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

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