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Rika

Creamy hidden veggie pasta your toddler will love!

Updated: Nov 12




Toddlers love pasta and generally frown upon veggies. This recipe incorporates two healthy and nutritious vegetables to assure your child is well nourished.


One of them is sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes not only taste nice and sweet (which most toddlers love), but they offer several health benefits. These include antioxidant, cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, antimicrobial, anti-obesity and prevention of vitamin A deficiency (Alam, 2021).


The other is carrots. Carrots provide your little one with carotenoids, flavonoids, polyacetylenes, vitamins and minerals which has several health benefits (Varshney and Mishra, 2022). Carrots are rich in vitamins A and C, mostly in the form of carotene.  Assuring your child gets enough vitamin A is important as vitamin A deficiency is one of the leading causes of death in children (Ikram et al., 2024). Additionally, carrots offer anti-diabetic, cholesterol and cardiac disease reducing, anti-hypertensive, hepatoprotective (protects the liver), renoprotective (reduces renal damage) and wound healing effects (Varshney and Mishra, 2022).   


This is how to prepare this healthy and delicious recipe for your child.


Ingredients

500g Gluten-free pasta (corn or chickpea)

500g Minced beef/lamb/pork or venison/chicken for a less fatty version

2 cloves garlic

1 x cup cooked and mashed sweet potato

2 x large finely grated carrots

1x cup grated Cheddar/Gouda cheese

1x cup tomato puree

1x cup full fat cream

½ cup apple cider vinegar

1x teaspoon garlic powder

1x teaspoon onion powder

1x teaspoon mixed herbs

1x tablespoon cornstarch

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Method

  • Peel, precook and mash your sweet potato or use leftovers. Sweet potato air fried with a bit of coconut oil or macadamia oil taste great!

  • Cook your pasta using package instructions.

  • Peel and cut your garlic finely and add to a saucepan with a bit of coconut/avocado/macadamia/olive oil.

  • Fry your garlic until fragrant.

  • Add minced meat and fry until brown.

  • While the meat is browning prepare your sauce by combining the cornstarch, spices, cream, tomato puree and vinegar.

  • Once your meat is browned add the sauce and let simmer until thick.

  • Then combine the pasta, meat, sweet potato, grated carrot and grated cheese in a pot and let simmer until heated through before serving.

 

 

References

Alam, M.K., 2021. A comprehensive review of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam): Revisiting the associated health benefits. Trends in Food Science & Technology115, pp.512-529.

Ikram, A., Rasheed, A., Ahmad Khan, A., Khan, R., Ahmad, M., Bashir, R. and Hassan Mohamed, M., 2024. Exploring the health benefits and utility of carrots and carrot pomace: a systematic review. International Journal of Food Properties27(1), pp.180-193.

Varshney, K. and Mishra, K., 2022. An analysis of health benefits of carrot. International Journal of Innovative Research in Engineering & Management9(1), pp.211-214.

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