Beets are a great way to get some different colors and nutrients into your children’s diet. Beets are very nutritious, and a great source of energy, packed with a variety of vitamins and minerals.
Preparing beets as homemade baby food is very easy.
~ Peel and rinse the beets, then cut into slices. If your beets come with the tops still on (the greens), you can save those as well. The leaves make a great stir-fry (or can be boiled), and are also packed with nutrients.
~ Once the beets are sliced, steam until tender, but you can also boil them.
~ After cooking the beets, simply puree them in a blender, along with whatever else you want to add. You can add a little water or juice if you need a thinner consistency, but you may want to keep the beets as thick as possible so as they are the less messy especially for toddlers who are learning to self-feed.
~ Leftovers can be frozen in portions, and reheat easily.
Be creative! You can really mix beets with a variety of other fruits or veggies, such as bananas or carrots.
I like to mix beets with oranges and turnips, and other fruit juices. Another idea is to use turnips, which cook like beets, and add even more variety. Additionally, turnips will lighten your beet mix (which I have found useful in helping to identify beets from other frozen baby foods).
Beets stain very easily, which is something to consider especially with messy toddlers (like when my 20 month old who refused to let me help feed her). Beets are generally pretty sweet, so the fruit juice is not a necessary addition if you need to make the beets a little thicker and less likely to drip. Be sure to have your little one wear a bib, and cloth diapering moms may also want to be careful about stains as well.
