pesto in baby food pesto with babyWould you like your little one to be a future gourmand?   Why not whip up some homemade pesto to stir into her sweet peas?  Don’t worry about it being overly spicy, nutty or cheesy.  You can limit or omit ingredients and still create a delicious green paste to mix into your baby’s food and your pasta.

Here’s a simple recipe from The Joy of Cooking.  We’ve tried it and found it to be quite delicious.

Load the following into a food processor or blender:

  • 2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
  • 1/3 cup pine nuts (skip for babies less than one year old if worried about allergies)
  • 2 medium cloves garlic, peeled or 1 Tbsp. minced jarred garlic
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (skip if your baby is younger than eight months old)

Slowly add

  • ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil (add more if sauce seems too thick)
  • If you’d like, season with salt and black pepper.

You can store this sauce for up to a week in the fridge.  If you’re loaded with basil but don’t know what to do with it all, you can make this recipe to your taste and freeze it in ice cube trays.  Then dump it in zip lock bags and mix in the other ingredients when you’re ready to eat pesto all winter long!  Enjoy!