“First Stew” Lentil Baby Food Recipe

Last weekend I made a delicious first stew for little Del. The recipe is just perfect for introducing more protein and a few ingredients that will help get him ready to share in grownup foods. Not to mention it was super tasty!

This “stew” is a combination of lentil and millet and is adapted from Boost Your Child’s Immune System: A Program and Recipes for Raising Strong, Healthy Kids (aff) by Lucy Burney. I chose red lentils specifically as their high protein and iron content make them an excellent addition to baby’s diet!

Lentil-Millet-Carrot Stew Recipe for Babies

2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 small organic onion, chopped *
1 medium organic carrot, chopped *
2 Tablespoons red lentils
1 Tablespoon millet
1-1/2 cups water

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil and add onions and carrots. Saute for about 2-3 minutes until onions are softened. Add lentils and millet and mix to coat with the oil. Add water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

This recipe makes about 14-16 ounces of food. Once cooked, simply wait for it to cool, blend in a blender, and freeze in portions according to your preferred method.

If your baby is a little older and you’re introducing textures, set a bit of the mixture to the side before blending and then add it back to the mix after blending the rest to a puree. If you choose this method, make sure that all the carrots are blended down or diced small enough to prevent choking, of course!

* We actually use organic lentils and millet in this recipe as well, but to be cost effective what is truly essential is the use of organic onions and carrots. As these are root vegetables that retain a good deal of water, they are more vulnerable to pesticide content when not grown organically. Organic carrots also reduce risk of nitrate content. In our family, we use only organic onions, celery, potatoes and carrots.

Family Lentil Stew

As I mentioned, this stuff is definitely yum. We try always to taste baby’s food as we feed it to him, and I found myself sneaking in extra spoonfuls. Maybe those organic ingredients were just too tasty!

Not surprising, then, that the original recipe was designed to adapt to the entire family. I simplified the recipe as a quick way to introduce onions and olive oil to Little D without overwhelming him with too many ingredients at once that he might be sensitive to, but with some additions you can make something more complex, triple the recipe and just blend up a bit of it for baby. It cooks up super soft for older babies too.

Lucy Burney’s recipe was a more complete meal, with a variety of healthy immune-boosting ingredients included. These include a few shitake mushrooms, a zucchini, celery and garlic in place of the onion, and a bit of split pea substituted for some of the lentils. Try it yourself, or check out her recipe in Boost Your Child’s Immune System (aff). Her book contains immune-boosting recipes from babyhood up to the teen years, even a liver pate recipe for pregnant and nursing moms that I thought was delish.

I can’t help repeating the suggestion to taste your baby’s foods before you serve them. It’s amazing the taste difference between even the bottled organic foods and the same foods steamed and prepared at home. Tasting the difference makes all the work seem worthwhile!

Happy blending!

Mama Hope

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