As you know, human health largely depends on his diet. This statement can be attributed to children – so that they are sick as little as possible, their menu should be full and diverse. It is for this reason that the pediatricians insist on the introduction of complementary foods, as soon as the baby turns six months – at this age he can already begin to give dairy products, meat, fruit and vegetable puree. But in order for new dishes to bring only benefits to your baby, young parents need to know how to prepare vegetables for baby food correctly.
In order for the child to get the maximum of vitamins useful for his body, it is advisable to give vegetables raw vegetables. As you know, during heat treatment, all products, including vegetables, partially lose their benefits, which is undesirable. To prepare a children’s dish, vegetables before their culinary processing should first be thoroughly washed in running water, then pour boiling water, and after that cleaned.
If you need to boil vegetables for preparing a dish for your crumbs, then they can not be cleaned, because the peel also contains substances useful for the baby. You can cook vegetables in different ways – you can lower them into already boiling salted water, or pour them with boiling water. When cooking vegetables, you do not need to pour too much water – it should only cover vegetables, and not pour out of the pan. When the vegetables are cooked, do not rush to pour vegetable broth – you may need to dilute the cooked puree, or cook the first dish on it to the child.
Vegetables that are heated when heated can be stewed in your own juice. Such vegetables include, for example, pumpkin or zucchini. And they prepare them as follows – they put the vegetables in a pan, pour a small amount of water, cover with a lid and stewed over low heat until cooked.
There is another good option for cooking vegetables for children’s dishes – this is a couple of them. Of course, for this it is advisable to purchase a double boiler. If you don’t have it at hand, you can cook vegetables for a couple like this: place a colander on a pan with boiling water, in which put the vegetables and cover them with a lid.
Typically, children’s doctors recommend introducing carrot or potato puree into the baby’s diet as the first vegetable complementary foods. To prepare it, first it is necessary to boil the vegetables, and then grind in a blender or crushed so that there are no lumps in it. Then you need to add a little broth to it, on which vegetables were cooked, or boiled water so that it is not too dry. The cooked puree does not need to salt.
Any vegetable complementary foods must be introduced into the baby’s diet with carefully and with a small dose – after all, even on a potato dish, some children can have an allergic reaction. Also, with the introduction of complementary foods, it is necessary to monitor the baby’s chair – from carrot puree in some children it can become liquid. In this case, it is necessary to refuse the stool to normalize the stool.
For those children who can already chew themselves, they no longer need to grind vegetables in a blender – you can rub them on a coarse grater or cut them into cubes. For a growing body, salads from fresh vegetables are very useful, which it is recommended to prepare children not only in the summer. Serve them immediately after cooking and do not forget that it is recommended to refuel salads for children with vegetable oils. It can be vegetable, linen, corn or olive. It is also useful to offer the child his favorite vegetables in the form of a snack – even if he sometimes crunches, for example, by carrots or a fresh cucumber.