is there anything i can do to make pasta pesto more nutritious?

[ilovespinach]

ds1 will not eat any type of vegetable anymore (sigh).....

hot meals are down to fish fingers or pasta pesto (only green)...

is there anything I can do to make pasta pesto more nutritious? Some times I mix a handful of wholemeal pasta in with the normal white stuff but other than that, I'm out of ideas and fed up of the fussiness ....

Thanks

Chop cooked spinach very finely and mix it in? In fact, blend dark green cooked veg, mix it with the pesto and stir into pasta, perhaps with added parmesan?

Snip the very tips of some broccoli into the pesto. With it being green you have quite a lot of scope for hidden vegetables!

pasta pesto already has spinach (iron, vitamins), pine nuts (protein) and pasta (complex carbs) in it - that's pretty good!

buy the ones that have cheese in too, then you have more protein?

You cna blitz any veg in pesto.
Tomatoes also work well.
I'm not really into veg hiding but understand your concern.

Presume you can't add mushrooms/tomatoes?

I had a recipe once, boil up some rice. Add a couple of teaspoons of pesto, some philadelphia, some pine nuts and some RAISINS. Yes raisins!

this would have protein and iron and some vitimin c.

If you wanted to be posh you could serve in a roasted red pepper on on a bed of spinach, or if you were just being quick for kids or for a quick supper, throw in a handful of frozen peas.

I add brocolli or peas to mine. Also spinach - this can be hidden quite well!

Some cheese on top or chopped up sausage/chicken?

if you want to hide any of the above you could mash/puree?

WhatFreshHell - pesto has spinach in already? Does it really? Just checked v. bog standard jars, and ours doesn't. I always add spinach, mind - goes very well.

there are loads of types of pesto. Traditional pesto is basil, pine nuts, olive oil and parmisan.

liking the spinach and green veg idea....will try that one out....

He always just has the traditional pesto with basil, cheese etc...He used to eat red pesto but I messed around with it....claiming that pasta sauce with added veg (a really nice one imo) was red pesto - now he won't touch it with a bargepole....

Just had an idea...I could try to mix in a handful of the tricolure pasta...see if that gets past the toddler radar

thanks for all the ideas

sorry, i always put spinach in, assumed it was in the original recipe too! my bad

use all wholewheat pasta. White pasta is not very good for you really. Pesto is healthy. Make your own and use more of it! (also watercress pesto is delicious and healthy)

ok will hunt out some flax seeds tomorrow...I find that wholewheat pasta has a slightly different texture....I much prefer the wholewheat stuff but ds doesn't .....

Great news to hear that pesto is considered healthy always concerened about the salt as he has it almost everyday...

blanch almonds to remove skins get ready blanched. use instead of pine nuts, cheaper. or get already powdered.
add greens as per suggestions.

so it's ok to feed ds1's leftover pasta pesto to ds2 (10 months) for lunch tomorrow ?

There's a baby sized portion left...hate to throw it away....

Oh, god yes - dd ate pasta & pesto from about 6.5mo! Shame to waste it.

ooh yes, ds has had pasta pesto today, he is going through a veg refusal phase so I finely grated some courgette into it, was invisible so went down a treat!!

i would add chopped/grated veg, such as corgette, brocolli, peas and spinach as all green

maybe you could make a veg sauce with toms, carrots, onions and puree and if need be add spinch to make green

Be careful buying pesto. It can be fairly healthy BUT it can also be salt laden. Ideally buy your own. Otherwise, do check the ingredient list as even using a tablespoon could have far too much salt in it for a young child.

If you add flax seeds, make sure to grind them, otherwise they go straight through.

We add ground flax seeds to just about everything ds eats