baby led weaning
Copycat Nurture Life Sausage & Peppers with Broccoli and Potatoes
Introducing your little one(s) to baby led weaning can be stressful and messy! I was looking for any ways that would make this process easier, especially when grandparents or babysitters are taking care of my baby. Working full time and trying to meal plan for the days that I am away from him can be a challenge.
Healthy baby lunch/dinner option
Nurture Life has jumped on the niche of creating meal plans shipped to your door for baby led weaning, which is excellent. The $5.99 per container price still is just too much for me. I loved the idea of the Sausage with Peppers dish on their menu. With just a few ingredients and about 30 minutes of my time, I was able to replicate this dish! $0.70 per container and I was able to reuse the ingredients in a scrambled eggs and roasted chicken copycat recipe!
Plus, if you make the eggs and chicken copycat recipes, you can make 21 baby led weaning meals in less than an hour!
I was able to spend under $6 to make 8 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 (listed above).
This recipe has very similar ingredients to the original. I opted for gold potatoes over Russet since I was already using them for another baby led weaning recipe. I also opted for chicken and apple sausages rather than pork. My baby loved the sweetness of the apple.
How to
I purchased broccoli florets, gold potatoes, a red bell pepper and Aidells Chicken and Apple sausages. The ingredients were about $15, 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 Nurture Life Scrambled Eggs and Roasted Chicken here.
I only used $5.60 on the ingredients used here.
- Take out two small or one medium sized potato and dice it into finger bite sized pieces. I cut the potato into rounds then did 3 cuts across to make strips and 3-4 cuts to make the strips into diced pieces.
- In a medium pot, fill it about half way with water and place your potatoes in the water on high heat. Let the potatoes cook in the boiling water. This took about 20 minutes for me. You want to check on them every 5 minutes until they are tender enough to put a fork through them. Once they are done, strain them and let them cool down.
- While the potatoes are cooking, start on the broccoli (or wait if you want to use the same pot). I wanted the organic steam in bag ones, but my store was out so I had to cook these old school. I placed about half of the bag (since I was going to use the remaining broccoli in other recipes) in a medium pot and put about 2 cups of water over the top. I turned it on medium high heat and covered the broccoli. This will cook around 10 minutes but I checked to see if they were soft every 5 minutes. When the broccoli is done, put it in a bowl and put in the fridge.
- Cut up half of your bell pepper into tiny dices. You’ll use about half for this recipe. Grab a frying pan and add some olive oil and turn it to medium heat. Add your peppers and cook until soft.
- Cut up the broccoli into bite sized pieces and slice the sausages. I did about 1/2 inch slices then cut the slices into 4 pieces to make them baby led weaning friendly.
- Grab whatever freezer friendly containers you have. I really like the small 4-6oz mason jars and the Wee Sprout baby food jars. Place the sausage on the bottom. Mix in some gold potatoes, add bell peppers then top with broccoli. I tried to make the containers about 4-5oz each with a little over an ounce of broccoli, sausage and potatoes.
This recipe takes a little more time than my other copycats, but most of the time is hands off waiting for things to boil. If you can find the broccoli in steamable microwave bags, I recommend this to save time!
Ingredients
- 6oz of broccoli florets (recommend the organic steam in bag kind)
- 2 medium organic gold potato
- 1/2 of a red bell pepper
- 2 Aidells Chicken and Apple Sausages (or whatever sausages you want to use)
8 healthy baby led weaning meals for under $6!
These last about 3 days in the fridge and up to a month in the freezer!
I was able to fill 8 containers under $5.60! That’s a huge discount compared to Nurture Life’s at $5.99 per container. Plus, by making a couple of other meals with the same ingredients, I was able to add some variety in my little one’s baby led weaning journey!
Copycat Nurture Life Sausage & Peppers with Broccoli and Potatoes – Baby Led Weaning
Equipment
- 1 Pot If you want to cook broccoli & potatoes at the same time on the stove, you'll need 2 pots.
- 1 Frying Pan Or you can reuse the pot
Ingredients
- 6 Ounces Broccoli Florets Recommend getting organic steam in the bag
- 2 Medium Organic Gold Potatoes
- 1/2 Red Bell Pepper Red are sweetest.
- 2 Aidells Chicken & Apple Sausages Or other preferred cooked sausages
Instructions
- Take out two small or one medium sized potato and dice it into finger bite sized pieces.
- In a medium pot, fill it about half way with water and place your potatoes in the water on high heat. Let the potatoes cook in the boiling water. This took about 20 minutes for me. You want to check on them every 5 minutes until they are tender enough to put a fork through them.
- When potatoes are fork-able, strain them and let them cool down.
- While the potatoes are cooking, start on the broccoli (or wait if you want to use the same pot). Put the broccoli in a medium pot and put about 2 cups of water over the top. I turned it on medium high heat and covered the broccoli. This will cook around 10 minutes but I checked to see if they were soft every 5 minutes.
- When the broccoli is done, put it in a bowl and put in the fridge.
- Cut up half of the bell pepper into tiny dices. Grab a frying pan (or use one of the pots) and add some olive oil and turn it to medium heat. Add your peppers and cook until soft.
- Cut up the broccoli into bite sized pieces and slice the sausages. Make sure the pieces are small enough to be finger food and not too large to be a choking hazard.
- Grab whatever freezer friendly containers you have. Place the sausage on the bottom. Mix in some gold potatoes, add bell peppers then top with broccoli. The containers will be about 4-5oz each with a little over an ounce of broccoli, sausage and potatoes.