, most have to be content with purchased vegetables. How to choose the right one when shopping?
First of all, check that there are no rotten areas, dark spots or mold on the surface. All inflorescences should have a saturated green color. If there is such an opportunity - smell the broccoli. A head of cabbage should not have a mushroom smell - this is a signal that it will soon deteriorate. The buds must be tight, closed. When buying packaged cabbage, be sure to make sure that there is no ice there - it is quite easy to determine this by simply probing the pack. Hardly anyone would want to pay for water.
At home, you can store fresh head of broccoli in the refrigerator for about a week, but it is better to use it for 4-5 days.
How to prepare broccoli
If you want to learn how to make broccoli puree for babies, then first you need to find out a few nuances of preparing the vegetable for cooking.
The purchased head of cabbage needs to be sorted into inflorescences - they are quite small. After that, rinse them thoroughly, fill with cold water and leave for a couple of hours. No longer needed - cabbage can absorb excess water. A few hours is enough to wash pesticides, nitrates and other harmful substances from broccoli, which generously water the beds on most plantations.
After that, you can proceed to the cooking itself.
Classic mashed potatoes
To begin with, we give a recipe for mashed broccoli for infants, considered the simplest. The cooking procedure does not require special skills - every adult will cope with it.
Prepared broccoli (sorted into inflorescences and washed), is folded into a pan and poured with cold water. You do not need to cook a lot of cabbage right away - it is desirable that the amount that will be eaten per day. In other words, 50-200 grams, depending on the age of the child.
Now you can put the pan on the fire and bring to a boil. After that, you need to cook broccoli for another 15-20 minutes. During this time, the cabbage will become quite soft. You can throw it in a colander and do mashed potatoes. Inflorescences just need to be crushed thoroughly. Someone uses a simple fork for this purpose, while others push through a sieve. A convenient way is to use a blender - the mass will be completely homogeneous. But not everyone will like to get it, and then wash it to prepare 100 grams of mashed potatoes.
Usually mashed frozen broccoli for babies may seem too thick. The problem is easy to solve - add a few tablespoons of boiled and chilled water and mix thoroughly the resulting mass. You can treat your child with tasty and healthy mashed potatoes!
We use a slow cooker
Also, for parents who want to figure out how to cook mashed broccoli baby, a recipe for a slow cooker or a double boiler may come in handy. Steaming is even better than conventional cooking. In this case, more useful substances remain in the vegetables, which partially pass into the broth if you boil them in water. It's nice that the cooking process is also very simple.
After preparing broccoli, lay the inflorescences in a slow cooker on a special grill for stewing vegetables. After that, select the appropriate mode and set the time - approximately 10 minutes. When the measured period expires, it remains only to turn the vegetables into mashed potatoes in any of the ways described above. The resulting dish will be even healthier than classic mashed potatoes.
Delicious mashed soup
However, talking about the recipe for broccoli puree for babies, you can not forget about soup puree. This dish can be given to children as early as 7 months - it turns out to be very tender, but at the same time satisfying and healthy thanks to the vitamins that make up its composition.
To prepare you need to take:
- 150 grams of broccoli;
- 1 medium carrot.
- 1 medium potato.
All vegetables must be washed, peeled and cut into small cubes. After that, they are folded into a pan and poured with boiling water. The water is brought to a boil, and the vegetables are boiled over low heat for 20–25 minutes. The liquid is drained, and the finished ingredients are rubbed through a sieve or mixed in a blender. You can add a teaspoon of sour cream or vegetable oil to the finished dish.
The dish is very useful, but you can give it to children only after they try the ingredients separately - for example, broccoli puree, as well as carrot juice. If you get allergies or other negative consequences with the introduction of this soup puree in the diet, you should wait.
Mashed potatoes and broccoli
According to many parents, the recipe for mashed broccoli for babies will be even more successful if you add a little potatoes to it. On the one hand, the dish remains tasty and healthy, and on the other - more satisfying. Preparing is amazingly simple. You just need to take the same amount of broccoli and potatoes - for example, 100 or 150 grams. Broccoli is prepared as described above, and the potatoes are peeled and cut into small cubes.
Chopped potatoes are thrown into a pot with a small amount of boiling water. When it boils again, you should wait 10 minutes and add broccoli. After another 10 minutes, the vegetables are caught and mashed with a sieve, fork or blender. It turns out a very good dish, which will be a great alternative to those mixtures that are sold in stores.
If you add a teaspoon of vegetable oil to the finished dish, then mashed potatoes can also help with constipation.
Mashed potato reviews
However, the above is mainly a theory. But in practice, everything is not so simple and monotonous. For example, if you study the reviews of mashed broccoli for babies, you can find quite conflicting opinions. Having studied them, it is not difficult to draw certain conclusions.
In general, the dish does not cause any problems, since broccoli is a hypoallergenic product. And many children enjoy it with pleasure. However, some mashed potatoes do not like it. Most often it depends on the already manifested food preferences. Trying to put a spoonful of mashed potatoes in a child is not worth it. Better to postpone the repeat experiment for a week or two. Very often, a dish that a six-month-old infant resolutely refuses to eat today, he will eat with pleasure after a while.
Who should not broccoli?
Talking about the pros of broccoli puree, you should still talk briefly about the possible disadvantages. More precisely, to whom it is contraindicated.
First of all, this group includes children who have problems with high acidity of the stomach. Violation of this simple rule often leads to the fact that the child has gas and abdominal pain.
Also a contraindication can be considered the presence of diseases affecting the digestive organs - primarily the pancreas.
Everyone else should definitely get acquainted with this tasty and healthy dish.
Conclusion
On this article comes to an end. From it you learned how to cook broccoli puree for babies. And also about the benefits that this simple dish can bring.