Creamed spinach baby food

Fresh Creamed Spinach Recipe - Cookie and Kate

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Creamed spinach can go right or wrong, and this creamed spinach recipe is just right. The creaminess comes from cream cheese rather than heavy cream, which offers some delectable tanginess. Fresh baby spinach cooks down in mere minutes, no chopping required, so this recipe is ready in roughly twenty minutes.

Creamed spinach will never be the prettiest menu item on your Thanksgiving table, but the verdant color of freshly cooked spinach will liven up otherwise beige plates. The more greens the better, I say.

I didn’t grow up with creamed spinach at our Thanksgiving suppers. I’ve found it on steakhouse menus while searching for vegetarian options. The name “creamed spinach” doesn’t sound terribly enticing, does it?

I wasn’t sold on the general concept until I realized that it’s almost like spinach dip in side dish form. Creamed spinach earned my full attention in that moment.

After some trial and error, I’m sharing this recipe because I think it’s worthy of your attention, too. It’s delicious, creamy, comforting and just so nice!

How to Make the Best Creamed Spinach

Creamed spinach is easy to make with basic ingredients, yet the end result tastes like more than the sum of its parts. It’s rich and creamy but not over the top. Here’s why this recipe works so well (keep scrolling for the full recipe):

First, sauté mellow yellow onion in butter and simple seasonings—salt, pepper and an optional pinch of cayenne. This step smells amazing and forms the backbone of flavor for this dish.
Then, add fresh baby spinach in handfuls, stirring after each. Sometimes I’ll suggest using frozen spinach, but fresh spinach is superior in flavor and texture in this case.
Once the spinach is wilted, add garlic. We’re adding the garlic later on so it doesn’t have a chance to burn, and we’ll cook it just until it’s fragrant. As always, please use fresh garlic, not store-bought minced garlic.
Finally, stir in cream cheese until it’s creamy and melted, followed by some Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper until the flavors really sing. You’re done!

Watch How to Make Creamed Spinach

Please let me know how your creamed spinach turns out in the comments. I love hearing from you and hope this recipe makes an appearance at your Thanksgiving meal. For more Thanksgiving-worthy recipes, check out my Thanksgiving roundup.

Fresh Creamed Spinach

Author: Kate
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 6 servings 1x
Category: Side dish
Method: Cooked
Cuisine: American
Diet: Vegetarian

★★★★★

4.9 from 43 reviews

This creamed spinach recipe is made with fresh baby spinach and cream cheese. It’s deliciously rich and creamy, but not over the top. Recipe yields 4 to 6 side servings.

Scale

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
½ teaspoon fine salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Tiny pinch of cayenne pepper (optional, for subtle heat)
16 ounces baby spinach
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into 1-inch chunks
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

In a medium Dutch oven over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion, salt, pepper and optional cayenne. Cook until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes.
Add the spinach in big handfuls, stirring after each one. Cook until all of the spinach is wilted, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 more minute.
Add the cream cheese to the pot. Continue cooking and stirring until the cream cheese has completely melted and the mixture is creamy. Add the Parmesan and stir to combine.
Remove the pot from the heat. Carefully taste, and season with additional salt and pepper, if you’d like. Serve warm.

▸ Nutrition Information

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.

&rtrif; Categories Christmas, egg free, fall, gluten free, nut free, recipes, side dishes, soy free, spring, Thanksgiving, tomato free, winter &rtrif; Ingredients cream cheese, parmesan, spinach

By Kathryne Taylor

Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now.
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Baby Food – Creamed Spinach and Basil – The Family Meal

