What Is Your Favorite Healthy 'Quick Fix' for Your Baby?

Tofu! It is a great protein, super easy and quick to make, can be flavored in a million different ways, is inexpensive and is one of the things I keep in the fridge at all times. I like to use extra firm tofu, slice it into 2 thinner squares and seer it in a pan with a tiny bit of olive oil and whatever seasoning I'm feeling that night. Then I cube it and serve it as I would meat-with veggies, pasta, rice, whatever. Good luck!

- bread soaked in a puree or a broth
-mashed banana with or without baby cereal
-oatmeal or multigrain cereal
-avocado!
-mashed sweet potato or squash (pre cut from whole foods or in the frozen foods section)

Hope you get a lot of other ideas!

This is going to be fun!
Toast, with jelly. Pancake pieces, waffle pieces, Cheerios, puffs, small fruits and tender, cooked veggies. Tender chicken bits, soups, noodles, rices, pastina, pastas,
Really, almost anything you eat can be offered--just make sure it's small and soft and not a choking hazard.
You might want to take another look at any leftovers from when you cook (or hubby!) and they will probably make a few nice lunches for her.

I like to give my daughter a vegetable pasta mix.
When she was young I would take chunked vegetables (peas, carrots, broccoli, but you can use whatever) and make sure they were extra soft.
And put about a table spoon of white pasta sauce on them...just enough to coat, but not gooey or soppy with sauce.
As she got older I added a little bit of pasta, you could do whole grain or regular whatever you like.
I also like to do a version with a little bit of blue cheese dressing (you can do whatever your fav is though), spiral noodles, soft vegetables, and you serve it cold.
You can basically do it with any sauce, any type of pasta, and any vegetables. When she was under a year I started off with extra cooked macoroni salad noodles (they are the small short ones).
Cornbread with a little milk on it, smooshed and fed with a spoon.
Blueberry pancakes with a little milk on it, smooshed too.

Some of our easily pureed, quick staples are:

-Gnocci/egg fettuccine and a good quality vodka bottled sauce
-A halved avocado with or w/out seasoning
-Bananas
-Burritos (tortilla, avocado/cilantro/tomato, sour cream or yogurt, cheese, beans
-Sweat potato (mashed, fries or "chips")

Just a quick tip - Buy bags of frozen veggies, carrots, green beans, etc. You can then easily put a small amount in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and microwave until done. Whenever you feel like she's ready, these would also be easy for her to feed herself : )

I love the book "First Meals" by Annabel Karmel. Look it up on Amazon.com or another book site. It has pictures of most recipes, age appropriate feeding chapters/recipes, and an age appropriate daily feeding chart for a guideline. It has such tasty easy recipes that my kids LOVE - and even I love, and suggestions for up to 3-5 year olds. I just read some of the reviews, but you should try it (someone took it out from the library first), it is an awesome reference.

I remember my son just deciding one day that he was no longer going to eat purees. I had a freezer full of them and he didn't want to eat them. I started making him puree sandwiches with soft whole wheat bread or pitas. They also make great sauces for pasta for his little fingers to pick up and you can use 1/4 cup puree as a sub for an egg in your favorite waffle, pancake or muffin recipe. I would make those in quantity (and even do now after my frozen purees are long gone) and freeze them. It's really easy to pull a pumpkin muffin out of the freezer and pop it in the microwave or toaster oven for 30 seconds to thaw it. He also loved savory pancakes. Just take out the sugar, add some garlic powder or herbs and pureed spinach or broccoli. Other easy favorites are chopped fruit (banana, peaches, pear, berries, grapes, oranges), steamed or roasted veggies (peas, carrots, sweet potato, potato, corn), tofu, cereal, crackers, cheese. We're vegetarian, but little meatballs make good finger food at that age too.

A great site to check out if you want to make some of your own stuff is weelicious.com. She has recipes for everything from purees to older toddler food and you can search by dairy free or egg free or by age.

For my little guy (now 21 months) it was unsweetened applesauce with other fruits in it. His favorite is pink applesauce (strawberry or mixed berry). He also LOVES cheese. Don't be afraid of flavorful food (not burn your mouth spicy). My little guy will look/taste most things once and I have found that he prefers flavor over bland. And if you call it dip he will eat it up in no time! At that age I also tried peas, olive pieces may have been slightly older, cooked carrot pieces (steam in the microwave less than a minute), black beans, anything small bite of what we were eating. I understand the monotony problem but really start giving bites of the "mushier" or easy to gum/chew foods from your own plate.

Try hummus. It's already mushy.
She can also have drained beans out of a can - kidney are probably the best texture-wise.
She can start having mac and cheese if the pasta is cooked enough (try Annies Organic - it's only a tiny bit more expensive than kraft).
She could probably have cream cheese and jelly sandwiches if you bought soft white bread and cut it into very small pieces.
If the doc has cleared her for eggs, you can get her snacks like muffins from the bakery.
If I think of anything else, I'll come back.