Adventures in baby food making: Pasta with hidden veggies

You've probably been wondering, "Did Emily quit feeding Cohen?" "Why haven't I seen a post about making his baby food in a while??"

Well, I have been making his baby food, but it got pretty basic for a while, what with traveling, working a little extra, Halloween, etc. And I didn't want to bore you with those details. Basic as in, peach & mango puree, sweet potato/carrot/butternut squash puree, grilled chicken breast, scrambled eggs and our go-to, oatmeal with bananas. You didn't need to see those, right?

But, yesterday, I made him Pasta with hidden vegetables. This was pretty involved, I might as well have made us some with some salt in it. ;)

ingredients:
2 T EVOO
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 small carrots, peeled and chopped
1 medium zucchini, trimmed and chopped
3/4 cup wiped and chopped button mushrooms
3 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped
1 T unsalted butter
(1) 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1/4 t brown sugar
1 T torn fresh basil leaves
freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces of pasta shapes
3 to 4 T mascarpone cheese (optional)


Heat oil in saucepan, add onion and garlic, saute for 3 minutes. Add carrots and saute 4-5 minutes. Add zucchini and saute 2 minutes, followed by mushrooms for another 2 minutes. 


Add the fresh tomatoes and the butter and saute for 2 minutes. Pour in the can of tomatoes and half of the juice. Finally add the stock, sugar and basil, and season with pepper to taste. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, then blend to a puree.


Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package instructions until tender. (Don't add salt.) Toss the cooked pasta with the veggie puree and mascarpone (if using).


So, there's the instructions. I doubled this entire recipe because it said this would make 4 servings. Well, they lied. I doubled it and got 40 - 1 oz portions, or 20 Cohen sized portions. So, yea, my freezer is packed.

Let's see. I substituted leeks for onions. I used star shaped pasta. I used on-the-vine tomatoes instead of plum tomatoes. I did use the mascarpone cheese.

[I do not personally eat mushrooms.]

Saute leeks and garlic.

Add carrots.

Add zucchini.

Add mushrooms.

Add everything else. 

Add the pureed veggie mixture to the pasta stars (already cooked).

Stir together and add the mascarpone cheese. 

Mmmm first bite!!

Pretty sure he likes this one!

Reaching for more! 

Well, I'm glad he likes it, since we have a months worth of it. ;)