Baby led weaning – Copycat Nurture Life Spaghetti Bites with Meatballs & Broccoli
If your baby really likes food with tomato sauce and chicken, you might have seen Nurture Life’s Spaghetti Bites with Meatballs & Broccoli on their finger food menu. I tried making it at home using only 6 simple and cheap ingredients, and I made 12 portions for almost the same price as buying just 1 container from Nurture Life.
Stay tuned for two other copycat baby led weaning recipes that use the extras of 4 out of the 6 ingredients used here… Considering the amount of the ingredients that I used, I only spent $6.89 on the ingredients this recipe. Find
here and
here.
First, I steamed the broccoli and cooked 2 chicken patties. I used the instructions on the packaging. I chose to microwave both to save time. There are stovetop and oven methods as well. I then placed these in the fridge to cool off while I started on the other ingredients.
As I waited for the pasta water to boil, I worked on the sauce. I poured half of the Ragu into a separate container to use later for another recipe and poured half of the carrots and the whole container of butternut squash into the remaining sauce in the Ragu jar. If you read through the ingredients on the Nurture Life site, their spaghetti sauce has hidden veggies so I wanted to replicate this as best as I could using the veggies listed in their nutritional information. I simply shook the container to mix the sauce together.
Once the water boiled, I put 1/3 of the pasta into the water and let it cook for 11 minutes. I wanted the pasta on the softer side so that it is less of a choking hazard. As the pasta cooked, I took the chicken and broccoli out of the fridge and cut it into bite sized pieces that would be easy for a baby to pick up and eat.
Once the pasta was done cooking, I drained the pasta and threw it back in the pan with about 1/2 of the Ragu mixture that I had made. You’re welcome to use more or less pasta or sauce, but I found this was a good amount without making an entire freezer full of just spaghetti and the ratio of noodles, veggies and chicken was perfect. I froze the extra sauce so I can use it next time I want to pull out this recipe.
After everything was cooked, I let the pasta cool for a few minutes and assembled the containers. Use whatever containers you have! I used a combination of mason jars, old baby food containers, and Wee Sprout baby food containers (these are great for meals/snacks, but their washable marker isn’t very washable). If you are going to freeze the containers, keep in mind how airtight your containers are. The more airtight, the longer they will last in the freezer.
When filling the containers, I recommend pasta at the bottom, chicken then broccoli. It helps things not get too squished in the containers. When you pour them out, it makes it really easy to separate too if you have a more picky eater with baby led weaning.
I was able to get 12 4oz containers out of this recipe and had lots of ingredients to use on a couple other recipes and to give as snacks to my baby.
Visit my blog for those recipes.
Copycat Nurture Life Spaghetti Bites with Meatballs & Broccoli
Ingredients
- 1/3 Bag Organic Steamable Broccoli
- 1/2 Jar Ragu Simply Or other no added sugar pasta sauce
- 1/3 Box Barilla Ditalini Pasta
- 1/2 Jar Organic Carrot Baby Food
- 1 JAr Organic Butternut Squash Baby Food
- 2 Patties Don Farms Grilled Chicken Patties Or Purdue or Tyson Grilled Chicken Strips
Instructions
- Steam bag of broccoli using package instructions (I used the microwave instructions). Once steamed, place in fridge to cool.
- Cook chicken patties using the instructions on the packaging. (I used the microwave instructions). Once steamed, place in fridge to cool.
- Fill medium pot ½ full of water and bring to a boil on high heat.
- While waiting for the water to boil, pour half of the Ragu into a separate container (such as a mason jar) and pour the ½ jar of carrots and the whole container of butternut squash into the remaining sauce in the Ragu jar. Shake the Ragu container to mix sauce together.
- Once the water boils, put 1/3 of the box of pasta into the water and let it cook for 11 minutes.
- As the pasta cooks, cut the chicken and broccoli into bite sized pieces that would be easy for a baby to pick up and eat.
- Let the pasta cool for a few minutes then assemble the containers. Use whatever containers you have! If you are going to freeze the containers, keep in mind how airtight your containers are. The more airtight, the longer they will last in the freezer. When filling the containers, I recommend pasta at the bottom, chicken then broccoli. It helps things not get too squished in the containers.