- Lil Hadley looks forward to eating SWEET POTATOES!
I LoVe two Sweeties! One was born February 4, 2011, and the other has been charming my tummy and nourishing my family for 30 years or more! My SwEeT Hadley will someday meet Mr. SwEeT PoTaTo; my loves will converge!
One of the first foods I fed my babies was a creamy delicious unaltered sweet potato puree! Making the nutritious puree was so easy; all I did was cook the sweet potatoes, blend, and serve. That was 32 years ago! Today, I will encourage my daughter, Shiloh, to start my grandbaby, Hadley, on sweet potato puree soon after the little bundle of love turns 4 months. The nutrients in sweet potatoes will help contribute to Hadley’s vision and also aid in her having beautiful healthy skin. The puree is highly palatable and due to the fiber content in sweet potatoes Hadley’s digestive tract will be aided meaning healthy “poops”! Teehee ~ that’s what mom’s talk about! They also talk about healthy foods for their lil’ ones.
Nutrition Action Health Letter rated 58 vegetables for 6 nutrients (Vitamins A and C, folate, iron, copper, and calcium), plus fiber. Sweet Potatoes topped the list earning 100 points more than it’s competitor, the carrot. Sweet potatoes are high beta-carotene as well as potassium. Sweet potatoes are great sources of magnesium, potassium, manganese, vitamin E and B vitamins, particularly niacin (B3) and B6. You have probably heard, sweet potatoes are loaded with carotenoids, the antioxidant that protects against free radical damage, and is referred to as an anti-cancer food. It’s no wonder I felt WonDerFuL about serving sweet potatoes to my daughter and someday to my first granddaughter! (That will be soooo fun!)
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SWEET POTATO QUIPS FOR YoUnG MoMMies!
- Yams and Sweet Potatoes in the United States generally are the same ThInG! The tuber just has LoTs of varieties and your local grocer tags them differently. However, a true yam comes from Africa or Asia and is brownish black and you will rarely see it here in the states!
- When you are selecting sweet potatoes for your luvbugs select those that are unbruised and without brown or soft spots.
- Choose sweet potatoes with the brightest colors to guarantee the greatest amount of vitamins. You know, the garnet “yams” with bright orange inners versus the pale tan “sweet potato” with creamy white on the inside?
- Store sweet potatoes in a dark dry area not in the refrigerator. Sweet potatoes will store for about 2 weeks. DO NOT refrigerate sweet potatoes.
- After you cook sweet potatoes, place them in a blender, add a touch of water and whirl away. Store the puree covered in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. Freeze sweet potato puree in ice cube trays covered in the freezer. For your two year old, add fresh orange juice to your sweet potatoes puree and freeze in popsicle cups. They will love the healthy treat ~ and so will you!
- Start you baby on sweet potato puree soon after their 4-month birthday OR when your doctor has approved it!
- When you begin making your purees don’t mix the sweet potatoes with anything. After two weeks you can begin trying different concoctions! Some of my babies favorite combinations with sweet potatoes were: baby cereal, rice, banana, and peaches, along with cooked lentils, peas, summer and butternut squash. Once meat has been approved for your baby’s diet puree chicken and mix with sweet potatoes.
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HOW TO GET A PICKY EATER TO MUNCH ON SWEET POTATOES!
NOW feeding a baby sweet potatoes is breezy easy! HOWEVER, I’ve been asked how to get fussy 3-5 year olds to munch down the vitamin packed trendy tuber. “My Johnny eats 2 sweet potatoes a day, what does Whinny eat?” HERE are some quick tricks to get a picky eater to LoVe the #1 food of 2011: SWEET POTATOES!
Click HERE for additional Sweet Potato Fun Stuff for Kids!
- ALWAYS MAKE FOOD FUN! If your child can you help make the dish they will probably love “the food”. The kebob recipe below is PeRFeCt! HAVE your child make a silly name for the dish! OR have your child mix the batter for sweet potato pancakes ~ be sure to make happy face pancakes with sweet potato hair!
Add 1-cup grated cooked sweet potatoes to whole grain pancake batter.
- FAMILIAR IS SAFE! Introduce sweet potatoes to a young child by mixing them with something the child already LoVes. The fruit salad is PeRFect! OR mix mashed sweet potatoes with mashed potatoes! Sweet Potato Muffins are a great place to start!
Sweet Potatoes absorb the juice from yellow honeydew ~ great combo!
- MAKE SMALL PORTIONS! Incorporate sweet potatoes into something they can eat with their hands. Finger foods are always KID-FRIENDLY! Check my post on Sweet Potato Basket Egg Muffs! OR bake sweet potato fries ~they always win a child’s tummy.
