When you’ve got one soft, ripe mango, one banana and one hungry baby, that’s a perfect combination! Smooth and creamy, this Mango Banana Puree is an ideal first food for any little one. Your baby will be getting more than her fair share of Vitamins A, C and B6, dietary fiber, Potassium and more. With all these exciting facts, you don’t need to be on the National Mango Board to know this puree will be a real winner!

Mango Banana Puree (Makes 8 Baby Food Servings)

1 Mango, cut into chunks
1 Banana

1. Place the mango and banana chunks in to a food processor.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Serve.

We used this to freeze this recipe:

Baby Cubes

When I was a kid, I loved being my mother’s “kitchen assistant” when she entertained for friends. I was always in charge of passing out appetizers such as toasts spread with Boursin, an herby, spreadable cheese. Recently I was at a friend’s party and became nostalgic watching all of the kids run around eating toast with cheese spread on top. And then, it was like a lightbulb went off — Kenya and Chloe will eat pretty much anything that consists of bread and cheese, so why I never before thought to try this healthful spin on an old family recipe had me kicking myself!

I love artichokes for both their flavor and health benefits. They’re a fantastic source of fiber, vitamin C, and potassium, and are loaded with antioxidants. Goat cheese has a nice tartness and more protein than cow’s milk cheese, so this simple spread that literally takes a couple of minutes to prepare also packs a lot of taste and nutritional value. Not only did I spread it on some delicious toasted whole grain bread for my kids’ dinner, but the next day I mixed some of it with pasta for Chloe and made a sandwich with it for Kenya’s school lunch. From the looks of Chloe’s bowl and Kenya’s empty lunch box when he got home, it was clear they weren’t tiring of it.

Now, if I can only get the two of them to work my next dinner party….

Artichoke Cheese Spread (Makes 1 1/2 Cups)

1 12 Oz Jar Marinated Artichoke Hearts (in oil), drained, reserving 2 tbsp of the juice
1/4 Cup Goat Cheese (you can also substitute cream cheese)
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
Accompaniment: Crackers, Bread, Toast

1. Place the drained marinated artichoke hearts, goat cheese, 2 tbsp reserved juice and lemon juice in a food processor.
2. Puree.
3. Serve on crackers, bread or even mixed into pasta.

Once you move beyond vegetables and fruit purees and into baby’s first foods, the real fun starts to happen. This is the time when introducing new flavors and textures can be exciting not only for you, but also for your baby.

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wa) is a food that you might not automatically think about serving to your little one, but not only is it incredibly nutritious, it’s also delicious. Quinoa has the most protein of any grain, has a soft texture (which is great on little gums), possesses a delicious nutty flavor, and I find that kids love to eat it. Mixing it with the banana (a flavor that your baby is likely already very familiar with), makes it very likely that your little one will really take to this recipe. And since it only takes 15 minutes to cook quinoa and it stays well in the refrigerator, it’s a great food to keep around for you or your baby to snack on morning, noon or night!

Quinoa Banana Mash (Makes 2 Servings)

1/2 Banana
Pinch Cinnamon
3 Tbsp Cooked Quinoa
1 Tbsp Whole Milk Yogurt

1. Place all the banana in a bowl and mash.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
3. Serve.

When I’m trying to come up with new baby food purees, I have several unspoken criteria that I always try and meet: I want to make something that tastes smooth and creamy, but also provides as much visual interest and nutritional value as possible. There are certain foods, like broccoli, that meet almost all of my standards: it’s loaded with essential vitamins and minerals, has beautiful color and is delicious when steamed on its own. But pureed alone into baby food and the results are watery and bland. Still, broccoli is so nutritionally ideal for babies, I refuse to disqualify it just for being blender-averse. Instead, I simply combine it with a couple of other select ingredients and, voila, it’s perfect.

By adding potato and cheese to this recipe, the broccoli incorporates beautifully and the resulting puree has a smooth texture that’s perfect for babies. In addition, the cheese provides a healthy dose of dairy, making this dish a superstar. Both of my kids ate this regularly when they were starting solids and never seemed to get enough of it!

