Back to Basics: Purees

When I started this bloggity-blog my baby was only eating pureed food. I had fun pureeing the guts out of fruits and veggies and just as fast as it came, the stage had passed. My baby sprouted some teeth and we were on to real foods. My sister in law is going through the puree stage with her baby now and asked for a few recipes. That got me thinking about how few purees I posted. Here are a few noteworthy concoctions that survived my label cemetery. Remember I used to freeze and label each container? I saved those babies to remind myself what I made. Yeah, im so smart!

Anyway, here are a few to try for those of you still on stage 1.

1.     Sweet potato, yellow squash, and peas.

2.     Zucchini, parsnip, and butternut squash

3.     Broccoli, butternut squash, and sweet potato

4.     Broccoli, kale, and sweet potato

5.     Spinach and banana

6.     Strawberry, peach and pear.

Puree Away.

Cherry and Banana Puree

You must be thinking “you’ve posted like 27 pattie recipes, we haven’t seen a puree in forever, you should call this blog mybabyonlyeatspatties.com” To that I have to say, pattie making is a great way to combine a whole lotta good ingredients in a portion controlled freezer friendly way. I still whip up purees when I want my baby to get certain nutrients from foods or for his breakfast oatmeal. Just yesterday, I saw beautiful cherries in the market and instantly thought, puree.

Cherries aren’t only for cocktails and pies, they are a super fruit and we need to take them more seriously dammit! Here’s a mind-blowing fact, cherries contain 19 times more beta carotene than blueberries or strawberries. They have one of the highest levels of disease fighting antioxidants compared to other fruits, major vitamin C, potassium, iron, magnesium and folate. I’m impressed cherries, very impressed. Another interesting fact that I did not know until 2 seconds ago was that cherries contain melatonin…y’know, the natural sleep aid. Great for demonic babies who won’t nap.

Cherry and Banana puree

24 cherries

1 Banana

1.     Boil the cherries for a few minutes (I lost track of time)

2.     Let cool and squeeze the pits out.

3.     Peel the banana

4.     Combine and puree.

5.     Splash of breastmilk or formula if you find it too thick.

Makes 6-8 servings. Delicious with oatmeal for breakfast.