Almost all children love zucchini. This is a versatile vegetable with a neutral taste, so it can be used to prepare any category of dishes: soups, side dishes and even desserts. Zucchini extremely rarely can cause allergies, which is why many pediatricians recommend them as the first complementary food for children prone to dermatitis or other diseases of a similar nature.
What are the benefits of zucchini?
Zucchini is very well accepted by the still fragile digestive system of babies. One of the important advantages is that they contain a large amount of pectin, this is a special fiber of plant origin. It has a gentle effect on the intestines, enhancing its peristalsis. If your baby is prone to constipation, do not rush to buy pills for him - try adding zucchini puree or soup to his diet.
Pectin is a soluble fiber; unlike insoluble fiber, it acts gently, without irritating the esophagus and stomach. It also has other beneficial properties: it absorbs and removes toxic substances, including excess salt and cholesterol. Although zucchini gives a feeling of fullness, in fact, 100 g of the vegetable contains only 24 kcal, which means it is indicated for children who are prone to obesity.
The carbohydrates contained in zucchini are easily digestible, therefore, will not cause an increase in blood glucose levels - even diabetics can eat this vegetable. But that’s not all: the humble fruit contains ascorbic acid and vitamin E, a group of B vitamins and others. It also contains minerals: calcium and magnesium, which are so important for the functioning of the heart, iron, which has a positive effect on the composition of the blood, phosphorus, and magnesium. And although there are not as many of them as in some fruits, they are practically not destroyed during cooking - this is due to both the special structure of the cells and the short duration of thermal exposure.
You've probably come across different varieties of zucchini in stores. The juiciest ones are light green, with thin skin. Less watery are zucchini, which have a particularly sweet taste. Yellow zucchini also has a pleasant taste. In terms of nutritional value, all varieties are almost the same.
When should children not be given zucchini?
In extremely rare cases, zucchini can cause allergies. In this case, it should be immediately excluded from the diet. At risk are babies with allergic rhinitis caused by pollen from herbs such as wormwood or ragweed. If you notice problems after eating zucchini dishes, be sure to consult a doctor to find out the reasons.
You should not give your child zucchini during periods of exacerbation of ailments associated with the digestive tract, including diarrhea. If your baby has kidney problems, you need to check with the doctor whether this vegetable can be offered to him. Such precautions are due to the mild diuretic effect that zucchini has.
How to introduce zucchini into the diet of babies
For the first time, it is best to prepare zucchini puree for the baby. An important nuance - no need to add salt to it. Small children, unlike adults, normally perceive the natural taste of products, especially zucchini. For the first time it can be offered in six months. If the baby is artificial - earlier, at 4–5 months. It should be introduced into the diet with extreme caution, according to the following scheme:
- Give the first portion in the morning - no more than 5 g, this is about half a teaspoon;
- each subsequent portion should be 5 g more than the previous one - within a week;
- bring the norm to 50 g (approximately).
When the baby grows up, he can be given about 60–70 g of zucchini puree for morning feeding (7–8 months). Most often, zucchini is offered in combined purees - with carrots, potatoes, and onions, of course, if the child tolerates it well. By 10 months, the baby becomes almost large - his portion by this time can be 100 g.
Important! First, give complementary foods and only after that - breast milk or baby food.
Closely monitor your child's behavior and health. Has the stool become looser? This is not a cause for alarm, but you need to be more vigilant. Do you have suspicious skin rashes? Eliminate zucchini from the menu for 10–14 days, then reintroduce it into the diet. If there are problems again, don’t offer them again for up to a year.
Recipes
Zucchini casserole with hard cheese
The tasty dish is quickly prepared, and can be eaten from one and a half years old. You will need:
- 2 small zucchini;
- 30 g finely grated cheese;
- 3 eggs, preferably homemade, make sure they are fresh.
