Sweet Potato is a wonderful choice of vegetable when feeding your child since it’s sweet in taste and full of nutrients. Sweet Potatoes contain Beta-Carotene (an antioxidant rich in Vitamin A which is known to be good for vision, general health and much more http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/beta-carotene#1  ) . In addition to sweet potatoes being rich in Vitamin A, they also contain calcium, potassium, and vitamin C http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/5-winter-superfoods-sweet-potatoes-nutrient-profile . Now that’s one powerful vegetable, if you ask me. Hence the reason why I love feeding him sweet potatoes.

Step By Step Instructions

I usually use one or two sweet potatoes (depending on the size since some are smaller than others) to make enough to fit in 4 ounce glass jar(s). I store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

I use a vegetable scrub to scrub away all the dirt, under cold running water.

Here is the difference between a scrubbed sweet potato (left) and an unscrubbed sweet potato (right). It’s important to make sure the vegetable is clean.

Using a vegetable peeler, peel the skin off of the sweet potato.

Place the peeled sweet potato on a cutting board with the steamer basket next to it. Cut the ends off of the sweet potato and discard them in the garbage can.

To facilitate in cutting the sweet potato, carefully, stand the sweet potato on one of its ends on the cutting board. Cut a small portion off, as shown, to give it a flat surface to lie on.

Don’t discard that piece. Rather, chop it up into slices and place it in your steamer basket.

Cut the sweet potato into thin slices and place them in the steamer basket.

Add water to your saucepan, place the steaming basket over it and cover it with a lid. Make sure the steamer basket doesn’t touch the water when placed inside the saucepan.

Once the water starts to boil, decrease the heat to low/medium ( a temperature to where you can hear a low boil occurring in the saucepan). Allow it to steam for 30-40 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft and fork tender (the fork runs easily through the sweet potatoes).

NOTE: Cook times vary since the sweet potatoes can cook faster if the steam basket is larger.

When testing doneness , the sweet potatoes should be fork tender ( you can easily place a fork through the sweet potatoes).

At this point, spoon the sweet potatoes onto a plate or a bowl and mash it with a fork. Mash it until all the pieces have been mashed and is at a puree consistency.  Place them into glass jars and let them cool. Store them in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

When ready to serve, take a tablespoon of the pureed sweet potato and place it in his/her serving bowl. Add an ounce or two of breastmilk or formula-just enough to get it to the dripping off the spoon consistency. Then, serve the remaining breastmilk or formula after he/she has finished the solids.

In other words, if he/she were to drink 5 ounces of breastmilk or formula, add 1-2 ounces of the breastmilk or formula to the serving bowl with the pureed sweet potato. The remaining 3-4 ounces, he/she will drink after he/she eats the pureed sweet potato.

Recipe

Ingredients:

1 or 2 Organic Sweet Potatoes (depends on the size of the sweet potatoes)

Instructions:

Thoroughly wash and scrub each sweet potato under running cold water using a vegetable scrub (if you don’t have a vegetable scrub, you may use a washcloth or a paper towel). Using a vegetable peeler, peel the skin off of the sweet potato. Place the peeled sweet potato on a cutting board with the steamer basket next to it. Cut the ends off of the sweet potato and discard them in the garbage can. To prevent the sweet potato from sliding off of the cutting board, stand the sweet potato on one of its ends on the cutting board. Cut a small portion off, as shown above, to give it a flat surface to lie on. Don’t discard that piece. Rather, chop it up into slices and place it in your steamer basket. Cut the sweet potato into thin slices and place them in the steamer basket.

Add water to your saucepan. Make sure the steamer basket doesn’t touch the water when placed inside the saucepan. Once the water starts to boil, decrease the heat to low/medium ( a temperature to where you can hear a low boil occurring in the saucepan).

Allow it to steam for 30-40 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft and cooked through. When testing for doneness , the sweet potatoes should be fork tender ( you can easily place a fork through the sweet potatoes).

NOTE: Cook times vary since the sweet potatoes can cook faster if the steam basket is larger.

Spoon the sweet potatoes onto a plate or a bowl and mash it with a fork. Mash it until all the pieces have been mashed and is at a puree consistency.  Place them into glass jars and let them cool. Store them in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

When ready to serve, take a tablespoon of the pureed sweet potato and place it in his/her serving bowl. Add an ounce or two of breastmilk or formula-just enough to get it to the dripping off the spoon consistency. Then, serve the remaining breastmilk or formula after he/she has finished the solids.

In other words, if he/she were to drink 5 ounces of breastmilk or formula, add 1-2 ounces of the breastmilk or formula to the serving bowl with the pureed sweet potato. The remaining 3-4 ounces, he/she will drink after he/she eats the pureed sweet potato.