Baby Pureé. Bananas, Beets and Basil.
Why so serious?
This purée of bananas, beets and basil is one of Viona’s favorites. No big surprise as I myself am a huge fan of basil. My wife picked up these beets from our local farmers market and we had some browning bananas lying about so I got to thinking; beets taste like dirt and she already has a taste for that and anything else she finds on the ground. BUT, what if I could sweeten the mix with some sweet brown bananas? There are a lot of nutrients in beets so I would like for Viona to eat them, but who wants to eat spoonfuls of just dirt? So bananas it is.
I first wash and peel the outside of the beets with a carrot peeler. Since these dirty tubers grow under ground and my baby is consuming them, I like them to be as clean as possible. Then I quarter them.
Steam the beats and reserve the water for the purée. All of the nutrients are in that steamed water so use that instead of adding regular water later to get the right consistency.
Then…
I throw the beets and ripe bananas into this fabulous baby food contraption my wife just had to buy. It’s pretty nifty because it steams and purées which means less dishes for me to do later! Yes, I do the dishes because my wife loves to help make messes but hates to clean up. Sometimes it’s like she forgets where the trash can is when she’s in the kitchen. But thats ok with me cause I don’t dust or clean windows, so it feels like an even split, I guess.
As I am looking at the beets and bananas, I start to feel like something is missing. They need something else with a bolder flavor to help bring these two together and at the same time break up the blandness. Something that kicks you right in the tongue buds as it helps lift the earthen dirt duo to a level of loveliness. That something was basil. We always have a plant on the kitchen window and it felt like it threw a brick at me. I love basil, so why wouldn’t my man cub? I quickly grabbed some leaves and tossed them in there.
I feed it to Viona and…success!!! She loves it. She is eating beets and she doesn’t even know it. AND she looks like the joker which is amusing for me.
You can also go the safer route and use Golden Beets. It a lot less messy with the same yummy taste. My wife prefers this now since she thinks I will stain some of Viona’s clothes. Even though she is a baby and will end up with stained clothes anyway. Oh, well, wife wins this battle. Here is what the golden beet batch turned out like….
The golden beets from our farmers market are easy on the eye…but still taste like dirt.
Recipe:
1 bunch of beets (5-6 medium to large beets). Steamed.
2 ripe bananas (try to use them when they are browning, you need the natural sugars to help mask that beet taste).
Basil to taste (I used 6 large leaves.)
Instructions: Peel and quarter the beets. Steam them and reserve the steamed water. Slice up the bananas, or just break them into sections small enough for your blender. Rinse off however many basil leaves you decide to use. Add the steamed beets, reserved beet water, bananas and basil leaves to the blender (or food processor or baby food maker). Puree until desired consistency is reached. If your baby is just starting out on purée’s, then smoother is probably better. If your baby has been on solids for a while you can try a little more texture and not purée it as long. If your purée is still a little to thick, add water until desired consistency is reached.
Enjoy!
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