Mealtime has gotten boring. Mason is teething right now and when his gums are sore he doesn’t want to eat, so I’ve resorted to giving him his favorite purees — Chicken and Apple, Sweet Potato and Peach, Zucchini and Carrot, yogurt with various fruits — over and over in an effort to get him to chow down. Now it’s time to change things up. I came up with a list of new purees last Friday that I’m going to whip up this week, but first Mason will try cinnamon-spiced raisins. The combo was inspired by the batch of cinnamon-spiced chocolate brownies that I made Saturday. (Mason’s too young to try chocolate so I pureed raisins as a sweet baby-friendly substitute.) I plan to swirl the raisin mixture into his oatmeal. Here’s the recipe. Be sure to let me know what your babe thinks and I’ll be sure to let you know how Mason’s first taste goes! (Update: Mason tried this recipe this morning and loved it! The raisins froze beautifully so I just warmed up the puree for about 20 seconds in the microwave before adding it to his oatmeal.)
Raisin Puree
Ingredients
8 ounces organic raisins
Water
Directions
1. Cook raisins until soft (about 20 minutes). Reserve cooking liquid.
2. Puree raisins, adding water until the puree is smooth.
Yield 10 ounces
Cinnamon-Raisin Oatmeal
Ingredients
Baby Oatmeal
Formula or Breastmilk
Raisins Puree
Cinnamon
Directions
1. Prepare 3-4 ounces baby oatmeal according to directions on box.
2. Sprinkle a dash of cinnamon into 1 ounce of raisin puree (you want the fruit to be very lightly spiced, especially the first time baby tries cinnamon).
3. Warm cinnamon-raisin mixture, then swirl it into your prepared oatmeal.