Broccoli, Potato & Cheese Puree (Makes 6 Baby Servings)

1 Large Potato, peeled and cubed
1 Cup Broccoli, chopped
2 Tbsp Cheddar Cheese (I used white cheddar cheese)

1. Place the potato cubes in a steamer pot over boiling water and cook for 6 minutes.
2. Add the broccoli and steam for an additional 4 minutes or until vegetables are fork tender.
3. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and puree.
4. Serve.

Recently, I made Baked Maple Bananas for Kenya. Everyone who tried them couldn’t get over how delicious they turned out. They’re intensely sweet, creamy and have a delicious caramel note to them. I felt like there were more recipes to be mined from that one. Pears are in season and abundance at our farmer’s market, so I thought I would try roasting them together with bananas to make baby food for Chloe. There’s nothing wrong with pureeing ripe pears and bananas together, but when you roast them it just intensifies the flavors and texture even more.

Pears and bananas are a good source of fiber, so they’ll also help to get things moving when your little one gets stopped up (TMI?)

How did it come out? Amazing! I have no other words. In fact, if you don’t believe me, check out this quick video I posted here on Twitter of Chloe taking her first bites of it. Now the hard part is trying to keep this puree away from everyone else in the family! It’s so yummy, you’ll want to serve it on top of yogurt or even to spread on a bagel with almond butter. It’s funny how these days everyone in my family wants to eat Chloe’s baby food!

Roast Pear & Banana Puree (Makes 6 Servings)

2 Bananas, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 Pears, peeled and cut into wedges (I used Bartlett pears)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place the bananas and pears on a parchment paper or Silpat lined baking sheet.
3. Roast for 25 minutes.
4. Puree until smooth.
5. Cool and serve.

Chloe’s had an exciting introduction to solids, trying just about every fruit and vegetable available at the farmer’s market over the past 2 months. It’s been so exciting for us to watch her very first reactions to all these new flavors. While she has obviously enjoyed a lot of what I’ve made her, it is clear that persimmons are by far her favorite. When I first pureed some for her, I wasn’t sure how she would react. Persimmon isn’t a typical first food for a baby. It would be unlikely to find a jar of it in the baby food section at any grocery and fresh persimmons are not always easy to find, depending on what part of the country you live in. But here in California, where basically all U.S. persimmons are grown, they are everywhere you turn this time of year. I was totally surprised when Chloe ate the entire first batch I made for her — in one sitting! It was the most I had ever seen her eat.

Persimmon puree is really thick and smooth, has a beautiful bright orange hue, is sweet and is perfect for one of baby’s first foods. There are 2 varieties of persimmons: Fuyus and Hachiyas. The tastes are similar though there are some big differences to note. Fuyus are rounder and can be eaten firm. They have an apple-like texture, where as Hachiyas are heart shaped and need to ripen until REALLY soft before you try eating them. I usually buy ripe Fuyus, and peel and chop them for this recipe (there is no cooking involved). You could also use Hachiyas for this, just make sure they are super soft before eating them yourself or using them for this puree.

Persimmons are a great source of vitamin A, C, beta-carotene and soluble fiber — which is very important for baby . Whenever you feel like your wee one is a bit constipated, just give her a “p” fruit (peaches, pears, plums, papaya and especially persimmons), because the “p” also stands for poop! Seriously, it works every time!

Persimmon Puree (Makes 4 Serving)

2 Persimmons

1. Peel the skin off the persimmons and cut into cubes.
2. Place the cut persimmon into a food processor and puree until smooth.
3. Serve.

*Place in Baby Cubes and freeze.

We used these to make this recipe:

Cuisinart DLC-2 Mini Prep Plus Food Processor

Chloe’s just over 5 months old now and we’re gearing up for an exciting end of summer and fall full of baby food purees. I’ve just started freezing purees using peaches, nectarines and mangoes and we’re gearing up for butternut squash, cauliflower, sweet potatoes and so many other delicious fall fruits and veggies. I made one of Kenya’s favorites, Plum & Banana Puree, so I could freeze a batch for Chloe and put a few spoonfuls on yogurt for my little guy.

This is Chloe’s weelicious debut! I hope you like the recipe.