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Alisa

Yesterday was one of those days when things just weren’t quite right. I was getting over a stomach virus so I was getting nothing done and Olive refused to eat any part of a dish I cooked because it had peas (a dish she’s eaten before with much gusto), and thus, ate only orange foods and milk all day. I really haven’t quite figured out days like that. I try not to put too much thought into it and move on to the next meal, assuming she’ll eat more at dinner if she didn’t eat much at lunch and vice versa. It’s hard to remember that babies aren’t little robots you can program as you like. Some days I don’t feel like eating much for lunch, but I’m ravenous at dinner. Some days I feel like bacon and eggs and toast and jam for breakfast and some days I’m just in the mood for coffee. I only assume children are the same (maybe not the coffee part.) I think it’s important in these seemingly picky-eating times to remain consistent. Don’t start a bad habit just to get through a rough patch. If through the picky days, we remain calm and smiling and say, “These two things are for lunch – take them or leave them” I think children will catch on a lot quicker that meal times are directed by mom and dad – and not by them. A world where a baby dictates what we have for dinner – Lord, help us all…

Today was a little bit better. Olive ate a two ounce portion of this spinach basil dish, and some leftover mango from yesterday – that was lunch! Oh, and bits of our chicken, after we thought she had enough to eat 🙂

This is, by far, one of my favorite side dishes, and one of my favorite ways to cook/eat/enjoy spinach. Matt and I found this recipe from watching an episode of Martha Stewart Living, where the great Jean-Georges Vongerichten cooked his amazing chicken and potatoes (where the potatoes are better than the chicken) and served this spinach on the side. What a warm, comforting, indulgent family meal! We have made both of these recipes multiple times over the past few years and each time, they feel new and exciting. The spinach and basil would be absolutely perfect at Thanksgiving as a side dish. There’s something about the basil that adds so much depth of flavor to the dish. The cream helps with that, too…

Today, I didn’t have any fennel or serrano peppers, so I left them out of the original recipe, (which I highly recommend) but I found it to still be wonderful and ideal for a baby in the 8 month and up range. To make this for a baby just introduced to solids, simply blend with a couple tablespoons of water or chicken stock.

Creamed Spinach and Basil

serves 4 small portions. Or 2 and a hungry baby

Coarse salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

3 cups tightly packed spinach leaves

3 cups tightly packed basil leaves

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic

3 tablespoons very finely chopped celery

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add spinach and basil and cook until wilted. Immediately transfer to an ice-water bath. Drain and squeeze dry; coarsely chop and set aside. (It looks like there’s hardly enough for one person – it spreads out and thickens up with the addition of the other ingredients, promise.)
Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and shallots and cook until golden. Add celery and continue cooking until soft and translucent.
Add cream and let reduce until thickened, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add spinach and basil and stir to combine. Cook until warmed through. Season with salt and pepper; serve immediately.

A little side note for any moms out there who might have a similar issue to me – Olive eats more…diligently…if she is holding something in her hand. I am not a fan of letting her try to feed herself, yet, and letting her hold a toy is too distracting. Most things are too distracting, but if we find that she can’t focus on the meal, I usually offer her one of her “salt and pepper” shakers. She can hold them in her hands and it almost seems the instant she grabs one, she will happily take several more bites. So, these are her salt and pepper shakers. Filled with white and long grain black rice, respectively. They make a nice shaking sound, the rice stays IN the container, and later, as she develops, she can even pretend to season her food. Although we will certainly teach her to not season before she tastes, as a courtesy to the chef. 😉

Bye-bye, Papa (said every day after lunch when he goes back to work – she’s going to be one tomorrow – how on earth did we get to this point?)

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This entry was posted in Baby Food Recipes, Side Dishes and tagged baby food, basil, celery, cream, fennel, garlic, jean george, martha stewart, spinach, vegetarian.

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5 courses of baby spinach

There is a reason to fall in love with healthy spinach: it contains vitamins and minerals in cosmic quantities . But because of the bland taste, children often refuse to eat it. We have collected spinach recipes that are suitable for the children's menu, and the taste of which the kids will definitely appreciate.

Spinach can be included in the diet of children from the age of seven months , first as a simple puree, and then as part of more complex dishes.
In salads, young spinach leaves are good, up to 5 cm in size. Those that are larger and tougher are better suited for boiling, stewing and baking. If you use frozen spinach, do not defrost it, but put it immediately in boiling water, then the loss of vitamins will be minimal.