SWEET POTATO BASKET EGG MUFFS!
(CLICK THIS LINK TO MY OTHER SWEET BLOG FOR THE RECIPE!)
FEEL FREE to add turkey sausage to the MUFFS ~ your kids will LoVe them!
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The Sweet Potato Basket Egg Muffs would great with my
SWEET POTATO FRUIT SALAD MELON BOWL with APPLE YOGURT TOPPING
SWEET POTATO FRUIT SALAD MELON BOWL with APPLE YOGURT TOPPING
Ingredients:
2 (7-inch) sweet potatoes
1 yellow honeydew melon
2 oranges cut in bite size pieces
2 cups fresh pineapple bite size pieces
1/2 cup raisins
1 banana sliced
1 cup plain 0% or 2% Fat Greek Yogurt
3 tablespoons (100% juice) frozen apple juice concentrate, thaw
DIRECTIONS:
Peel 2 sweet potatoes and cut crosswise in 1-inch slices; cook in boiling water until tender about 15-20 minutes. Cool and cut sweet potatoes in bite size pieces. TIP: A young child can safely cut a cooled cooked sweet potato and the banana with a dull butter knife. Momma needs to cut the pineapple! Child can try to press the melon baller into the melon to scoop melon balls. Let your child try to peel the orange by hand after you have started to peel it.
Cut honeydew melon lengthwise on cutting board with a sharp knife. Remove melon seeds with a large spoon and discard.
Make melon balls from both sides of melon by pressing a melon baller into the melon’s flesh and rotating.
Scrape out remainder of flesh with a grapefruit spoon or large spoon.
Pour juice and flesh bits into a mesh strainer; reserve melon juices.
Place melon juice in a small saucepan and boil on medium- high for about 5 minutes or until reduced by half.
Pour into a cup or bowl and refrigerate to cool.
The concentrated juice will be poured over the fruit salad. The concentrate was YuMmY!
Feel free to mix your families favorite fruit into this salad!
Mix together sweet potatoes, melon balls, oranges, pineapple pieces, raisins and banana slices. Lightly toss fruit with cooled melon concentrate in a large salad bowl or place directly in melon bowl and pour melon concentrate over the fruit salad.
Mix yogurt and apple juice concentrate together in a small bowl.
Dollop fruit salad with apple yogurt.
Yields: 2 melon bowls feeding about 8 people!
If you have 4 in your family ~ simply reduce ingredients in half and make only one melon bowl!
WASN’T THAT A FUN & FLAVORFUL KID-FRIENDLY RECIPE??!!
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Here is another FUN & FLAVORFUL KIDDIE idea:
SWEET POTATO FRUIT KEBOBS on CELERY SKEWERS with APPLE YOGURT DIP!
Kids love anything that has a DiP!
I created an edible skewer ~ very thin celery sticks because I get a little nervous with bamboo skewers and children under six. This is tooooo much FuN ~ don’t tell anyone but I am serving celery skewer kebobs at my next AduLT party!
SWEET POTATO FRUIT KEBOBS on CELERY SKEWERS with APPLE YOGURT DIP!
Ingredients for 8 Kebobs:
1 celery stick
8 honeydew melon balls
16 large fresh blueberries
8 large bite size fresh pineapple pieces
8 large bite size pieces of sweet potato, cooked and cooled
8 slices of banana (if desired)
1/2 cup 0% Fat Greek Yogurt
1 tablespoon (100% juice) frozen apple juice concentrate, thaw
Directions:
Remove foliage from celery stick. Cut celery stick crosswise in half. Cut each half lengthwise in 4 long strips.
Poke a hole with a skewer in the center of all of the melon balls, blueberries, pineapple pieces, sweet potatoes, and bananas.
Thread thin celery skewer through fruit holes.
Mix yogurt with apple juice concentrate and serve!
Yields: 8 mini fruit kebobs.
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I hope I’ve inspired you by showing you how to make KID-FRIENDLY sweet potato dishes! Please check out my other blogs on sweet potatoes! You will find some interesting facts, nutrition information and recipes with GroWnUp flair!
FOR ADDITIONAL SWEET POTATO RECIPES check out North Carolina Sweet Potatoes!
WELL Sweeties ~ until next time MERRY COOKING!
Merry, I absolutely love sweet potatoes, and all of your recipes are fablulous!
I especially loved the basket egg muffs, but they all look terrific (even the puree)! Delicious ways to enjoy such a healthy tater! :) Thank you! xoxo
Lorraine
Thanks Lorraine ~ I want to make the sweet potato basket egg muffs for Easter they were really cute. That was the first time I made them so I want to play with some more possibilities with the idea! Merry cooking to you too!