Carrot, Apple and Cinnamon Porridge

We’ll add a bit of veg to anything! Well lets face it, it can be pretty tricky to pack enough fruit and veg into our own meals throughout the day, but when it comes to picky babies and toddlers, well sometimes we just need to resort to popping veg into any meal we can. It turns out that this is a dreamy, delicious combination and tastes a bit like having warm, oaty carrot cake for breakfast! The apple, carrot and banana in this porridge make it sweet and textured, and the cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg make it even more warming and moreish.

We find that coarsely grated carrot and apple works best for slightly older babies (8 months+) and it softens enough when cooking, but this also works well finely grated and without raisins for the younger ones.

I love topping mine with some pumpkin seeds and hemp seeds for extra crunch, and sometimes I’ll whizz up some ground nuts to stir into the little one’s too. Always good to get an extra bit of protein in there!

Ingredients

1 small carrot (or 1/2 large), coarsely grated
1 red or pink dessert apple, cored and coarsely grated
3/4 cup (~60g) porridge/ rolled oats
1 cup (~200mls) milk of choice (we like unsweetened almond milk)
1 cup water (~200mls)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
handful raisins
1 ripe banana

Method

1. Coarsely grate the carrot and apple (leaving on the skin will add extra nutrients and save waste, but requires a couple of minutes extra cooking time to soften for babies)
2. In a saucepan, combine all the ingredients except for the banana and simmer on a low/medium heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently to stop the oats sticking to the bottom of the pan
3. In a separate bowl, mash the banana with a fork until smooth and runny
4. At the end of cooking time remove saucepan from heat, add the banana to the porridge and stir through
5. Separate out the baby portion, stirring through an extra dash of cold milk if necessary to reach desired consistency, and to help it cool down before serving
6. Serve adult portion with nuts, seeds and fresh fruit on top