baby led weaning – Copycat nurture life alfredo mini pasta
If you are looking for an easy baby led weaning dish, look no further! In less than 30 minutes, I created a copycat Nurture Life recipe for a 15th of the cost!
Most parents who have looked up baby led weaning online have found an advertisement for Nurture Life’s easy finger foods meal plan, but the price point is $5.99 per container. I love how easy they are, but let’s face it…that’s expensive for a meal that your baby may place primarily in their bib.
One of Nurture Life’s best sellers is their Alfredo Mini Pasta with Meatballs and Broccoli. I created my own take on this with a few simple ingredients.
quick & baby led weaning friendly
Nurture Life uses a lot of the same ingredients across their meals so this includes ingredients that I also use in my Spaghetti and Mini Noodle copycat recipes. See these posts here.
I was able to spend under $5.50 to create 14 meals! and I used the extra ingredients to create two additional batches of other baby led weaning recipes so that my baby can have some variety in the meals he eats.
A few changes in my recipe vs the original are: 1) Opted for chicken chunks instead of turkey meatballs. I already had the chicken on hand from prior recipes. 2) I used whole milk instead of heavy cream in my sauce. 3) I used an Italian cheese blend since I saw the ingredients had parmesan and pecorino.
Overall, it’s about the same nutritional makeup with the exception of veggies hidden in the meat. My baby loves broccoli so I just added a little extra to make up for it.
How to
I purchased whole milk, Italian cheese, Ditalini pasta, unsalted butter, steamable organic broccoli and grilled all natural chicken patties. The ingredients were about $30, but as I mentioned earlier, I have two additional recipes that are baby led weaning friendly you can make to stretch these ingredients. Find copycat Spaghetti and Pasta with Chicken here.
I only used $5.28 of the ingredients for this dish.
- Start a medium pot of water about half full on high on the stove to bring it to a boil for the pasta.
- As the water boils, cook 2 chicken patties and steam the broccoli using the microwave instructions then place both in the fridge to cool in bowls.
- Once the pasta comes up to a boil, place 1/3 of the box of pasta in the boiling water and turn down the water to medium high. The noodles cook for 11 minutes so that they are extra soft and baby friendly.
- While the pasta cooks, cut up the chicken and broccoli into finger bite sized pieces.
- After the pasta finishes cooking, strain the water out and do a cold water rinse on the pasta. Even though I wouldn’t normally recommend this, I didn’t want the pasta to continue to cook and it needed to be cold for placing in containers.
- Next, start the sauce. Place 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter in the pot used to boil the pasta and put the burner on low. Once the butter melts, sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of flour on the butter, about a teaspoon of garlic, and a sprinkle of onion powder. This should be a thick paste.
- Once you have a thick paste, slowly whisk in 1 cup of milk. Increased the heat to low/medium and let this come to a boil.
- Once the sauce comes to a boil, turn off the heat and put 1/4 cup of Italian cheese into the sauce. Stir to incorporate the cheese. If the sauce seems too thick, feel free to add a little more milk.
- Get whatever containers that you have on hand that are freezer friendly. Put the chicken on the bottom and sprinkle some cheese on top. Add the noodles and sprinkle some cheese on top. Then top with broccoli.
- 2-4 tbsp flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup Italian style shredded cheese
- 1/3 box Ditalini Barilla pasta
- 2 Don Farms grilled chicken patties
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/3 bag of organic steamable broccoli florets
- Onion and garlic powder, just a sprinkle
14 meals in 30 minutes!
These last about 3 days in the fridge and up to a month in the freezer!
I was able to fill 14 containers (the bowl is 2 containers) in 30 minutes under $5.50! That’s over a 90% savings compared to Nurture Life!
Copycat Nurture Life Alfredo Mini Pasta – Baby Led Weaning
Equipment
- 1 Medium Pot
Ingredients
- 2-4 tbsp Flour
- 1 cup Whole Milk
- 1/2 cup Italian Style Shredded Cheese
- 1/3 box Ditalini Pasta
- 2 patties Don Farms All Natural Grilled Chicken Patties Or other natural chicken
- 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1/3 bag Organic Steamable Broccoli Florets
- To Taste Garlic & Onion Powder
Instructions
- Start a medium pot of water about half full on high on the stove to bring it to a boil for the pasta.
- As the water boils, cook 2 chicken patties and steam the broccoli using the microwave instructions then place both in the fridge to cool in bowls.
- Once the pasta comes up to a boil, place 1/3 of the box of pasta in the boiling water and turn down the water to medium high. The noodles cook for 11 minutes so that they are extra soft and baby friendly.
- While the pasta cooks, cut up the chicken and broccoli into finger bite sized pieces.
- After the pasta finishes cooking, strain the water out and do a cold water rinse on the pasta. Even though I wouldn't normally recommend this, I didn't want the pasta to continue to cook and it needed to be cold for placing in containers.
- Next, start the sauce. Place 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter in the pot used to boil the pasta and put the burner on low. Once the butter melts, sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of flour on the butter, about a teaspoon of garlic, and a sprinkle of onion powder. This should be a thick paste.
- Once you have a thick paste, slowly whisk in 1 cup of milk. Increased the heat to low/medium and let this come to a boil.
- Once the sauce comes to a boil, turn off the heat and put 1/4 cup of Italian cheese into the sauce. Stir to incorporate the cheese. If the sauce seems too thick, feel free to add a little more milk.
- Get whatever containers that you have on hand that are freezer friendly. Put the chicken on the bottom and sprinkle some cheese on top. Add the noodles and sprinkle some cheese on top. Then top with broccoli.