Hummingbird Hilltop Homestead

It’s Officially Fall!

Fall is finally here and that means cozy, warm, and comforting recipes are coming your way. It also means it is the season for root vegetables to be in the spotlight. This festively orange, picky eater approved, nutritious toddler carrot pasta is also fun to eat. It is perfect for the fall season and all year round. This pasta packs a punch with sneaky veggies and protein in a tasty and easy to eat way that toddlers will love.

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Struggling to figure out what to feed your picky toddler?

If you have a little one you may have found that finding foods that they like and will actually eat is a tricky thing. Cleaning up mashed food, thrown around and landing every where (except for in their mouth) can be frustrating. It is especially hard when you worry about your child receiving the proper nutrition they need to grow healthy and strong. Let’s face it, despite our best efforts sometimes our kids just don’t want healthy food. They want the food we often crave – comfort food! Who doesn’t love a bowl of yummy pasta? But what if you could combine the tasty and comforting pasta with a sneaky vegetable and protein? That’s exactly what this recipe is!

How This Recipe Came About

Honestly, my daughter on a whole is a pretty good eater. We have been blessed with a child who likes a lot of varieties of foods. She even likes some spicy foods! From the beginning we have tried to encourage her to try all sorts of foods. We are completely okay if she does not like them as long as she tries them. I don’t like all foods either.

The problems I ran into with my daughter and meals came down to two things. The first issue was that my husband and I would have a hankering for a food that wasn’t so toddler friendly. For instance, a salad is hard for a toddler to eat, or crunchy tacos, or something really really spicy. The second issue was serving something for dinner that she either ended up struggling to eat for whatever reason or just didn’t like it.

I found myself frequently scrambling to quickly make her a palatable dinner more often than I would have preferred while mine and my husband’s food got cold on the table. It was not my favorite thing to do to give my daughter something fast and simple like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich especially multiple times a week. I kept feeling like she just was not getting the proper nutrition or variety in her diet like she needed. This led me to wanting to create a delicious recipe that appealed on all levels to a toddler and this carrot pasta was created.

Why This Recipe Works For Toddlers

You may be wondering how this is the perfect meal for a toddler. I wanted to make sure that this recipe was not only delicious, and fun to eat, but that it looked good to a child, and was packed with healthy ingredients with ideal nutrition. In other words I wanted a lot of bang for my buck in this simple recipe.

Children need nutrients from veggies and every meal should contain a protein for their growing little bodies. Carrots are packed with vitamins and minerals plus they have a subtly sweet flavor which when served in an easy to eat way can really appeal to children. A lot of kiddos don’t love to eat meat and it can be hard to chew, so to make sure this meal has a good amount of protein I use chicken broth as a base for this recipe. I do my best to find tiny pasta noodles which makes the pasta fun and easy to eat and safe from choking.

Freezer Friendly

This recipe makes a ton of pasta! This is perfect when it comes to meal prepping for your toddler. One busy day in the kitchen but weeks, even months, of food for your kiddo. Because the recipe makes so much food, I recommend freezing the pasta as it freezes and reheats easily. I prefer freezing the pasta in a tray with appropriate serving measurements for your child.

These are my favorite freezer trays to use. I use the 3 oz size for my toddler, but when she was a baby and I was making purees for her I used the 1 oz size trays. If you avoid silicone or want to freeze in a dish you can reheat in too I recommend these from the same company as the freezer trays.

Personally, what I like to do is freeze the food in the freezer trays and reheat them in the glass jars. Since the glass jars are from the same brand as the freezer trays the portions fit perfectly.

Recipe

Here is the breakdown of the toddler carrot pasta. A fun and easy meal that is freezer-friendly, easy to reheat, and delicious to eat.

Ingredients Breakdown:

Veggies:

• Carrots: This is the obvious ingredient needed in carrot pasta. Relatively inexpensive, easy to prepare, delicious with subtly sweet notes, and smooth texture it’s the perfect toddler friendly vegetable. The carrots in this recipe are roasted and it gives them such an amazing flavor. This also makes them easy to blend as all the ingredients will be blended into a smooth sauce to be poured over the pasta.

• Minced Garlic: Another relatively healthy flavor booster is minced garlic. I have minced my own or have bought pre-minced from the store which makes life even easier. The garlic adds amazing flavor to the dish and because you will be blending all of the ingredients together you don’t have to worry about perfectly mincing the garlic or having an unlikeable texture (at least according to your toddler) in the meal.

• Yellow Onion: Another jam packed nutritious vegetable that once again adds fantastic flavor. It is easy to blend especially because you will be slightly softening it prior to blending so you only need to cut it into quarters keeping the chopping to a minimum.

Protein:

• Chicken Broth: I prefer using low-sodium chicken broth as I try and keep sodium levels low especially for my daughter. You will be using a good amount and more can be used to thin out the sauce to yours and your child’s liking.

Fun and Flavor:

• Pasta: I love finding fun and teeny tiny pasta noodles at the store. I have found alphabet letters, star shaped, or even mini versions of typical pastas like macaroni or penne. This is a great way to make the food fun and ultra appealing to your kiddo. If you are so inclined and want to boost the nutrition content even more you can find pastas that are high in protein or if your child has sensitivities to things like gluten find gluten-free options.

• Pepper: This recipe does not call for much pepper or any added salt; however, I wanted to make note that you can omit this completely or add pepper and even salt if it is yours and your child’s preferred taste. This ingredient is added per taste preference but I like the added flavor it provides. While you are free to add salt according to taste, I do not have it listed as an ingredient because I try to keep meals relatively low in sodium and personally do not find the recipe needs the added salt.

• Olive Oil: I prefer to use Extra Virgin Olive Oil as it is cleaner and purer than regular olive oil. Olive oil also provides a healthy fat only further bumping up the nutrition in this recipe for your child.

• Tomato Paste: Since this recipe only calls for two tablespoons of tomato paste, I use a tube or jar I can reseal and save for later. Look for tomato paste that does not contain added sugars or salt. Tomato paste contains several good nutrients and antioxidants that further boost the nutrition in this recipe while adding great flavor.

Happy Tummy – Happy Toddler

There you have it. An easy to make, nutritious, and fun to eat pasta that makes a ton so you always have something on hand for your growing toddler to eat. Serve it with a side of veggies and chicken for even more healthy variety, or serve with bread or crackers for a comforting homecooked meal. No matter how you serve it your toddler is sure to love it!

Be sure to check out my other toddler-friendly recipes here.

*Nutrition is an estimate