Cooking with Cat: Oh-So-Fun Frozen Fruit Cups

A perfect snack for your toddler on the go.

I was really excited to try this recipe, because I knew this would be a cool way to serve fruit in an oh-so-fun way. This is a great recipe for using fresh seasonal fruit, but if that is not available, you can use frozen or canned fruit as well. Just look for fruit in juice instead of heavy or light syrup. These fruit cups are easy to make and help to provide vitamins and necessary nutrients to promote healthy growth for your child. Check out the Nutrient Chart for an overview of essential vitamins and minerals your baby needs.

Here is what you will need to make the Oh-So-Fun Frozen Fruit Cups:

3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 can 13.5 oz crushed pineapple (do not drain)
1 can or 2 1/2 apricots, cut up (do not drain)
1 cup of pureed blueberries
1 can 6 oz. frozen orange juice (use apple juice for children under 12 months)

Puree blueberries.

Note* Measure 1 cup of blueberries and add water as needed for the puree.

Cut apricots.
Note* If apricots are in season, use fresh. If not, canned works too!

Pour apricots into bowl with crushed pineapple.

Mash bananas.

Pour mashed banana into bowl with pineapple and apricots.

Pour blueberry puree into fruit mixture.

Pour in orange juice.
*Note I made one can of frozen orange juice and used half of the orange juice. Make sure to read the label on the juice and avoid any thing that contains high fructose corn syrup.

Mix all ingredients together.

Pour into Freezer Storage cups or muffin liners. Place in freezer overnight.

Note* For multiple servings, you can  freeze in any airtight container. If you are using muffin liners, make sure to cover them.

To serve, remove from freezer and allow to thaw until the fruit is in a slush form and enjoy.

When your little one is finally ready to move beyond breastfeeding or the bottle to solid foods, the idea of introducing new sources of nutrition can be an exciting, but often confusing, proposition. What foods are best for baby’s first real eating experience and in what order should you include them? You’ll find many contrasting opinions regarding the veggies, fruits, grains and meats that are essential to your growing child’s diet. While each of these food groups is important for development and growth, deciding what is best to feed your baby first is a source of much debate.

First things first. Consult with your pediatrician to be sure your child is ready to take on solid foods – typically this will be at five to six months of age. Iron-fortified cereals like rice, barley and oats are a natural starting point. So what food group comes next? Here’s where it gets a little murkier. When my wife and I were going through this growth experience with our baby daughter, our pediatrician suggested experimenting to see what foods peaked our child’s eating interest. The problem was, she liked some foods much more than others – she seemed to only want pears and other fruits, for instance – and we worried that she was missing out on important vitamins and nutrition.

Interestingly enough, this a common challenge, and there are differing schools of thought. According to many pediatricians, the trick is to introduce baby to the blander foods, such as vegetables and grains first. After baby develops a taste for these, fruits and other foods that naturally have more flavor should come shortly after. This way you help to avoid a “fruits first = veggies never” reaction in your child. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics recently published findings that indicate while babies are born with a preference for sweets, the order of introducing foods does not change this.

So what’s the right solution? Like most things regarding your baby, there is not a “one-size-fits-all” answer. You’ll find that working closely with your pediatrician and paying close attention to your little one’s eating habits will help you to develop a nutrition plan that is as individual as your child. And by the way, our daughter is now a huge veggie lover – who would have thought? Bon appetit!