Versatile Blueberry Puree & Gooooooaaal!
It feels like it’s been a long time since I traded weekend brunches and lazy lunches with girlfriends for soccer games, swim meets, little kiddie birthday parties, and mommy & me class. Of course, I say this lovingly, as I adore spending time with my family, but as I reflect upon the past 10 years of my life, in many ways its changed so very dramatically, but definitely for the better.
This morning, as I sit in front of my computer as Bebe E still sleeps and I look out our window, I feel very… reflective. I am distracted, however, by the bright, yet gloomy August skies. I wonder why June-Gloom seems to keep making appearances through July and again in August. Perhaps it’s just a morning marine layer or it’s just too early in the morning! This isn’t the typical sunny, blue-sky and very hot August weather I’m used to experiencing around this time in Southern California. In some ways these gloomy mornings put me in a bit of, for lack of a better word, “funk” and I feel like rambling about a whole lot of nothing. (Wait, that’s what I usually do anyway! Heh.) O sunshine, sunshine, wherefore art thou sunshine!!!!!
So I thought it was time to do another homemade bebe food post since I’m still very behind on these and I feel even more behind now that Bebe E is mostly enjoying table food these days. I will also admit that, due to my “funk”, I haven’t been cooking much. Well, that’s not entirely true. I’ve been cooking, but I’ve mostly been making really easy dishes with left over items in our fridge and freezer, such as steak with steamed broccoli and Pork & Beans (yes, we eat this stuff since I grew-up eating this with steak) instead of with awesome baked garlic fries, and a variety of different tacos since we have a bunch of leftover corn tortillas. Tacos made with ground turkey flavored with Lawry’s Taco Seasoning, and other tacos made with pre-marinated Korean BBQ chicken, but they weren’t as good as ‘It’s NOT Kogi Tacos’. Because of my trying-to-get-out-of-cooking “casual cooking” week and my “funk”, I don’t really feel like posting anything that’s even close to a semi-wow. Boring, huh? Sorry about that, friends! But since I’m in a mood to ramble, my blog is the perfect outlet for this. Heh.
With today’s bebe food post, I decided to share a very important sport in our lives. Soccer.
I didn’t grow up playing soccer. I was on the Culver City swim team and I played basketball with a Japanese – American youth league. I never watched soccer games or the World Cup on TV (to this day I dislike watching soccer on TV just as much as I dislike watching American football), but for many weekends out of the past several years I’ve been on the sidelines of a sometimes muddy, other times beautiful grassy field, cheering and yelling loudly for Big Onechan to defend, kick, run, and go for the goal.
Soccer is a huge part of Big Onechan’s life and it is her favorite sport. She’s played this sport since she was in kindergarden and she absolutely loves it. You gotta love it to endure strenuous practices twice a week during the off-season in the stifling evening heat of summer, as well as to wake-up super early on Saturday and Sunday mornings in order to arrive at the field by 7:15 AM to compete in a tournament. She’s very athletic, runs hard and fast, kicks with all her heart to defend and get the ball back on offense. She plays with good sportsmanship (she doesn’t play dirty like some of the girls I’ve seen – throwing elbows, holding etc.), she laughs at herself and shakes things off quickly if she makes a mistake, and most importantly she enjoys giggling and spending time with her teammates, just as much as she enjoys playing seriously to win.
I have to admit that I was never this athletic (I was always the skinny, waif-like girl), couldn’t run extraordinarily fast, and while I was competitive and wanted to win our basketball games, I mostly played because I enjoyed being social and laughing with my friends. I’ve always been more of a non-athletic girly-girl: shopping, spending time at the mall, doing arts and crafts, reading books, or lounging at the beach kind-of-a-girl.
On a recent weeknight, the family went out to the soccer field to enjoy a nice evening outdoors while Big Onechan’s team scrimmaged against another team for practice.
Our team is in burgundy and white.
I have yet to perfect my action / sports photography. I can’t even get still-food photography down, so don’t hold your breath!
