Ruth's Blog
Super Porridge by Super Baby Food Author, Ruth Yaron
One of the most popular topics in my book, Super Baby Food is also the most important part of The Super Baby Food Diet described in the book. I call it, Super Porridge. Super Porridge is easy to make, full of organic, superior nutrition AND money saving. What’s more, the porridge is flexible so that it can be part of a toddler diet, a young person’s diet, and even Mom and Dad’s diet.
Super Porridge is made from whole grains. It’s super easy to make. Making your own baby food is not only the best you can offer your baby it is also amazingly satisfying experience. As your baby grows, just a few tweaks to consistency and ingredients can provide the flexibility to keep your baby satisfied and growing.
In this blog post, I am going to share the basic Super Porridge recipe.
Remember: most babies will start “solid” foods between the ages of 4 – 6 months. Check with your pediatrician before starting on solid foods before you get your baby started on solid food.
- Measure 1 cup of water on the stove to boil.
- Measure ¼ cup brown rice into your blender. Grind well, for about 2 minutes. (it’s going to be very loud, but it’s important to let the blender grind the brown rice down) If you have a coffee grinder, you may find it works better than a blender. Do not use a food processor as it does not grind grains well.
- When the water starts to boil on the stove, turn the heat down to the lowest setting.
- Sprinkle the ground rice into the water while stirring briskly with a wire whisk.
- Cover the pot and keep it on low heat for about 10 minutes.
- Stir frequently with the whisk to prevent scorching on the bottom and to remove lumps.
- Let cool
The recipe above will yield 2 – ½ cup servings for your baby. Feed some now and save some for later by dividing the porridge in 3 individual containers with lids. Cooked Super Porridge will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Other grains that can be used to make Super Porridge for baby include: Quinoa, Barley, Oatmeal, and Millet. Once baby reaches 9 months, Super Porridge can be infused with more protein by adding the ground legumes to the ground brown rice or other grains and prepared as above.
My Super Porridge is practical, nutritionally superior, easy to make and cost-saving – your baby will thank you for it someday. More information can be found in my book Super Baby Food and in future blog posts. You can watch Cindy Crawford demonstrate the making of Super Porridge by visiting our You Tube account.
I have a question, Ruth. If Super Porridge is to be my baby’s first meal, how much should I give her? Here you mention a 1/2 cup serving. In your book, you mention a tablespoon of commercial cereal. I’m uncertain about how much Super Porridge to give/offer for that very first meal (she will be six months old when we start solids). Thank you!
Hi Margaret. For a six month old the first meal can be anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 cup cooked cereal. This equates to 1-2 tablespoons of dry uncooked cereal , before it’s stirred into boiling water. Best of luck!
How should you heat this back up?
Also, should you add more water when reheating??
Hi Meagan, you could use the microwave to reheat the cereal. If you are against microwave use, try placing the cereal in a heat-safe bowl over a small pan of simmering water. For more information on reheating frozen baby food try this article from homemade-baby-food.com on the subject.
I don’t use a microwave to re-heat my baby’s food. The easiest way I have found is to get small pyrex or ball canning glass containers with BPA free lids and put the frozen cubes in them to thaw in the fridge overnight. I serve my son the fruits cold, but re-heat the veggies, meats, and cereals by putting the glass container in a bowl of water that I have heated in the microwave. It takes about 10 minutes for the food to warm up, so you just have to get used to planning ahead. Also, make sure you get a type of glass container that is approved for high temperatures (cold or hot). Good luck! : )
Thanks for the tips on reheating, Lorelei, good stuff!
What type of brown rice should be used? The quick cook rice or the one that takes approx. 40 min.?
[...] making him the Super Porridge each morning (recipe here) from Ruth Yaron’s Super Baby Food. Although making porridge makes me feel a bit like [...]
Hi Ruth,
Instead of grinding the dry grain and then cooking, can I instead cook the whole grain and then blend with my stick blender? I’m trying to avoid buying another appliance (coffee grinder or blender).
thanks!
Susan