SPINACH SOUP

Ingredients : chicken broth - 0.5 l, spinach - 4 bunches, butter - 2 tbsp. l. cream - 50 ml, flour - 2 tbsp. l, grated cheese - 3 tbsp. l salt, pepper, ground paprika - to taste.

Cooking . Dip the spinach into the boiling broth, and simmer for 10 minutes over low heat.
Remove the spinach from the broth and rub through a colander.
Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the flour in it until golden brown. Pour the broth into the flour, bring to a boil, put the spinach, salt and season with spices. Add cream to the soup, bring to a boil again and remove from heat. Serve sprinkled with grated cheese.

SPINACH AND RICE SOUP

Ingredients : spinach - chicken broth - 1 l, spinach - 450 g, onion - 1 pc, rice - 100 g, yogurt - 450 ml, egg - 1 pc,
Olive oil - 2 tbsp. l, garlic - 1 clove, salt, pepper to taste.

Cooking . Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until golden brown. Add chopped spinach and sauté for another 4-5 minutes.
Bring the broth to a boil, add rice, salt, pepper and cook for 15 minutes until tender. Then put the spinach here and boil for another 7-10 minutes.
Mix the yogurt with the egg, add the garlic mashed with salt and put this dressing in the finished soup and heat it up without boiling.
Cut white bread into cubes, fry until golden brown and serve with soup.

Read also: Young vegetables for baby food: how to avoid nitrates

SPINACH OMELETTE

Ingredients: eggs - 3 pcs, milk - 0.5 stack, spinach - 100 g, butter - 1 tsp, water - 2 tbsp, salt to taste.

Cooking . Rinse spinach, dry, chop and simmer in butter, adding water. Beat eggs with milk, salt and pour into a pan with spinach. Cook over low heat with the lid closed.

PLUMBED WITH SPINACH AND CHEESE

Ingredients: spinach - 200 g, grated cheese - 100 g, white cabbage - 3 whole leaves, salt, pepper and spices to taste.

Cooking . Boil spinach until soft, cool, chop and mix with grated cheese. Salt, add spices.
Pour boiling water over cabbage leaves and cut off the thick part. Wrap the cheese-spinach filling in them, put in a thick-walled saucepan, pour a little milk on the bottom and simmer under a closed lid for 20 minutes.

CHICKEN AND SPINACH POTATO PASTE

Ingredients: potatoes - 600 g, eggs - 3 pcs, spinach - 150 g, chicken fillet - 200 g, carrots - 100 g, butter - 50 g, salt, pepper, spices to taste.

Cooking . Boil potatoes and carrots and mash them into a puree. Salt, add 2 eggs and mix until smooth.
Grind the chicken into minced meat and mix with finely chopped spinach. Salt and pepper, beat in the egg and mix well.
Lubricate the form with butter, sprinkle it with breadcrumbs and lay out half the potato mass. Top with minced spinach and top with remaining mashed potatoes. Level the surface, put a few pieces of butter on top and bake for 40 minutes at 190 degrees.
Photo: depositphotos

Read also: Complementary feeding table for children up to a year: how to introduce products by month

Spinach: recipes for children

Published: May 30, 2018, 17:34

Photo: UGC

When introducing solid foods to your baby, start with spinach. Spinach, the recipes for which we recommend trying, will benefit the baby's body. Thanks to its vitamin complex, you will forget about problems with the tummy, strengthen the bones of the child, and simplify the process of forming and teething.

How to cook spinach for a baby under one year old

The first complementary foods are a real headache for a mother. Not only should the products be prepared without sugar, salt and oil, but also the taste of not all products will appeal to little fussy eaters.

Spinach is just the product that not all kids will like. However, this is not a reason to refuse it.

To be successful in this task, it is important to know how to cook spinach so that your baby will like it.

Photo: prochado.ru: UGC

Therefore, before you start creating dishes with spinach, learn the basic rules for its storage and preparation:

If you bought spinach in reserve, then put it in a container or wrap it in parchment and store it in the refrigerator on the vegetable shelf.

At room temperature, it will lose its beneficial properties.

Spinach dishes for babies should be prepared with dairy products such as milk, cream or butter.

