Carrot Puree Is Baby Food That Grownups Should Love Too
I’ve always been slightly weirded out by some of the flavor combinations in commercial baby food. Pureed chicken noodle soup or beef stew just isn’t very appealing to me, so I decided to make my daughter’s first solid foods from scratch and stick to just fruits and vegetables. Along the way, I’ve now embraced carrot puree as a baby food that should be enjoyed by adults too!
My daughter’s always loved carrot puree — she’ll clap her hands and scrape every last bit out of her bowl, but I never thought about why until I absentmindedly tasted it one day myself: yum!
I immediately proceeded to scoop some out into a bowl for myself, added a touch of butter and salt, and dug in. Much more flavorful than mashed potatoes, and healthy to boot! Now I’ve embraced it as an acceptable dinner side dish and always make extra portions to keep around.
How to Make Carrot Puree
Carrot puree is so easy to make: peel and cut carrots into evenly-sized pieces and simmer in just enough water to cover the carrots until they’re fork tender. Transfer to a blender, add a ladleful of the sweet carrot cooking water, and blend until smooth.
Other Things to Love About Carrot Puree
Besides being delicious, carrot puree also has a lot more going for it. Organic carrots are inexpensive and easy to find, and the puree freezes beautifully. And since I only like to eat carrot sticks if they’re dipped in ranch dressing, carrot puree is a tasty way to help me get in a good dose of my daily vegetable needs.
Carrot puree is versatile — I’ve been meaning to toss some of the puree with hot pasta and Parmesan cheese, but we never seem to have enough left over for me to do so. A pinch or so of an interesting spice like Chinese 5-spice or smoky ancho chile powder when blending the carrots would also be some fun additions to try.
I’ve even contemplated kicking out mashed potatoes from the Thanksgiving table and replacing it with carrot puree, but I’m not sure how well this would fly with the rest of the family. My daughter and I would be hand-clapping advocates for this change though!