I love that Joe loves to eat.  It’s wonderful, but it’s also a lot of work.  There have been times where I’ve missed the ease of a solely breastfed baby, but I’m also appreciating the bit of freedom that it’s given me.

I try to keep his meals as simple and economical as possible.  My basic tools are a hand blender, stove top {hob, as it’s referred to in NZ}, and oven.  Oh, and freezer.  Otherwise, it’s just the usual utensils, pots, and pans.  Joe generally eats a less-spicy version of our meals, but there are a few things that I make just for him.  It’s great to have something to pull from the freezer when I’m rushed, headed out the door, or don’t have anything else ready.  One particular food that Joe enjoys are my Banana Sweet Potato Bites, or Banana Kumara Bites {NZ style, yeah!}

I modified these from a recipe that I saw elsewhere and gave what I consider to be a more appropriate name.  They’re easy to make, don’t require any added sugar, and have only 5 ingredients:

• 4 C diced sweet potato (kumara)
• 2 bananas (the riper the better)
• 3 T oil (could be vegetable, canola, or sunflower… something mild)
• 2 eggs
• 6 T milk (breast milk, cow’s milk… you choose)

Preheat oven to 500 F (260 C).  Put the diced, unpeeled sweet potato in a microwave safe bowl.  Add a small amount of water, cover with a plate, and microwave on high for 15 minutes.  If you don’t want to use the microwave, just steam them on the stove top.  You can boil them if you want to, but you’ll lose some of the nutrients when you drain the water.

When potato is soft and mushy, add 2 ripe bananas, cut into sections.  Blend with hand blender or in regular blender till smooth.

Meanwhile…

Put oil, eggs, and milk in a bowl.  Whisk together with a fork till well-combined, then fold into sweet potato mixture.

Drop by heaping 1/2 tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.

Bake in preheated oven till lightly browned and somewhat firm (they shouldn’t smush when you press on them).  I did 2 pans at once, which required more time in the oven (about 30 minutes).  If you do 1 pan at a time, try 12 minutes for starters and see how you go.  Regardless, keep checking them – you may need to loosely cover with foil at one point to prevent the tops from burning.  I should have done this, but was in the middle of nursing Joe and forgot to look.

Allow to cool, then place on a plate/tray and freeze.  When frozen, put them all into a Ziploc bag for easy storage.  Make sure you take a few out and let your resident taste-tester sample them:

A Few Notes About This Recipe:

#1 – The original recipe can be found here.  They called them sweet potato puffs, but these almost seemed like pancake cookies to me – soft and fluffy.  It may be because I decided to substitute the butter for oil, or it may be because I added the eggs all at once rather than separating them (whoops).  Who knows.  If you want to try the original recipe, feel free and let me know what you think!

#2 – Do NOT give your baby tastes of the batter.  It can be especially tempting when they’re fussy and on your hip and desperately stretching their grabby little fingers for the bowl {ahem, Joe!} but remember that these have raw egg in them.  Not so good for baby’s tummy!

#3 – The cooking time varies.  The original recipe said to preheat the oven to 500 F, but my oven will only go up to 250 C (482 F).  That probably made a big difference, but I can only work with what I’ve got.  My advice: keep an eye on them and find the time that works best for your oven.

#4 – If you want, you can add some nutmeg or cinnamon.  I’ll probably do that the next time around, but they taste great without either of these spices.  I was strongly tempted to munch away on these during Joe’s nap, but was able to resist!