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Get Your Baby to Eat Vegetables
Cooking Bell Peppers for Your Baby
by Christine Albury
Description: Tips for introducing bell peppers to your baby's daily diet.
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Bell peppers make a tasty addition to your baby's diet and -- despite
their misleading name -- they are not "hot"! They can be found in a
variety of colours, including red, green, yellow, orange and purple. Their
bright colours are a good indication of their excellent nutritional
value -- bell peppers are a rich source of vitamin C, vitamin B6 and
vitamin A (from beta-carotene). They also contain folic acid.
Red peppers in particular contain lycopene, a valuable carotenoid
which, in adulthood, helps protect against heart disease and cancer. Bell
peppers are also believed to protect against such conditions as
rheumatoid arthiritis and the development of cataracts in later life.
With such an impressive list of health benefits, it's clearly a good
idea to encourage your little one to enjoy bell peppers from an early age
-- thereby establishing a healthy start that should continue into
adulthood.
When you are buying bell peppers to cook for your baby, look for ones
that are deeply and brightly coloured, with taut skin free from
blemishes. Check the stems, which should appear fresh and green. Some bell
peppers can be very oddly shaped, but this does not reflect on their taste
or quality. Many babies prefer red, yellow or orange peppers to green
ones, as they are sweeter.
Bell Pepper Baby Food Ideas
You can include bell peppers in your recipes for babies from 6 months
of age. Make sure that you introduce bell peppers to your baby alone at
first, or with another food he is already safely enjoying. This is to
help you identify and prevent potential food allergies or digestive
problems.
- Cut sweet red pepper into slices and serve as a finger food to
an older baby, accompanied by a cream cheese dip.
- Stir chopped bell peppers into your baby's favourite casserole or
stew.
- To create a truly delicious red pepper puree for your baby, place a
whole pepper under a hot grill/broiler. Blacken the skin on all sides,
then place the pepper into a sandwich bag. Leave for 10 mins. On your
return, the skin will slip easily from the pepper. Remove the seeds and
puree.
- You can mix red pepper puree with other foods -- try combining it
in a blender with sauteed onion and courgette (zucchini). This will
produce a tasty soup that you can serve to your baby either hot or cold. Or
use the puree as a tasty spread on lightly toasted bagels.
- Try serving your baby a stuffed bell pepper -- simply blanch a
de-seeded pepper in boiling water for a few minutes, then drain and stuff
it with your choice of any of the following:
- cooked rice
- a little sauteed onion and garlic
- chopped mushroom
- chopped cherry tomatoes
- a little oregano.
Bake at 350 deg F for 30 mins, for a simple and delicious meal for
your baby.
Christine Albury is a mother of four and the author of Homemade Baby
Food Recipes, your complete guide to solid feeding during baby's
first year. For more recipes using peppers, visit Preparing Bell Peppers For Baby.