This product contains oxalic acid. It can cause discomfort in the child.

Milk neutralizes the effect of acid, promotes the absorption of vitamins A and E.

It is advisable to use fresh leaves.

If you do use frozen spinach, sort through and remove the hard stems.

Only the tender part of the leaves should be used in the baby's diet.

Spinach for kids' menus takes up to 15 minutes to cook.

If your child has any health problems, please consult your pediatrician before introducing spinach into your diet.

For babies, it is generally recommended to prepare mashed dishes. This condition is optimal for a baby who has not yet erupted teeth.

Here are some dishes you can make:

Spinach mousse

Photo: sunny7.ua: UGC

How to cook this dish? For him, take:

spinach - 100 g;
butter - 10 g;
milk - 100 ml.

To prepare this dish, proceed as follows:

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the washed spinach leaves (without stems). Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.
Whisk the mass with a blender.
Pour in ½ cup boiled milk, heat until thickened.

Mix of zucchini and spinach

Photo: maggi.ru: UGC

For this puree use:

zucchini, spinach - 100 g each;
onion - ½ heads;
cream or milk - 50 ml;
water 150-200 ml.

Cook like this:

Peel the zucchini and cut into cubes. Put in a saucepan.
Wash the spinach, remove the leaves and add to the courgettes.
Sprinkle finely chopped onion over the vegetables.
Cover the mix with water and simmer for 15 minutes. Blend the vegetables in a blender.
Add milk or cream and simmer for another 5-7 minutes.

You can experiment with this puree: for example, add a little orange to it - carrots, pumpkins. Combine broccoli and spinach, cauliflower and spinach.

Potato-spinach soup

Photo: abedik.ru: UGC

Take for it:

potatoes - 1 pc. ;
spinach - 100 g;
butter - 1 tsp;
cream - 50 ml;
water - 300 ml.

Cooking algorithm is as follows:

Peel potatoes and cut into cubes. Fill with water and boil for 15 minutes.
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the spinach. Simmer for 10 minutes over low heat.
Peel the potatoes and add the spinach to them. Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes.

Take advantage of these recipes. Dishes on them can be offered to babies from six months.

Remember that spinach should be given to babies no more than 2 times a week.

Do not exceed 100 g of this product per serving.

See also: Milk rice porridge: a recipe for children

Spinach dishes for children from one year old

For older children, offer delicious and appetizing dishes with spinach and a variety of vegetables and protein products - cottage cheese, eggs, chicken fillet.

Spinach goes well with them, it becomes more nutritious because its beneficial properties are activated.

We recommend trying the following dishes:

Spinach Soufflé

Chicken lovers will love this delicious dish. To make it easier for the body to cope with protein foods, add spinach to the chicken.

For the soufflé you will need:

chicken fillet - 80 g;
spinach - 150 g;
egg - 1 pc.;
milk - 30 g;
butter - 1 tsp.

You can add salt to this dish, but do not oversalt it.

Cook like this:

Boil the chicken fillet in lightly salted water. Take out and grind with a blender or cut into small pieces.
Simmer the spinach in a saucepan with butter. It takes 5-7 minutes to cook it.
Separate the yolk from the protein, mix with minced meat, add spinach to the mixture. Whisk the whites and gently mix with the fillet and spinach.
Grease a mold with butter and place in the soufflé mixture.

Bake at 180°C for 20 minutes.

Healthy omelet

Photo: recept-duhovka.ru: UGC

Prepare a delicious steamed omelet. For one serving you will need:

chicken egg - 1 pc.;
milk - 50 ml;
spinach - 100 g;
butter - 1 tsp.

Add a little salt to the dish.

To get a fluffy, tasty and dietary omelet, do this:

Melt the butter in a saucepan and put the spinach into it. Simmer in your own juice for 10 minutes.
Beat egg with milk.
Mix milk and egg mixture with cooked spinach.
Brush the bottom and sides of a small pot or saucepan with butter. Pour the omelet mixture into it. Put everything on the steam bath and close the lid.

Appetizing omelette is ready in 20 minutes.