Piccolo’s nutrition specialist Alice Fotheringham shares one her favourite springtime recipes for baby
This is the time for lots of delicious seasonal fruit and vegetables, which also coincides with new advice that suggests we should be eating even more vegetables and fruit. Rather than look at portion sizes and the number of portions a day, try to look at it in terms of variety – the more variety the better.
Start small by adding one extra vegetable to one of your meals each day, and work up from there. It’s also a good idea to think about the range of different fruits and vegetables you have over the week. Getting in a wide variety of colours is a much more realistic way of getting the vitamins and minerals you need, rather than focusing on a fixed number a day. This way, you will find the numbers stack up without having to think about it!
Tomato, lentil and angel-hair pasta
This traditional dish combines small pieces of angel-hair pasta with a rich, sweet tomato and lentil sauce, cooked in olive oil with parsley.
About this recipe
PREP TIME 10 MINUTES
COOKING 30 MINUTES
MAKES 6 PORTIONS
dash of olive oil
1/2 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
1/2 leek, trimmed and chopped
Pinch of cinnamon
227g chopped tinned tomatoes
90g dried red lentils
250ml low-salt vegetable stock (or water)
Pinch of dried or chopped fresh parsley
100g angel hair pasta
- Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the onion for 3-4 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic, carrot, leek and cinnamon. Cook for 5 minutes, occasionally stirring, until the carrot is tender.
- Add the lentils, tinned tomatoes, vegetable stock and parsley. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.
- While the lentils are cooking, bring a pan of water to the boil and add the pasta. Cook following the packet’s instructions. Drain and mix with the sauce or serve separately.
Tip: This sauce is brilliant for making pasta and meat dishes more hearty. You can also add extra veg, such as grated courgette or red pepper, for extra goodness.
Suitable for freezing, or store in a sealable container in the fridge for up to two days.