Cut the washed and peeled vegetables into pieces up to 2.5 cm thick. Beat the eggs thoroughly. Grease a baking dish with sunflower oil, you can sprinkle it with breadcrumbs. Place zucchini on it in 1 layer, pour beaten eggs over everything, sprinkle cheese on top. Bake in a moderately preheated oven for 25 minutes. Pour sour cream over the finished dish. If desired, you can sprinkle with herbs - dill and parsley.
Stuffed zucchini
The filling is meat and rice. The dish turns out very tasty due to the saturation of the meat with vegetable juice. The minced meat comes out tender and incredibly flavorful. You will need the following products:
- half a glass of rice;
- 2–3 small zucchini;
- 300 g minced meat;
- greenery;
- minced meat, preferably veal, but beef can also be used - 300 g;
- small onions;
- half a glass of sour cream;
- salt - to taste.
First we prepare the filling. Cook the rice slightly so that it remains slightly firm. While cooking, peel the zucchini, cut it into 4-5 parts (crosswise), remove the core, but not all the way, so that the “bottom” remains - you should get small glasses. Grind the extracted vegetable pulp using a blender, add onions and herbs to the mixture, then add cooked rice and salt. Stuff the zucchini and then bake it in the oven.
Creamy zucchini soup
This soup is indispensable in the summer. It cooks very quickly, children eat it with great pleasure and, of course, it is much tastier than traditional first courses with potatoes and cereals. You will need:
- one and a half glasses of milk;
- 2 small zucchini;
- greenery;
- a pinch of salt.
Place the milk in a saucepan, bring to a boil over medium heat, while it heats up, you will have time to peel and cut the zucchini into small cubes and add them to the bowl. Make sure that the vegetables are barely covered with milk. Once it boils, boil for no more than 10 minutes, add salt. The final stage is beating with a blender: until the mixture becomes homogeneous, without lumps. Before serving, decorate with herbs.
Zucchini omelette
This light dish is ideal for a hot day when many babies have a reduced appetite. Required:
- 2 fresh eggs (if they stay near the bottom in a pan of water, it means they are 1–2 days old; if they partially rise, it takes 3–4 days; if they float to the top, do not give them to children);
- 1 small zucchini;
- salt on the tip of a knife;
- sunflower oil.
Beat the eggs until foamy, add salt, add grated zucchini, strained from excess juice, washed and dried greens (pre-finely chopped). Pour the prepared mixture into a preheated and lightly oiled frying pan. Important! The omelette should be cooked over low heat - then it will cook evenly and be more tasty.
Zucchini is an unpretentious plant, the fruits of which are tasty and easy for children to digest. Simple, uncomplicated zucchini dishes are prepared in a matter of minutes and turn out tasty and appetizing. What can you make from zucchini for a child? For example, an original zucchini appetizer for children or simply stewing zucchini in sour cream.
Preparing stewed zucchini:
1. Peel the onions, finely chop them and pour them into a hot frying pan with vegetable oil for frying.
2. Take a young zucchini and wash it. Peel off the peel with a paring knife.
4. Cut the zucchini into cubes about 1.5 cm.
5. Lightly fry the onion, stirring occasionally with a wooden spatula.
6. Add chopped zucchini to it.
7. Pour in a little water so that it does not cover the zucchini cubes entirely, and add salt. Simmer for 10 minutes over medium heat, covered.
8. Add sour cream, stir, bring to a boil and turn off after a minute.
9. Stewed zucchini in sour cream is ready. They can be offered to the child as an independent dish or as a side dish for meat dishes - or for.
Bon appetit!
Secrets of cooking stewed zucchini in sour cream.
- choose young zucchini for preparing children's dishes - they have thinner skin and tender flesh,
— it is advisable to remove the peel, since it remains a little harsh when cooked even for young zucchini,
- you can add herbs to the dish to taste,
- instead of sour cream, you can also use cream - it will turn out no less tasty,
- do not keep the dish on the fire for too long - the zucchini will turn into porridge during prolonged heat treatment.
Pumpkin and apple casserole
Pumpkin-apple casserole is a healthy, nutritious, and most importantly – very tasty dish.
