Mini Carrots & Mashed Root Vegetables

I recently found the Mashed Root Vegetable recipe on Mountain Mama Cooks and really like it! It has all of the 'comfort-food-ness' of mashed potatoes, with unique colors and flavors added from the sweet potato, celery root and parsnips. 

I added the carrots on top because I am  trying to expose WP to carrots. So far, he is not a big fan of them. But I heard here that a toddler may need to taste a food up to 10 times before they like it!  I have a bunch of carrots in my fridge, so I am trying to creatively and repeatedly incorporate them into lunches, snacks, and dinners. I try to make it fun for the boy, so I 'planted' the carrots and made it look like they are growing!

I made a few alterations to Mountain Mama's recipe:

Mini Carrots & Mashed Root Vegetables 

1 sweet potato

1 celery root

3 medium red potatoes

2 parsnips

½ cup milk

2 tablespoons butter

2 cloves garlic, crushed

salt

parmesan cheese (optional)

baby carrots (see below)

Bring a large stock pot of water to a boil. While the water boils, peel and cube the root vegetables into roughly 1 inch cubes.

When the water boils, add the celery root and return to a boil (it takes longest to cook). After about 10 minutes, add the sweet potato, red potatoes and parsnips. Boil for an additional 15-20 minutes until all vegetables are soft.

Immediately drain the water and add the vegetables to a mixing bowl (don’t allow them to sit in the water – they will get starchy/sticky.) Add milk, butter and garlic to the vegetables and mix until well combined and smooth. This may take a few minutes on medium-high speeds. If you have a potato ricer, you can use that instead of a mixer. Add salt and/or Parmesan cheese to taste.  Top with baby carrots so that it looks like the carrots are growing out of the mash.

For the carrots:

Peel the bottom end of a baby carrot until the bottom end resembles a tip.  Cut off the top end of the baby carrot so it is flat.  Poke a small hole in the top end with an ice pick. Add a parsley garnish. 

Print recipe here.

Love, Lauren

'Baby' carrots

Sweet potato, red potatoes, celery root & parsnips

cubed, cooked root vegetables