North American Beauties

I’m often struck with a hunger pang at approximately 12:30pm. each day at work, so I take last night’s dinner, which I tidily packed in a food storage container, to the office lunch room to heat up.  9 times out of ten the one office microwave serving 30 employees has a frozen t.v. dinner inside that still has 6 minutes to go, plus 2 more waiting on the counter beneath along with the watchful eyes of those who placed them there.  All I need is a measly minute 40?  Still, I along with countless others in the Western World return each day around the same time because it’s the most common time of day to have lunch.  I wish I could force feed myself cabbage soup at 9:45 am.  But alas, I cannot.

Luckily defrosting homemade baby food cubes takes no time at all really.  About a minute on a speed defrost setting should do it.  Not that defrosting baby food and waiting at work for the microwave have anything to do with each other but I was aching for a segue.

Today I’m making blueberry puree with fresh mashed banana.  This brings back fond memories for me.  It was one of the first baby foods I made for my son.  He loved it.

Blueberries are filled with antioxidants, vitamin C and potassium and are a good source of fibre.  They truly are North American beauties as they are one of the few fruits that are native to the continent.  Add some fresh mashed banana and you have an amazing baby super food which is extremely easy to prepare.

Blue Monkey

Age – 6 months +

Ingredients

·         1 ½ cups of fresh blueberries

·         Freshly mashed banana to add to each serving

·         Yes, that’s it.

Baby Steps

1.      Clean and rinse blueberries and add to a small saucepan along with 2 tbsps. of water.

2.      Turn heat to medium low and cook uncovered stirring often until blueberries are soft and juice is bubbly, about 5 minutes.

3.      Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.

4.      Transfer to a bowl and use a hand held blender to puree.

5.      If you want to remove the skins altogether press the puree through a sieve and discard the skins.

6.      You can keep the puree in food storage containers in the fridge for up to 48 hours, or in the freezer in freezing trays for up to 3 months.

7.      To complete the dish, take 1 portion of the blueberry puree, either fresh from the fridge or defrosted from the freezer and warm up slightly.  Mash ½ a ripe banana well and add the blueberry puree.

8.      The 1 portion of blueberry puree along with the ½ banana mashed should make enough for 2 servings so split in two and give baby one portion then refrigerate the rest for later in the day.

Makes 10 servings – (1 serving = 1 tbsp. of blueberry puree to add to mashed banana)

Notes

-          It’s not advised to freeze the blueberry and banana together as banana doesn’t freeze well as a puree and will discolour.  So you can still freeze the blueberry puree into cubes and then just defrost and add to freshly mashed banana when ready to serve.

-          When you’re working with blueberries, especially when pureeing them, make sure to cover yourself up with an apron or your best duds (I know we all get gussied up when cooking baby food) could be permanently coloured in a vibrant blueberry hue.  This goes back to a discovery made by the Northeast Native American Tribes when they discovered that blueberry juice made an excellent dye for baskets and clothes.

Tomorrow’s Monday.  Back to work.  Back to the lone microwave.  I think I’ll pack PB and J.