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Today I’m celebrating the recent release of my latest cookbook, Natural Baby Food. Published by Hatherleigh Press and distributed by Penguin Random House, this book is the culmination of a year of work and is the follow up to my Natural Pregnancy Cookbook. After many late nights spent researching, writing and testing recipes, it’s so exciting to finally see the finished product in print. It’s almost like giving birth to another child!

Pretty in Pink Raspberry Pear Puree

Writing this book was a labor of love and I wrote it as I was going through my own experience of starting my daughter on solids. Like most parents, I had a lot of questions like when do you start your baby on solids? What kinds of foods should you give them? What foods should you avoid? How much should you feed them? How do I make my own baby food at home?

Tropical Rice Pudding

I wanted to create a comprehensive guide that parents could turn to for answers to all of those questions while also providing them with a wide variety of nutritious, wholesome, and delicious recipes. In fact, the book contains more than 150 recipes ranging from when you first start your baby on solids at around 6 months of age all the way through to toddlerhood and beyond. It starts with simple single ingredient fruit and vegetable purees and progresses to combination meals, finger foods and toddler recipes. The last section even has recipes that the whole family can enjoy together.

Banana Date Oat Muffins (no sugar)

Making your own baby food at home is easy, nutritious, economical and fun! Plus, with homemade food, you know exactly what your baby is eating because you made it. You can let your inner chef run wild! You have a small but critical window of opportunity to develop your baby’s palate in their first two years. By choosing to make your own baby food, you are helping your little one develop a liking for tasty, nutritious food from an early age, all while putting them on the path to lifelong healthy eating practices.

Grilled Cheese Dippers with Creamy Tomato Sauce

Here’s a recipe from the book, my Purple Power Puree. A combination of blueberries, kale, and apple, this colorful puree is packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants! It’s a great way to incorporate nutritious greens like kale into your baby’s diet. They’ll love the flavor as well as the vibrant purple color of this dish. Look for Tuscan kale (also called laminate or dinosaur kale), which has a milder flavor and more delicate texture than curly kale. You can also use baby kale. I like to use organic apples and kale in this dish because the conventional varieties are commonly listed on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list of the fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide levels.

Natural Baby Food is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart and anywhere books are sold.

Recipe

Purple Power (Blueberries, Kale & Apple)

Makes 1 ¼ cupsFrom Natural Baby Food by Dr. Sonali Ruder

A combination of blueberries, kale, and apple, this colorful puree is packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants!

4.56 from 29 votes

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Course: Baby and Toddler Food

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 10

Total Time: 25

Servings:

Calories: 24kcal

Author: Dr. Sonali Ruder

Equipment

▢
food processor

Ingredients

▢ 2 medium apples, washed, peeled and chopped
▢ 1 cup chopped Tuscan (lacinato) kale, washed, peeled and chopped
▢ ½ cup blueberries, washed

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Place the apples and kale in a steamer basket set over boiling water. Cover and steam 8 minutes. Add the blueberries and steam an additional 2 minutes (optional).
Puree with an immersion blender or food processor until smooth, adding a small amount of the cooking liquid if needed. If desired, strain the puree through a fine-mesh sieve. Cool and serve or store.
Purple power puree can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 3 days or in the freezer for 3 months. If freezing, spoon individual portions into ice cube trays or baby food containers, then cover and freeze.