Pumpkin is not only an elegant, sunny fruit, but also a real storehouse of vitamins and minerals. Potassium is needed for normal heart function, vitamins C, A and E are necessary for the normal functioning of the body as a whole. In addition, both pumpkin and apples are rich sources of fiber.
It is better to choose apples for casserole that are moderately sweet and not very watery, otherwise the casserole will “float.” If the apples are very juicy, after grating, place the mixture on a layer of gauze or a clean napkin and lightly strain the juice - you can give it to your child while the casserole is being prepared.
We take:
Pumpkin –300 gr.
medium-sized apples - 2 pcs.
egg - 2 pcs.
wheat flour - 2-3 tablespoons
butter or vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons
cinnamon - optional
sugar to taste, but remember that pumpkin gives quite
enough sweetness
Cooking:
Wash apples and pumpkin, cut into slices, remove skin, grate on a coarse grater, place in a deep bowl, add eggs, sifted flour.
Grease a baking dish with half the butter that you and your child eat, and add the second spoon of butter to the dough.
Place the pumpkin-apple mixture in a greased pan and smooth it out. Place the filled form in the oven preheated to 180º for 40 minutes. Bake until beautifully golden brown.
When the casserole has cooled slightly, invert the pan onto a plate and remove the pan. You can wait 15 minutes, cut and serve.
It is best to serve pumpkin (as well as carrot) dishes with cream, sour cream and other fermented milk products, so that milk fats help better absorb beneficial vitamins and microelements.
Fruit compote goes well with pumpkin and apple casserole.
Zucchini casserole for children
Zucchini is one of the first vegetables in baby food. Zucchini dishes are actively used in baby food, as it is considered a hypoallergenic vegetable. But like any other food, children quickly get bored with zucchini in its pure form, so we begin to come up with more complex and tasty dishes from this healthy vegetable, for example, zucchini casserole for children.
To make the zucchini casserole look more appetizing, in addition to zucchini, you can add some carrots to it. Together with carrots, zucchini casserole turns out to be an appetizing golden color. But this is not necessary if your child suddenly does not like carrots, although in a casserole they acquire a completely different taste (not like boiled carrots).
We take:
Young zucchini – 2 pcs. (approximately 800 gr.)
carrots – 1 pc. (150 gr.)
chicken egg – 3 pcs.
sour cream – 150 gr
wheat flour – 6-8 tbsp. l.
vegetable oil – 2 tbsp. l.
Cooking:
Wash and peel the zucchini and carrots. Grate half the vegetables on a coarse grater and the other half on a fine grater. This will make the structure of the casserole more interesting. Lightly squeeze the vegetable mixture to remove the juice and prevent the casserole from being too runny.
Add 3 eggs, sour cream and flour to the vegetable mixture. The amount of flour will depend on the thickness of the sour cream, the amount of vegetable juice in the mixture and the size of the eggs. The flour must be sifted before adding.
Stir the mass until a homogeneous consistency is obtained and lightly beat the dough, saturating it with oxygen. This will make the casserole more fluffy.
Grease a baking dish with vegetable oil. Pour the dough into the mold and smooth it out.
Bake the zucchini casserole in the oven at 200 degrees for about an hour. When the casserole is well browned, check for doneness with a match or toothpick.
It is best to remove the casserole from the pan when it has cooled slightly. Serve zucchini casserole to children, cut into portions, with compote or tea.
Vegetable casserole with chicken
Vegetable casserole with chicken is a very easy to prepare dish, as well as tasty and healthy. We hope not only your children, but the whole family will like it.
We take: chicken fillet - 400 gr frozen vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots) - 1 pack
milk - 1 glass
flour - 1 tbsp
butter - 1.5 tablespoons.
cheese - 50 gr
Cut the chicken into small pieces, lightly fry in vegetable oil, add salt to taste.
Place chicken fillet in a greased baking dish, then washed and chopped vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli and carrots), pour milk sauce, sprinkle grated cheese on top of vegetables.
Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes at t=200 degrees until golden brown.
Milk sauce
flour - 1 tbsp.
milk - 1 glass
butter - 1.5 tablespoons.
Place the saucepan on the fire, pour flour into it and add butter. Mix everything well. Then dilute with hot milk, pouring it in gradually. Cook the sauce, stirring continuously for 7-10 minutes.
If we need it for a vegetable dish, we add salt, if for a sweet dish, we add sugar.
Semolina casserole with fruits
We take: semolina - 1 cup milk - 4 cups
salt - to taste
sugar-2-3 tsp.
any fruit or berry jam - 100 gr.
eggs - 2 pcs.
oil - 2-3 tbsp.
Cooking:
Cook semolina porridge in milk. Add sugar, eggs, salt and butter to the finished porridge. Mix all this and place in a greased form, level and sprinkle with granulated sugar. You can mix half the berries into semolina. Bake in the oven until golden brown.
Before serving, place fresh boiled or canned fruit on the porridge and pour over fruit sauce or berry jam.
Rice casserole with apples
We take: rice - 150 gr milk/water - 400 gr
apples - 100 gr
carrots - 100 gr
raisins - 70 gr
sour cream - 2 tsp.
olive oil - 2 tsp.
sugar - 15 gr
salt - a pinch
Cooking:
Rinse the rice, cook, place in a colander to drain. Wash the raisins, peel the apples and cut into slices. Peel the carrots.
Beat the egg with 1 tsp. spoon of butter. Place the rice in a bowl, add the egg mixture, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and raisins. Mix the resulting mass.
Grease the mold with oil and place half of the cooked rice mixture there. Place apple slices on top and sprinkle with a little sugar. Sprinkle remaining rice on top. Smooth the surface and sprinkle with melted butter. Bake until light golden brown.
Beetroot casserole
We take:
Boiled beets - 300g
bread, preferably stale - 400g
raisins - 100g
eggs - 4 pcs
margarine - 40g
breadcrumbs - 40g
maybe a little sugar
Cooking:
Cut the bread into thin slices without crust and lightly moisten with water or milk. Grate the boiled beets on a coarse grater, mix with steamed raisins, sugar and 2 eggs. In a mold greased with margarine and sprinkled with breadcrumbs, first place a layer of bread, then a layer of beets, then bread again. Pour 2 beaten eggs on top and lightly sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Bake for 40 minutes. Very tasty with sour cream or syrup.
Meat casserole with pasta and cabbage
We take: beef -150 gr.
pork - 150 gr.
onion - 1 pc.
pasta - 100 gr.
cabbage - 200 gr
egg - 1 pc.
butter - 40 gr.
cheese - 50 gr.
Cooking:
We prepare minced meat and onions and salt it. Cook the pasta, chop the cabbage and simmer a little in butter. Combine pasta with cabbage, add raw egg, mix well. Grease a baking dish with vegetable oil and first place the minced meat in it, in a layer of about 2 cm, and then the pasta and cabbage. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake at 180 degrees for approximately 30-35 minutes.
Zucchini is ideal for baby's first feeding. This is a valuable source of vitamins and minerals with a safe composition, which extremely rarely causes allergies or digestive disorders in infants. This is a low-calorie product that cleanses the body, removes toxins and excess fluid. In this article we will learn how to properly prepare zucchini puree for a baby, and how much healthy vegetable a baby can eat.
Do not introduce a new dish during teething if your baby is sick and not feeling well. It is not recommended to give complementary foods in too hot and stuffy weather, if the child is stressed due to moving, due to going to nursery, or due to separation from his mother.
Zucchini is ideal for first feeding. In addition, the recipe for preparing this vegetable is easy. For the first time, you can give your baby no more than half a teaspoon. Then carefully monitor the child’s reaction. Despite the hypoallergenic nature of the product, it can cause bowel problems in infants. If your stool is abnormal, postpone the introduction of zucchini as complementary foods for a month. Then try again.
