Prim is cutting her first two teeth right now, but I didn’t let her toothless status up to this point stop me from feeding her things outside the puree realm (because, let’s face it, purees can get kind of boring after awhile!)

I wanted Prim to get used to different textures as well as tastes, so I started introducing her to soft, non-pureed foods pretty early on. This not only gets her used to non-smooth textures and the act of chewing, it also helps her develop her coordination and the all-important pincer grasp that babies need to master in order to effectively feed themselves.

Admittedly, in the beginning Prim was a fan of what I called the “fist and shove” eating method — grabbing a piece of food in her fist and attempting to shove the whole thing into her mouth (all while keeping her fist tightly closed — not quite the most effective eating method) But now that she’s been working with finger foods for well over a month, she’s gaining dexterity and is able to feed herself even small morsels from her highchair tray.

If you’ve got a little one that you’re cooking for and are looking for non-pureed foods that are suitable for babes who have yet to get their teeth, here are some things I’ve given Prim that she’s loved:

Finger Foods:

• Steamed or boiled veggies, a la the picture above ^^ (usually tossed with a little butter and salt)
  • carrot sticks
  • broccoli
  • cauliflower
  • parsnip sticks
  • potato sticks
  • sweet potato sticks
  • green beans
• Fruit
  •  orange slices (peel removed)
  • grapefruit slices (peel removed)
  • diced banana
  • raspberries
  • diced ripe pear
• Small diced pickle
• Small diced green olive
• Beef stew
  • diced potato and carrot, beef shredded
• Flaked salmon
• Scrambled eggs
  • I usually add some veggies to this — diced green chiles, avocado, steamed broccoli, roasted cauliflower, or whatever is randomly available in the fridge, like smoked salmon

Non-Finger Foods:

• Butternut Black Bean Soup
  • Prim LOVES this — I serve it to her with a little goat cheese, greek yogurt, and some diced avocado
• Lentil Vegetable soup
  • This is a great recipe because you can pull the veggies out and serve them as finger food, if you want
• Quinoa
  • I like to mix this with some pureed veggies for a little texture
• Cous cous
• Split Pea soup

These foods are all in addition to the regular pureed foods that I feed to Prim — check out this post if you’re looking for recipe ideas for purees!