Our newest Taste Adventures recipe is a veritable festival of green – we’ve paired tiny pasta with not just luscious basil, but spinach, green beans and peas as well! But why use four shades of green when surely one would do?

The reason is nutrient density. It sounds complicated, but it’s really very simple: babies have small stomachs, but they’re growing so fast that their nutritional needs are very large indeed. This means that simply filling them up isn’t enough – it’s far better to make every single bite as nutrient-packed as humanly possible. (Which, incidentally, is precisely what we try to do in every single Plum recipe.)

In our Super Greens, Pasta & Cheese, we use a bit of basil for its distinctive and delicious flavour, but the majority of the ‘green’ in this recipe comes from spinach. That’s because spinach is one of Nature’s true nutrient powerhouses, packing a laundry list of essential nutrients like vitamins A, B-complex and K, plus lots of iron and folate, into those bright-green leaves.

We’re quite proud of our ‘super spinach,’ which comes from the Netherlands. The leaves are harvested twice a year, in June and September, and immediately take the fast train to the processing plant, where their goodness is locked in within a couple of hours of picking. (That’s important, because spinach can lose up to half its folate and a good chunk of its vitamin A after just a few days, even if it’s refrigerated.)

Adding peas and green beans to the mix improves the amount of vitamin C and A our recipe offers, and adds a dose of antioxidant carotenoids as well. Pop in a bit of cheese for protein and flavour, and you’re looking at a well-balanced meal for your active baby!

Have you tried this recipe yet? We’d love to hear what you (and your baby!) think of it, so please leave us a review on our website or our Facebook page!