No me llames LENTEJAS!

One of the first "real" solid foods that Victor ate (after the rice cereal, veggie and fruit purees, etc) were lentils.  It was inevitable--my husband LOVES lentils (one of the comfort foods of Spain), and my son cries when he sees someone eating something he is not.  

Seriously, lentils are a fantastic food for babies:

• super easy and fairly quick to make
• you can make a huge batch and it freezes well
• very inexpensive
• rich in fiber, iron, protein
• lend themselves to adding other veggies (carrots, garlic, leeks, etc) as well as yogurt
• no need to puree as the lentils cook down to be very soft
• pretty portable (OK, I'll admit that maybe this is an anomaly as my son likes cold lentils)

I've been pretty surprised as to the amount of questions I have received about making and feeding our babies and toddlers lentils.  Since I have received a number of requests for a recipe, I thought I would share our "base" recipe here:

Ingredients:

1 package dried lentils

1 onion or leek (optional)

several cloves of garlic

3 or 4 chopped carrots

1 cube of chicken broth

any other veggies you want to add

any meat you want to add (we sometimes add chorizo, ham, bacon, or even chopped hot dogs)

Preparation:

In a big pot, bring about 6 cups of water to a boil.  Add chicken brothe and lentils.

At the same time, sautee your onion/leek and garlic.  Add meat (chopped) into pan until lightly cooked.  Add to lentil pot.

Let mixture simmer for a couple of hours (or if you have a pressure cooker like we do, 15 min) until lentils are soft.

Let cool a bit and puree (optional) to desired texture.

Que aproveche!