BananaRama

A good friend who also has a baby on purees has pointed out to me that I do not post any fruit recipes. I do feed my child fruit, I swear! In fact, sometimes I think I feed him to much fruit, because he loves it so much. Veggies sometimes make him gag and throw up because he does not like them much (especially the green ones) I have to make his veggies exciting for him to eat them. His fruit, however, he gobbles up plain. I do not need any novel recipes- he eats them how they are. Plain apples, plain plums, and especially plain pears (those are his favorite food, above anything else)

But, there are a few times when I make some different fruit dishes for him. His two favorites are BananaRama, and Fruit Cocktail.

BananaRama Recipe:
1/4 cup Frozen blueberries
1/4 cup Frozen Mango Cubes
about 1/2 of a ripe banana (bananas are ripe when they're turning brown)

Thaw the blueberries and mango in the microwave and puree using a food processor. I like to do the blueberries separately, because when processed and chilled they make sort of a jelly. The natural sugars cause the blueberry puree to set, and this tastes good on toast and ice cream! So I make a bit more blueberry puree than needed for my own use. Mash up the banana using a fork. I use ripe bananas because they are easier to mash, a bit creamier in texture, and sweeter in taste than the yellow bananas that most people prefer (I hate yellow bananas! Give me brown and spotty!) Mix the purees into the banana. This makes about two servings of BananaRama. Sometimes I use peaches instead of blueberries.

Fruit Cocktail recipe:
1 oz Pear Puree
1 oz Peach Puree
1 oz apple puree
1/4 banana
1tbs grape juice

Mix all ingredients. For Jonah, this is one serving (he eats about four-five ounces per meal) This is kind of our version of Tutti Fruiti, but I believe tutti fruiti has orange juice and pineapple juice as well. I would use 1/2 of a banana instead of just 1/4 if you add orange and pineapple juices, and use only 1 tsp of each juice, to keep it from getting runny.