Perfect Baby Food, Pasta Sauce & Health
Course: DinnerCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: Easy6
servings45
minutes40
minutesWhen my children were babies, I knew I wanted to make their baby food. I wanted to and enjoyed steaming, baking, roasting vegetables. I loved putting together interesting flavor profiles for them, using fresh produce, fresh herbs and making interesting foods so they wouldn’t be picky. I have never had picky eaters. My kids eat really well and pretty much anything. I came up with this about 16 years ago. I had leftover ratatouille and thought to myself, “How can I get my kids to eat this? ” I then had an aging sweet potato that I baked and when it was super soft, I pureed it with the ratatouille to make a sauce. But when they were about 9 months old, I would keep it rather thick so t was just like a meal and might mix it in with their rice cereal. As they grew up, I would use that concoction as a pasta sauce, in meatloaf, and in other ways as I felt they were getting so many good nutrients. Sweet potatoes/Yams are so healthy for all of us especially for our Gut’s. This was always a favorite. It was so good, that a friend took my recipe and ran with it and sold it commercially.
Ingredients
Olive Oil
2 onions, chopped
2 eggplants, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 zucchini, cut into 1 inch rounds and cut in half
2 bell peppers, seeded and diced
1 lg can whole tomatoes
1 lg can diced tomatoes, some of the liquid drained
3 sprigs thyme, 1 sprig rosemary and 1 bay leaf
Salt and Fresh ground pepper
2 baked Yams/Sweet Potatoes
Directions
- In a large pan, warm 2 Tablespoons olive oil, add the onions, and saute until golden about 5-8 minutes and place them in the bottom of a Dutch oven.
- Place the pan back over medium heat, and heat 2 Tablespoons oil, saute the eggplant until golden in color about 8-10 minutes. Pour the eggplant in the Dutch oven.
- Repeat the same with the zucchini. Repeat the same with the peppers.
- Now heat the Dutch oven over medium high heat and add the garlic, both cans of tomatoes and the sprigs of herbs. Mix everything together and using the back of the spoon slightly smoosh the whole tomatoes against the pot.
- Preheat oven to 425. Let cook until everything is bubbling. Reduce heat to medium low and mix well. Let cook for 25-30 minutes until tomatoes break down and everything is hot.
- Once everything is soft. Cover and let sit off the heat for an hour.
- While the ratatouille, cools, using the tins of a fork pierce the yams all over. Rub yams with olive oil and place in preheated oven for 1 hour. When they are soft, remove and allow to cool.
- Using a food processor or a vitamix, puree the yams with the ratatouille to the correct consistency and taste you like. For new eaters, I would make this more pureed but as they get older you can make it thicker. Also make it thicker if using in meatloaves. It makes a wonderful pasta sauce or pasta filling.