There are THE most beautiful Santa Rosa plums at our local Farmer’s Market right now. I have to say that of all the fruits I love, when stone fruit is in season I could not be more excited. The dark purple hue of the plums is so beautiful and the meat is sweet and when pureed, perfect for a baby. I like adding banana to this recipe because it thickens the puree, adds extra nutrients such as potassium and makes a sweet food that babies adore.

You could easily peel the skin off of ripe plums and skip the step of pushing it through a sieve, but just in case your plums aren’t super soft, my directions call for simply cutting up the fruit, tossing it in the food processor and whizzing it up.

No matter how you make it, I guarantee your baby will love it!

Plum & Banana Puree (Makes 6 Baby Servings)

2 Plums, chopped and pitted
1 Banana

1. Place the ingredients in a food processor and puree.
2. Place the puree in a sieve over a bowl and using a spoon or ladle, push it through so the puree is in the bowl and plum skins remains in the sieve.
3. Serve.

*Place in Baby Cubes and freeze.

We used these to make this recipe:

Cuisinart DLC-2 Mini Prep Plus Food Processor

I can’t even begin to tell you how gorgeous this dish came out — well, I don’t have to tell you. Just watch last Friday’s video and see for yourself!

When I first made this recipe for Kenya he was as fascinated by the taste as he was by the color. He kept saying “pink food!” as he ate bowl after bowl. The ingredients are almost identical to a true hummus, minus the tahini, and the addition of the beets make it a nutrient-rich dish that also provides a healthy amount of protein.

The flavor and smooth and creamy texture of this puree is so delicious I think you’ll find it to be a hit with kids of any age in your house. Kenya loves eating things he can dip, so when I put this on his plate he likes to use the hummus as a dip and everything from vegetables to chicken gets put into it. Now that I have a little girl, I can’t wait until I can make this for her birthday party. Pink food — every little girls dream!

Red Beet & White Bean Hummus (Makes 3 Cups)

1 Medium Beet
1 15 Oz Can White Beans, rinsed and drained
1 Large Garlic Clove, unpeeled
Juice of 1/2 Lemon (about 1/2 Tbsp)
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1 Tsp Salt

1. Preheat over to 400 degrees.
2. Wash beet well and place with garlic clove on a sheet of foil. Bring up sides of foil and fold to make a packet leaving room for heat to circulate inside the packet containing the beet and garlic.
3. Bake for 45 minutes or until beet is tender when poked with a knife.
4. Remove skin off of the garlic and the beet (I use a zip lock bag on my hand and slip the skin off so my hand doesn’t turn red).
5. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.
6. Serve.

We used these to make this recipe:

Cuisinart DLC-2 Mini Prep Plus Food Processor

I realized I haven’t done a new puree recipe for a while so I’ve been experimenting lately with a few new ideas. When Kenya was a baby, I used to love giving him all kinds of different purees like mango, kiwi and papaya. He was always game for all of them, so I find it funny that I never thought about blending them together. What a mistake! I don’t know if you could find a baby food packed with more nutrition than this tropical fruit puree. It’s great to mix with plain yogurt, oatmeal or just eat on its own.

Mangoes are considered a “super fruit” because they’re packed with vitamin C, dietary fiber and more. Kiwis are also a rich source of vitamin C, potassium (by weight, they have almost as much as bananas), vitamin A and E. Papayas, in addition to being rich in vitamins, promote good digestive health which can be incredibly important for babies little tummies.

I like to buy these fruits and cut them up for the puree when they’re soft and ripe. The day I made this puree my husband and Kenya wanted dessert after dinner, so I pulled it out. My husband looked at me like I was crazy for offering him “baby food” for dessert. That didn’t last long. He and Kenya devoured every last bite of it as if it were a bowl of ice cream.

Tropical Fruit Baby Puree (8 Baby Servings)

1 Mango, chopped
2 Kiwi, peeled and chopped
1 Cup Papaya, peeled and chopped

1. Place the ingredients into a food processor and puree.
2. Serve.

*Place in Baby Cubes and freeze.

We used these to make this recipe:

Cuisinart DLC-2 Mini Prep Plus Food Processor