Green Bean Puree Baby Food Recipe

Organic Frozen Green Beans

Green beans are often recommended as one of baby's firsts foods. Green beans are high in Vitamins A, C & K, as well as Calcium, making them a good choice for your baby's diet.



Ingredients:

• Green Beans (frozen or fresh)
• Water as needed to achieve desired consistency

Recommended for:

• 4-6+ months

Yeild: 

• Approximately 21 oz (based on using a 500g / 1.1 lbs bag of frozen green beans)
  

Cost Comparison:

• $0.20 per oz (I used frozen organic green beans) vs. $0.27 per oz for the commercially prepared organic baby food (based on $1.20 per 4.5 oz glass jar). I could have definitely found cheaper green beans, which would have reduced the cost.

Steamed Green Beans....yuck!

 
Directions:

• If you are using fresh green beans you will have to clean and remove the ends.
• Steam frozen green beans according to package directions, until tender. Steam fresh green beans no longer than fifteen minutes.
• Reserve the water from steaming and set aside. You can use this water to add to thin out your puree while blending (as this water has some of the nutrients that are lost during the cooking process).
• Allow the mixture to cool a bit before transferring into the blender/food processor/baby bullet (or, if you are me, skip this step and burn your fingers).
• Add water as desired and blend. I added about 6 oz of water to reach a thicker puree consistency.
• You will probably find that it is difficult to puree the green beans into a smooth consistency. This was definitely the most difficult thing I have pureed so far. I found that if I divided it into smaller batches it was much easier to blend. Once all my batches were somewhat blended, I but them all together and blended for a uniform consistency.
• If you are looking for a very smooth texture, you can strain the puree, but this is not really necessary.

Consistency without added water.

Consistency with added water. You can see it's still kind of grainy.

Storage:

You can use whatever type of containers to have on hand to refrigerate or freeze your baby food, but there are a couple things that you should keep in mind:

• Any baby food you put in the fridge should be consumed within 3 days.
• Frozen baby food is optimal if consumed within 30 days, but can be used for up to 60 days.
• Keep baby food in small portions, as you will have to discard any left over from each feeding. This is because babies (and adults!) mouths are full of bacteria, once this bacteria touches the spoon and gets into the food it starts to grow. If you put this food back in the fridge the bacteria will continue to grow, and feeding this to your baby later may make them ill. 
• Do not freeze puree that has been made with previously frozen breastmilk. If you want to use breastmilk in your puree, it is best to use fresh breastmilk.

Pureed Green Beans in the Mumi & Bubi freezer tray.

Note: If you freeze this puree, you may notice that it is kind of clumpy when you defrost it. I find that stirring it well with help smooth it out a bit.