Vegetable Risotto with Cheese

It appears that today's modern baby has a more cultured palate than those born even just a few years ago.

I blame hours and hours spent watching Food Network in the last trimester.

So it was with great interest that I picked up Gerber's Vegetable Risotto with Cheese.

I've seen risotto made (on TV), but have never attempted it myself. To be honest, the dish intimidates me. I know it takes a long time to make and that one false move and it can go from fancy side dish to pasty goo pretty fast.

Figuring this may very well be Sweet Pea's only chance at having risotto while living under my roof, I picked up a jar. Uh, a tub.

This is one of those fancy plastic square tubs I was talking about.

I decided to pair it with a delicious peach chaser -- dessert, if you will. Though, to be clear, this taste test is only for the risotto. (What baby doesn't love peaches and other fruits?)

Here's how it went:

Vegetable Risotto with Cheese from Gerber's SmartNourish line

Ingredients: water, carrots, butternut squash, whey (from milk), whole grain brown rice flour, tuna oil (source of DHA), dried cheddar cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), disodium phosphate, annatto extract (color), choline bitartrate, gelatin, alpha tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E)

My take: Opening the container, I was struck by how much it looked like the prepared cheese sauce in boxed macaroni and cheese. It was a bright orange color -- much more orange than the peaches.

I immediately picked up on the cheese taste, though I wouldn't say it was extraordinarily cheesy. It was more starchy. The veggie taste (mainly the squash) came through as more of an aftertaste. For me, the texture was somewhat off-putting. It was pretty pasty.

Now, about all this DHA business...

When Mad Dog and The Deuce were born 11 years ago, the buzz was all about iron. Iron-fortified baby foods were everywhere and if given the choice between something with or without iron, I typically (out of fear of screwing them up) took the one with extra iron.

When Crowbar came along 6 years ago, everything boasted extra calcium. Now, many brands, Gerber included, are pushing products with DHA, claiming it helps support brain and eye development.

Standing in the baby food aisle, I look around, scratching my head and wondering: Where's the stuff with the extra iron and calcium? Doesn't that matter anymore?

In our quest to make bigger, better, faster, stronger babies, it seems these manufacturers have been changing their collective tune and jumping from one bandwagon to the next. What's a mom to do?

After feeling a twinge of guilt and apprehension, I've made up my mind to stick to the basics. Serving well-balanced meals, good foods (as few chemicals as possible), and milk at every meal (when they're old enough) is key. It comes down to using common sense and not giving into the latest trend.

I know I'm not going to screw up my kids if I don't load them with iron-, calcium- or DHA-infused food. And I don't appreciate being made to feel guilty -- or at a minimum anxious -- about grabbing a jar of good old-fashioned, 100% pure carrots over something that advertises it improves brain development.

OK. I'll step off my soapbox now. Your turn, kid.

Sweet Pea's take: The first bite made her wince a little, but most new foods do. She took the rest without argument, but didn't seem to dig it as much as some of the other foods we've tested.

I've got to stop coaxing her to smile in every picture. It's a habit, I guess.

The verdict: 2 bottles (out of 5). Again, by adding some rice flour (in this case whole grain brown rice flour) does not make this risotto. Nice try, Gerber. The deal breaker for me wasn't the package's claims of better brain and eye development, despite my earlier rant, but it was the ooky, pasty cheese texture. I couldn't help but feel like there just weren't enough veggies in the jar, uh... tub. And I couldn't escape the feeling I was feeding her the foil-pouch cheese goo from a box of macaroni and cheese.