Sunday 20 September 2009

Banapplerry smoothie and an epiphany

I am starting to feel that this blog should be renamed Adventures in Food with a Small Baby. Now that Sylvia has begun to eat solids, her presence in the blog will continue. Little bits of leftover baby food are sneaking into my cooking. Even my smoothies are beginning to resemble baby food.

I have mentioned once or twice before how much I hate pureeing food through a sieve. But for Sylvia, nothing is too much so for her first few weeks of solids I have pushed her food through the dreaded sieve. It does not make a good start to my days. I am not organised enough to freeze puree but I do have some in the fridge for a day or two to have a break from the sieve.

Then there is the actual feeding. Sylvia loves her milk but doesn’t fancy solids. So I slave over a stubborn sieve only to have the mouth clamp shut when the spoon goes anywhere near it. Grrr. A lot of time is spent coaxing the smallest amount in – and it gets pushed out quickly enough. She thinks spoons are for chewing and food is for finger painting. I find such a disdain for food inconceivable, given how much I love my food, though my mum assures me I too wasn’t so keen on solids. Maybe this is payback!

We have even bought her some airplane spoons. When E saw these he was surprised they were real and not just the fancy of the author of Foodie Babies Wear Bibs. (It seems he has lived a life oblivious to all baby things. When I told him Sylvia had her first ride in the kiddie seat of the supermarket shopping trolley, he expressed surprise that trolleys had such seats. But he couldn't resist buying her a three piece bunnikens set yesterday. We both grew up with such bowls although they weren't melamine.)

Yesterday I decided that enough was enough and mashed her stewed apple with a fork. In my energetic mashing, the container fell on the floor and most of it spilled out. I was not happy. I’d much prefer to spend my morning blogging!

Then today I had an epiphany. I finely grated the apple before cooking it. This seemed to work as well as anything. Some of it got into her mouth. She didn’t choke. I think there will be more fine grating. Strangely enough I don’t find grating fruit and vegetables odious like sieving.

As I said above, I end up eating some of her leftovers. Mashed banana or apple on toasted cranberry and raisin bread with cream cheese is one of my favourites. Apple sauce in baking is another. This morning I thought of how well her leftovers would go in smoothies.

I love apples in smoothies but as I don’t have a powerful blender nor a juicer, I find that fresh apples go furry and fuzzy in smoothies. So I end up buying apple juice to add. Today I thought I would try the finely grated apple in my smoothie. It wasn’t bad, although the smoothie was quite chunky. A bit like baby food. But it tasted good. Maybe I should try pushing it through a sieve to make it smoother! If only there wasn’t a crying baby demanding my attention!

Ginger Banapplerry Smoothie
Serves 1-2

  • 1 banana
  • 3 strawberries
  • 60g blueberries
  • ½ tsp ginger, finely grated
  • 1 green apple, peeled and finely grated
  • ½ cup red grape juice
Blend

On the stereo:
The Best of Blur

12 comments:

  1. Cute baby accessories. I think even I'd like the plane spoons!

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  2. Bravo to you for your endless patience in your search to discover the best way to puree! I completely agree with you - grating is infinitely less tedious than sieving... I'm quite impressed that you tackled the sieve at all - I confess that I always skip the sieve part of recipes - even my raspberry sauces have seeds in them... *sheepish expression* :-)

    Your smoothie sounds incredible! I love your idea of adding grape juice - I've never added grape juice to a smoothie, and it sounds delicious!

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  3. I had one of those three piece sets! A Peter Rabbit one. I still have them tucked away and get all warm and fuzzy when I dig them out. :)

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  4. I love those spoons, its a shame they dont make them in grown up sizes, imagine turning up to dinner at somebodies house and seeing those on the table!
    I like your creative use of baby food, especially on the cranberry and raisin bread, nomnom. Ive been experimenting with fruit and cream cheese, its so good!

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  5. Thanks Lisa - I am tempted to use them sometimes

    Thanks Astra - I usually avoid the sieving bit of recipes too - and highly recommend you try grape juice - although I have found a brand I love but have tried others that aren't great

    Thanks Susan - they are great - actually I was surprised to find E using the bunnikins plate yesterday :-)

    thanks fleur - would be great fun to have these spoons at a dinner party! and lover cream cheese with fruit too (had leftover veg puree in with my soup tonight!)

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  6. that is totally brilliant. i used to put in on oatmeal or pasta.

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  7. I think its great you are perservering. Stewed apple and banana mashed with yoghurt used to be my favourites (apparently!)

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  8. Thanks Maybelles' Mum - oatmeal and pasta are fine endings for baby leftovers

    thanks Katie - I love yoghurt so am looking forward to introducing that into her foods

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  9. Mmm, sounds good (even with the apple bits) ;) I am with you on this one--grating seems much easier than pushing through a sieve, not sure why. Sylvia's chubby little hand is just the cutest thing ever!

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  10. So many cute things in this post! I love the aeroplane spoons (I had no idea you could get things like that either). Poor you with the sieve though - I'm glad you thought of grating it.

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  11. Thanks Ricki - sylvia's little hand is so cute - it always amuses me when she just watches her hands but can you blame her!

    Thanks Lysy - I was surprised at how easy it was to find these spoons in the supermarket - but I don't know where I have seen them before

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  12. Those airplane spoons are way too cute!!! I have the Royal Doulton Bunnykins set too. =) Though mine isn't melamine either. Not sure what to do with it now though. My mom gave it to me when I moved out so it's just sitting in the cupboard. Actually I think the small plate is missing hm.

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