Quite a lot is known about the properties and benefits of zucchini, and on the advice of nutritionists, complementary feeding of a child using zucchini can be started from a very early age. Due to its ease of digestibility, it is recommended as a dietary supplement. Like other vegetables, zucchini should be a must in your baby's diet.
Vegetable puree with zucchini
This is an excellent recipe using zucchini, which is perfect for children's diet. It turns out soft and incredibly tasty. For children from 8 months.- Ingredients:
- Zucchini - half
- Potatoes – 1 pc.,
- Carrots – 1 pc. (small),
- Onion - half a small head,
- Butter – 5 g.
Creamy zucchini soup
Another zucchini recipe. It will appeal to both children from one year old and adults. A nutritious, light and dietary zucchini puree soup that turns out satisfying and tasty. For children from 8 months.
Ingredients for 0.5 l. vegetable broth: Zucchini - 2 pcs., Onions - 1 pc., Carrots - 1 pc., Butter - 1 tbsp., Sour cream - 0.5 cups, Salt, Dill
Rinse the vegetables thoroughly and peel. Cut the onion and zucchini into small cubes. Grate the carrots. Lightly fry the onion in butter, then sauté the carrots and add the zucchini. After the zucchini has softened, remove from heat for about 30 minutes, let cool and blend with a blender. Pour the whipped mixture into the pre-prepared broth and let it boil. Add salt to taste and cook for another 10 minutes.
Place the puree soup in a serving bowl, add sour cream and finely chopped fresh herbs.
For older children, you can prepare the following dish from zucchini. When combined with cabbage and other vegetables, zucchini acquires a special taste with a delicate aftertaste. Recommended for children over 2 years old.
Ingredients: zucchini - 150 g, white cabbage - 150 g, carrots - 50 g, chicken egg - 2 pcs., vegetable oil for frying
Cut the pre-washed cabbage as desired, or into strips. Wash the zucchini, remove the seeds and cut into small cubes. Peel the carrots, wash and cut into cubes.
Boil all the vegetables in water or cook in a double boiler, then place in a frying pan with oil, beat the eggs and place on the vegetables. Stirring vigorously, fry until the eggs are ready. You can serve this dish with sour cream and finely chopped herbs.
A fairly simple recipe for zucchini puree and, most importantly, I’m sure your baby will like this puree. You can choose blocks of any variety, and if the apples turn out to be sour, you can add a small amount of sugar. For children over 1 year old.
For this we will need the following ingredients: Zucchini - half, Apple - 1 pc.
Peel the zucchini and apple from the peel and seeds, remove the core from the apples. Cut everything into small cubes. Boil the ingredients separately, or in a slow cooker. Blend in a blender and boil lightly.
Out of season, all these dishes can be prepared from frozen vegetables and therefore you should not have any problems with the availability of ingredients. They can also be prepared and served as a dietary dish for older people.
Well, for the older contingent, you can prepare a wonderful, no less tasty dish of zucchini, which even adults will not refuse, and will gobble it up with great pleasure on both cheeks...
Prepare the following products: 1 large zucchini, 1 chicken egg, 2 tbsp. spoons of flour, a pinch of salt and 50 grams of vegetable oil
First of all, you need to prepare a mixture for pancakes: the main ingredient must be cleaned, then grated on a coarse grater. Beat in one egg, to make the dough thicker, add 2 tablespoons of flour, add a little salt and mix thoroughly.
Heat oil in a frying pan. Using a tablespoon or slotted spoon, add the zucchini mixture in portions and according to the capacity. Reduce heat and cover the pan with a lid.
Cook without opening the lid for 3-5 minutes. Then turn it over and continue to simmer again with the lid closed for about the same amount of time.
When ready, the pancakes should first be transferred to dry napkins and allowed to remove excess fat and cool slightly. Repeat with the remaining part.
Add salt depending on the baby's age. And starting from 2 years old, you can optionally add a little chopped garlic to the pancakes. It turns out very tasty, and no less healthy.
