Recipe: Baby's Banana Mini Muffins

I had a few bananas that were ripening faster than we could eat them so I started looking into recipes online for baby-friendly banana bread. Instead I found several variations on banana bread muffins and landed on a combination of several, along with some substitutions that a) worked with what I had in my kitchen and b) catered to my baby's health.

The result? A delish banana apple mini muffin that is SUGAR-FREE, EGG-FREE, ORGANIC and IRON-FORTIFIED...so pretty much a great go-to snack. One quick comment on my organic approach: I am trying to feed my child (and in turn, the family as a whole) as many organic foods as possible. Now that we are back in our full-time home (versus our hiatus in Alaska) I am slowly turning over everything I can in my pantry to organic items. Obviously organic is interchangeable with inorganic, and it is a personal choice, as these things are typically more expensive and do not last as long as conventional ingredients. 

I plan on freezing whatever we don't plan on eating in the next couple days, and then pulling out one or two at a time and reheating in the microwave under a paper towel. Enjoy!

Baby's Banana Mini Muffins

Ingredients
2 Cups of Earth's Best Whole Grain Oatmeal (you can substitute any kind of flour or blended oats)

1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t ground organic cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg (ok all I had was allspice and cloves so I went with cloves :-)...need to put that on the grocery list...)
3 very ripe organic bananas
1/4 Cup organic apple puree (just popped a few cubes out of a ziploc in the freezer!)

1/4 Cup unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a mini muffin tin with cooking spray.
2. Mix most of dry ingredients together in a large bowl: 2 Cups of oatmeal, 1 t baking powder, 1/2 t baking soda (half of what you'll need), 1/2 t of salt, and the 1/4 nutmeg/ allspice/ cloves/ whatever. Set aside.
3. Peel and mash bananas in a medium bowl. Add the apple puree and the other 1/2 t of baking soda.
4. Combine the banana mixture with the dry mixture, adding in the melted butter. Stir thoroughly. This will be pretty lumpy.
5. Add heaping teaspoons into each muffin spot in your tin. Bake in oven for 15 minutes.

One quick comment: Not sure if it is my wonky oven (we have been trying to get to know each other since we bought the house in June and still aren't seeing eye to eye) or the recipe, but the muffins do not really rise and instead sink a little bit. The upside I see to this is they are perfect for a small scoop of vanilla ice cream on top if grown ups are eating these (Bugga is not eating dairy yet).

Because they didn't rise, I was sure I screwed something up (still not positive I didn't??) but they are actually delicious. I hope there are some left by the time Bugga gets up from her nap!

Baby Food

The last time I posted on here about Bugga's menu, we were just about ready to get started on solids. I started to hear more and more about baby-led weaning (BLW) where babies are given finger-size pieces of foods (versus starting with purees), so I spent a lot of time looking into all the options.

In the end I decided on a combination of approaches, and then handled each food case-by-case. The plan was to puree all foods for the First Taste (I'm referring here to the 4 days in a row I feed her something new to watch for any allergic reactions). Then, if a food would do better as a finger food where she can feed herself, we'd try that next.

We waited until 6 months of age to start Bugga on solids. If there is ever going to be a time where I can provide the most perfect foods for her, this would be it. I really enjoyed shopping for the best organic produce that I could find for my daughter.

I started with avocado, sweet potato, and butternut squash, in that order. Some parents don't always start with avocado, but since my kiddo is a little on the small side and avocado is the only type of produce with natural fats, (oh AND I love all things avocado personally), this would be good for her. She loved them all.

At this point, my daughter is 8.5 months old and has eaten many things, though I am still pretty tight with the reins (it's pretty much all from our kitchen vs. a restaurant or whatever).

For details on how to prepare these foods, please reference the Wholesome Baby Food blog - it is a great resource!

Here is our menu so far:

Always Puree/Mashed (so far...):

• Sweet potato (mashed; tried to do steamed slices but they turned to mush and she couldn't pick them up; these mix well with some fruits and chicken)
• Butternut squash (she liked this a lot, but I haven't made any since the first pureed batch that lasted the first month or so)
• Banana (started pureed/mashed, but now I just slice and then quarter - this is the "stall" food in between bites of whatever she's being spoon-fed each meal)
• Apple (steamed and then mashed - mixes well with chicken and other fruits)
• Peas (steamed then pureed)
• Green beans (steamed then pureed)
• Spinach (steamed then pureed) (**side note - I now just keep frozen cubes of spinach in my freezer after this project for ALL of my cooking - so easy to just toss a couple into regular meals)
• Peaches (baked then pureed)
• Pears (baked then pureed)

Pureed then Finger Food:

• Avocado (mashed and in slices, this is great to mix with other foods)
• Chicken (not sure which list to put this on...I blended the chicken down to teeny bites, then shredded it further and usually mix it with something else - Apples get rave reviews)

Always JUST a Finger Food:

• Blueberries (started these just cut into quarters right out of the gate - and these are already a favorite)
• Watermelon (started with a giant chunk and let her go to town - what a MESS! - pureed versions are really watery, but mixes well with peaches to dial down the tartness)
• Cheerios (as sold - these are great for on the go where you don't want to get into all the mess that comes with real foods)
• Pasta (organic Cavatelli from Whole Foods - these are mini baby shells - the perfect bite-size for Bugga!)

More to come on this as we continue to expand the palette. Bugga had her 9-month well visit with the pediatrician today, and I specifically asked about peanut butter. I can do a separate post on this topic at a later time, but he is fine with us giving that to her when we are ready.

Also, you'll probably notice we skipped the baby cereals like rice cereal and oatmeal. I will probably go "back" at some point and give her oatmeal (because I love mine) but probably won't bother with the rice cereal.

Nom Nom Nom (Baby Food!)

Now that Bugga is 5.5 months old we are getting close to a very fun time - solids! She has only tasted breastmilk so far in her short life, but she is VERY curious about everything we are eating. Her neck is strong and she can sit pretty well on her own so hopefully our first attempts will go well.

I am traveling to a wedding in a week and a half, but once I get back, I plan on trying this out.

In the meantime, I am trying to do a lot of research on how to approach this. I thought that another benefit of me staying home with her would give me a chance to put a lot of care into what she will be eating. I now have the time to shop for organic fruits and vegetables, and prepare them myself so I know exactly what she is consuming. However, I just learned of a new food introduction method called Baby-Led Weaning (BLW). I'm not completely sold on it, so the jury is still out on this end while I read up.

Please let me know what route you took, and if you have any great resources, please post the links! Thanks!