Collard Greens, Pineapple and Apple Puree

Collard Greens are a wonderful way to add more greens to your baby’s diet, especially when they have just started eating purees. After all it is a whole new world of different flavors after drinking milk for the first several months. I would recommend not adding more than ¼ cup of greens the first few times because their digestive system is still developing. 

When picking up any greens, always go for the freshest leaves. They shouldn’t be tough or have any discoloration. The leaves should be easy to pull away from the stem when you are tearing/ cutting them. You will also see quite a lot of mud on the leaves which is only natural so cleaning them properly before eating is a must.

What I do is: 

Fill two big bowls with lukewarm water.
Cut/ tear the leaves (I also use the stems because of the high nutritional value) into one bowl and thoroughly wash, making scrubbing motions with your hands, this will loosen any grit.
Now transfer the washed leaves in the second bowl and repeat the washing process. If you still see mud, wash the first bowl with soap and water and fill it with lukewarm water again. 
Repeat the washing steps until you don’t see any grit left in the bowls. 
Once the leaves are clean, you can use them in any dish you want. 

Tip: Since pre-washed Collard Greens are hard to come by, this recipe can also be prepared with Spinach. Use the same quantity of Spinach and try to find one of the triple washed bag/ box to save time.

Ingredients:

• Collard Greens – 1 cup, cut in pieces
• Pineapple – ½ cup, cut into chunks
• Apple – 1, big (cored, peeled and cut into chunks)

Directions:

• Place the Collard Greens, Pineapple and Apple pieces into a small pot with ½ cup of water. 
• Cover and cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes.
• Let it cool down completely then use only half of the water (in which they were cooked) to make the puree. Puree using a hand blender/ food processor or Nutri bullet.
• Yummy homemade Puree is ready! You can keep this in fridge for up-to 2 days. 

Tip: You can use the leftover water (in which the greens and fruits were cooked) to cook your meals, curry/ gravy/ rice etc.

Try these Baby Food purees as well:

• Purple Carrots, Butternut Squash and Dried Apricots
• Chicken, Acorn Squash, Golden Beet and Ginger Powder
• Carrot Puree/ Carrot Avocado Puree
• Mangsho Bhat (Chicken Rice with Potato and Tomato)
• Pot Roast
• Apple Puree/ Apple Mango Carrot Puree
• Triple Berry (Blueberry, Raspberry, Strawberry), Banana and Oatmeal Puree
• Green Power: Green Beans Puree/ French Beans and Pear Puree with Yogurt
• Breakfast Purees – Pear Oats Plums Blueberry and Pear Oats Apricot Mango
• Garlic Tomato Pasta Puree
• Chicken Broccoli Fried Rice/ Casserole
• Chicken and Barley Puree with Sweet Potato or Butternut Squash
• Avocado Purees – Avocado Cherry Banana Puree and Avocado Orange Banana Puree
• Sweet Banana – Banana Avocado Pineapple Puree with Yogurt and Banana Golden Beet Mango Puree
• Butternut Squash, Strawberry and Golden Beet Puree
• Sweet Potatoes, Peas, Butternut Squash and Mango Puree
• Khichri (Lentils and Rice with Garden Veggies Puree)
• Cheesy Chicken Pasta with Zucchini Carrot and Cilantro
• Kiwi, Carrot, Butternut Squash and Mango Puree
• Carrot, Apple and Ginger Puree
• Beef Barley Stew for the Babies
• Cardamom Chicken with Vegetables for the Babies
• Plum Apple Avocado Puree
• Red Lentils Puree with Turnip, Zucchini, Sweet Potatoes and aromatic Cloves
• Cheesy Chicken Pasta with Carrot, Yellow Squash, Apple and Oregano
• Green Beans and Asparagus Puree
• Green Beans, Green Apple and Avocado Puree
• Pear, Turnip, Collard Greens, Purple Carrot with aromatic Star Anise
• Cheesy Chicken Pasta with Carrot, Tomato, Pear and Mint
• Blueberry Strawberry Peas Avocado Puree
• Sweet Potato, Mango and Avocado Puree
• Kiwi, Green Beans, Peas, Strawberry and Blueberry Puree
• Kiwi, Green Apple and Banana Puree
• Collard Greens, Yellow Squash and Sweet Potato Puree
• Chole Chawal (Chickpea curry with Rice)
• Sweet Potato, Kidney Beans, Purple Carrots and Green Apple
• Diary of Finger Foods
• Beef Beetroot Yellow Squash Puree
• Butternut Squash and Kiwi Puree
• Rice Pudding with Apple and Banana
• Ginger Beef with Veggies
• Cheesy Chicken Pasta with Golden Beets, Acorn Squash, Peas and fresh Parsley
• Plum Puree
• Plum, Blackberry Puree with Yogurt
• Apple Blueberry Puree
• Beef, Broccoli, Sweet Potatoes with Garlic Puree
• Chicken, Yellow Squash, Apple with Nutmeg
• Chicken, Mango and Broccoli Penne
• Turnip Pear Broccoli Yellow Squash
• Plum Cherry Mango Puree
• Carrot Peach and Cherry Puree
• Diary of Finger Foods -1
• Mangoes Cherries Peach Acorn Squash and Mint Puree
• Carrot, Peach, Butternut Squash puree with Clove
• Beef Pasta with Spinach, Tomato and Carrot
• Pear Banana Oatmeal
• Apple Mango Kiwi Banana Puree with a dash of Vanilla Extract
• Diary of Finger Foods - 2
• Mango Banana Coconut Cream (with Yogurt) Puree