Baby’s Dirty Rice – A dirty baby recipe you’ll love!

Dec 7, 2009 Baby Food Recipes Updated, New Baby Food Recipes

This post is inspired by our previous post about washing rice prior to cooking it.  Dirty rice is easy to make and easy to serve as a main course or as a side.  We love dirty rice and sometimes make it more like a gumbo (liquidy) to enjoy on a cold winter’s eve.

The best thing about dirty rice is telling your younger kiddos “We’re having dirty rice for dinner” and watching their eyes get as big as saucers.  My kiddos used to get so excited when we were having dirty rice because they thought it meant dirt and for boys, nothing beats dirt!  There was a time when everything we were eating I had to call “dirty”……dirty chicken, dirty yogurt, dirty pork roast with dirty mashed potatoes……

My measurements and serving sizes are guess-timations because each time I make this from scratch, I change it up a bit. Sometimes I add more meat, sometimes more liquids…..

I suggest this for babies 8 months and over due to the meat, spices and the texture.   Please be sure that all bits and pieces are manageable for your little one.  As always, your younger baby might enjoy this too so use your mama instincts
What you need:

1/2 pound ground beef or ground turkey
(try a mix of ground beef and ground pork!)
1/2 onion, chopped into small bits
1 stalk of celery – chopped into small bits
1/2 of a green bell pepper – chopped and seeded
3 cups hot cooked rice (use brown rice for this one!)
1/2 cup chicken broth
A few shakes of garlic, basil and a dash of smoked paprika
Directions
Cook the meat in a large skillet until browned. Add the spices and the veggies then saute until soft – drain off any grease/fat.  Add the chicken broth and stir to mix, cook for 5 minutes longer then gently fold in the rice.

This makes about 4 servings.  You could toss this in a food processor and give it a chop to make it more manageable for babies.  This does freeze well.

Enjoy!