Our team won the scrimmage that night, 3 – 2. Big Onechan didn’t score a goal but she played hard and valiantly, despite the fact that this game was just for practice. The girls have a tournament coming up this weekend over Saturday and Sunday, likely playing three games total, but unfortunately I won’t be able to cheer them on due to prior commitments. I’m sure Bebe E will cheer hard for the both of us and I’ll definitely be there in spirit!
Bebe E, cheerleader in training.
As Bebe E grows, it will be interesting to discover whether she is athletically-challenged and waif-ish like her Mama, or athletic and strong like her Dada and Big Onechan. For now, she seems very content cheering for her sister on the sidelines. Maybe some day she’ll want to be on the field amidst the action.
One of the foods I fed Bebe E often when she was between 7 and 9 months old, was pureed blueberries. I love the fact that blueberries are loaded with disease-fighting antioxidants, plus vitamin C to protect against infection. They are also perfectly sweet – not overly sweet such as mangoes, watermelon and cantaloupe (fruits Bebe E enjoys eating these days), but not too tart either.
Blueberry Puree
(7 – 9 Months Old)
- 2 cups organic blueberries
- 2 cups water
1) Bring water and blueberries to boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer on medium – low heat for 6 to 8 minutes until blueberries are tender.
2) Allow blueberries to cool. Drain, but reserve boiling liquid.
3) Using a hand blender, puree blueberries until smooth. If necessary, add reserved liquid to the pureed blueberries until desired thickness. I never needed to add any reserved liquid because I found the puree to be fairly thin. Store in BabyCubes in fridge for up to 3 days, and in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Ways I Used this Blueberry Puree
Cold Fruit Smoothie
Mix blueberry puree with mashed banana, mashed peaches and a touch of natural apple juice diluted with water. This was great when Bebe E was teething because she loved anything cold.
Banana – Blueberry Mash
Mix banana mash and a dallop of blueberry puree, mix, and serve. Bebe E loved this banana – blueberry mash as an alternative to her morning mashed bananas.
Apple – Blueberry Sauce
Mix homemade apple sauce with blueberry puree. Voila! An interesting and healthy alternative to plain ol’ applesauce.
Apple – Pear – Blueberry Mix
I know, I know… it’s getting old now, right? :) But you get the picture. The blueberry puree can be added to any number of fruit purees to create different flavors for your little one. I often mixed homemade pear puree, homemade apple sauce and the blueberry puree together.
Blueberry Yogurt
Simply mix whole milk yogurt with blueberry puree. Whole milk is best for developing babies under the age of two because the fat helps the development of their brain. I can’t remember where I read this but it was likely in Sears and Sears “The Baby Book”.
I buy Yo Baby organic yogurt and it can be found at Whole Foods. They’ve got the best selection of flavors. The vanilla flavored yogurt went well with the blueberry puree. And yes, I do taste all of her food. :)
Blueberry Cottage Cheese
Although Bebe E only likes cottage cheese if I mash all the cottage cheese chunks, after Korean American Mommy suggested blueberry puree and yogurt, I thought I’d give it a whirl with cottage cheese too. It’s a keeper, especially when mixed with peach slices.
Blueberry and Banana Oatmeal
I make Bebe E oatmeal made with old fashion whole grain oats and whole milk. I usually mix banana with her oatmeal since she seems to like this, but I recently added a little blueberry puree too, and she seemed to like this too!
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Between 7 and 9 months I experimented quite a bit, mixing a number of different fruits together to broaden Bebe E’s palate. She seemed to enjoy most everything that we tried, likely because of her love of sweet fruits.
I hope your little one enjoys these as much as Bebe E. Oh, and it’s sunny now! Clear blue skies and warm. Looks like it will be a great day, after all. :) Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
Bon appetit little bebe!
Judy | bebe mama
- 2 cups organic blueberries
- 2 cups water
- Bring water and blueberries to boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer on medium - low heat for 6 to 8 minutes until blueberries are tender.
- Allow blueberries to cool. Drain, but reserve boiling liquid.
- Using a hand blender, puree blueberries until smooth. If necessary, add reserved liquid to the pureed blueberries until desired thickness. I never needed to add any reserved liquid because I found the puree to be fairly thin.
- Store in BabyCubes in fridge for up to 3 days, and in the freezer for up to 3 months.
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