The next time you’re cooking up rice for the family meal, why not leave out the salt, cook up a little extra and use it to create this tasty rice dish for your baby?
Suffused with the sweetness of red bell pepper and made eye-catchingly colourful by its rainbow of healthy ingredients, this dish provides…
- B vitamins, iron and fibre from the rice (if you use brown rice)*
- bone-building calcium from the meat and cheese
- vitamin A from the red pepper
- folate, vitamins and iron from the parsley
*We added a little turmeric to the water when cooking our rice, which gave it a lovely yellow hue!
One of the best things about this recipe is that it’s very easy to assemble and cook, and turns a simple ingredient like rice into something special.
Ideal for babies from around 8 months onwards coping well with texture, this recipe can be served as a side dish or main meal. You can also try adding strips of cooked meat or tofu for extra protein.
To Make Rainbow Rice for Baby You Will Need…
1 cup cooked rice (brown rice is the best option)
1/4 cup milk (you can use formula, breast milk or whole milk)
4 tbsp grated Cheddar cheese
2 tbsp finely chopped red bell pepper
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Preheat the oven to 350 deg F.
Grease a small ovenproof dish.
Stir together all the ingredients except the milk and place in the dish.
Pour in the milk, then place in the oven and cook for around 20 to 30 mins, until the cheese is golden and the pepper is tender.
Cool to a safe temperature and serve.
Rainbow Rice
This eye-catching rice dish for baby is packed with vitamins and suffused with the sweetness of red bell pepper.
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked rice (brown rice is the best option)
- 1/4 cup milk (you can use formula, breast milk or whole milk)
- 4 tbsp grated Cheddar cheese
- 2 tbsp finely chopped red bell pepper
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 deg F.
- Grease a small ovenproof dish.
- Stir together all the ingredients except the milk and place in the dish.
- Pour in the milk, then place in the oven and cook for around 20 to 30 mins, until the cheese is golden and the pepper is tender.
- Cool to a safe temperature and serve.
Notes
Try adding a little turmeric to the water when cooking your rice for a lovely yellow hue!
Barb Kelly Poposky
Friday 29th of March 2013
And from Jan. 14 to today --- little man has come leaps & bounds in his dislike of bits & pieces versus only thickened. Also eating greater variety of finger foods --- and he loved the Rainbow Rice :-D
Barb Poposky
Monday 14th of January 2013
Gavyn is fine with his purees being thickened with the ground cereal, but is unconvinced about little lumps & chunks of texture. He protested the texture I left in the veggies of his ham & beans last week, but was ok when I pureed it smoother & then thickened it Tonite he had cheese tortellini, well minced, in cheese sauce & sweet potatoes/zuchinni puree --- he loved the taste but had a few moments when he wanted to clean pasta bits off his tongue. He does great with the dry cereal puffs & cheerios & bits of cracker & dry toast. Doesn't like his fruit spread moist on the toast, that has to dry too (hours-old or day-old toast). He'll eat 2Tbsp. Of cottage cheese mixed in with his morning cereal & fruit; no more tho or he pitches a fit over the texture lumps. All that being said, this is a dish I want to fix for him in the near future. Hope springs eternal.