Fruit Recipes & more

Like I mentioned before, I get most of my recipes/idea from http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ but here's the way things are done in the Queen household.

We have kind of been at a lull on starting new fruits but here's a few fruit recipes::

APPLES
I've tried baking them, boiling them & steaming them & then pureeing them but I was never happy with how they turned out. I've resorted to just buying all natural applesauce for him. It's SOO easy to buy the Wal-Mart brand natural applesauce (only apples & absorbic acid to preserve it) in the individual serving size containers. They are so portable when we travel or go out to eat.

PEACHES & PLUMS & NECTARINES
I slice them in half, de-pit them & put them in a casserole dish with about 2 inches of water. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25min or until the skin starts to wrinkle. Once they're done I let them cool until I can handle them. If you baked them long enough the skin should just peel right off, otherwise scoop out the fruit & puree. Since fruits have such a high water content I don't even add any water to them when pureeing. Plums tend to be kind of bitter so usually mix them with peaches, pears or applesauce.

MANGOES & PEARS
I peel them & slice them enough to fit into my Magic Bullet & puree. Again, no need to add water or even bake!! When choosing mangoes you want to make sure you choose ones that feel kind of heavy, that your thumb can leave an indention in & you want to be able to smell the mango. I found slicing a mango to be kind of difficult because the "pit" in the middle is so hard & large. Cut a slice off center, towards one side & then do the same to the other side. Then I cut the middle section like that again around the "pit".

BANANAS
I actually pureed these once but found it SO much easier to mash it with a fork. I'm was (still am) so nervous about him choking I was afraid to mash them. But now, even with his 2 little teeth, I can give him a big piece of banana & he can take bites off of it without choking. If I slice it into pieces it's difficult for him to pick them us since they slide all over his tray. I reads to coat the banana pieces with crushed Cheerios or wheatgerm. He absoutely LOVES his Cheerios so we always have those in the cabinet. I crush them up very finely & toss it over the bananas & serve. It's messy but that's the fun of it all!!

After thawing the fruits (& veggies to) if they're too watery I add some of his cereal to thicken it. I feed him fruits mainly for breakfast & mix them together or do a fruit & cereal.

I have to add...and keep in mind by no means I don't claim to be an expert on baby food, baby food making, foods, etc but I can say from experience the P fruits & apples help relieve constipation & bananas tend to constipate.

And because I don't have any photos of fruits I've made here's a couple photos of my beautiful blue eyed boy. Dena Stanley of Stanley Family Photography took these for us.