A Great Pasta Recipe for Toddlers

I *love* pasta. I could eat it all day long. It's also a brilliant food for toddlers! Nice big pasta shapes are very easy to eat with hands, and pasta sauces are a fab way to pack some healthy veggies into a tasty meal for toddlers and fussy kids without them even knowing!

Baby H's favourite pasta dish just now is pasta and meatballs. We use turkey mince, but you can use any mince you have available. Here's the recipe I use:

Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Pasta Sauce

Ingredients

• 500g pack turkey mince
• 1 onion, grated
• 1 carrot, grated
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tbsp olive oil
• 390g carton chopped tomatoes
• 220g rigatoni pasta (or any other large, holdable pasta shapes)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C, fan 200C, gas 7. Make the meatballs by mixing the turkey mince, onion, carrot and nutmeg thoroughly. Shape into around 30 bite-size meatballs.
2. Lightly grease a large roasting tin with the oil and add the meatballs. Sprinkle over the celery and bake for 15 minutes, shaking halfway through. Pour in the tomatoes and 100ml water and stir well. Place back in the oven for 10 minutes, while you cook the pasta.
3. Cook the rigatoni in boiling water for 10 minutes and drain. Divide the pasta between plates and spoon over the meatballs and sauce.

Yum yum! Hope you enjoy it as much as we do if you try it!