Ciao! Welcome to Buona Pappa.
My name is Barbara Lamperti, I’m Italian and I’m a mom of two wonderful kids, 6 and 8 years old.
I’m married to Albert, a wonderful husband and dad. We met in Rome, Italy. At that time I was working there and he was visiting his family…I do not know if you know the movie “Roman Holidays”…but our story is very similar to that 🙂 We started dating knowing that it was just for a short holiday (I lived in Italy, he lived in Los Angeles…too far, too many hours…no way!) and we ended up marrying two years later!! That’s life&love!
That’s how I quit my job, said ‘good bye’ to friends, double hugged my family, put everything I classified “essential” in two suitcases (ONY TWO, yes..) and took my flight to Los Angeles…a city that I only saw in movies and tv shows!!
I’ve always loved cooking, for my family, my friends and myself. I’m not a chef, I’m a mom and a wife with a huge passion for food, cooking and eating healthy.
When Luca was 6 months I was totally uneducated about the meaning of baby food. I always had a passion for food…but for “adult” food. I really had no clue on what to give to a 6 months baby!! At the beginning I tried the organic baby food jars, but Luca’s face was not terribly happy about the taste. I tried them and I couldn’t blame him for not being crazy about them. That’s when I started searching, reading, asking to my mom’s friends, my Italian pediatrician, my mom…and that’s when I realized that homemade baby food it’s easy to prepare, 100% healthy, less expensive and with no doubt more taste than anything else you can buy.
….and few months later BuonaPappa was born, (in Italian means “enjoy your baby food”). I thought that if I had issues cooking for my baby for the first time, well, maybe I was not the only mom in this situation. Why not sharing what I learned with other moms (and dads!!) all around the world?
Thanks to my lovely husband (by the way…he’s the Director + Director of Photography + Camera Operator + Sound Supervisor + grip + electric + buy the milk guy) I ended up with more than 100 videos on my YouTube channel and more to come. We started on a weekend during one of Luca’s naps. We literally learned everything from zero. We had a lot of fun, that’s why we keep doing it.
On BuonaPappa you will find homemade baby food recipes, recipes for toddlers, recipes for picky eaters and traditional Italian recipes for the whole family. Everything is kids’friendly and still yummy for an adult palate.
I’m a self-taught graphic designer and editor (thanks, YouTube tutorials!!!!!) and I feel so lucky I can do something I really enjoy. Every day I’m learning something new, it’s amazing! I feel blessed that I can work from home taking care of Luca and Alex.
THANK YOU for following BuonaPappa!
I feel honored and humbled daily that you would stop by and view my recipes.
Grazie mille!
38 Comments
Did you make this recipe? Share the love, tag @buonapappa on Instagram and hashtag it #buonapappa I would love to see your creations!
Wendy Cassidy
January 14, 2018 at 7:16 pmHi… my husband and I stumbled upon your video explaining how you shoot your videos and the equipment you use. We quickly went to your Youtube channel and loved it! We don’t have kids, but your gluten free recipes have us hooked. I’m making the tapioca cheese bread recipe today.
Barbara Lamperti
January 21, 2018 at 4:08 pmawwww, thank you!!! I’m so glad you liked my recipes!! lol, you are right, I’m talking to moms mainly but who said that kid friendly food is not adult friendly??? Let me know if you like the tapioca balls!!!! ciao, b
Ana
May 3, 2018 at 5:06 amHi Barbara – I love all your recipes and eat to make them all. I was just wondering where do you buy your cheeses or what brands so you use. I have made some of your recipes without cheese because I didn’t do what brand to get as I thought cheese had salt and it’s not good for my 10 month old. Thank you for all your delicious recipe ideas.
Ana
Barbara Lamperti
May 30, 2018 at 6:36 pmHi Ana! I buy my cheese either at the grocery store (I usually go to Trader’s Joe, I like their selection) or at the farmer’s market. Being local products they are not from big brands, they are usually from small local companies or farms. Salt. yes, cheese has sodium inside but it’s not harmful for your baby. The general recommendation is not to ADD any salt to your baby food, that doesn’t mean that the food that you offer him doesn’t contain sodium at all. Moderation is the key. Mixing some ingredients that contain a moderate amount of sodium is fine. I always suggest that extra teaspoon of grated Parmesan Cheese on top of my savory baby recipes. It gives an extra touch of flavor without hurting 🙂 Ciao!!! b
Ilanit nakach
May 6, 2018 at 2:56 pmI am waiting for your tutorial on editing the Food videos
Barbara Lamperti
May 30, 2018 at 6:39 pmHi! It’s a tricky one. I’ve been thinking about it and my major doubt is that the editing software that I use (FinalCutPro7) is an old one and a professional one. There are so many softwares on the market (free and not) that you can use that I don’t know how many people could be interested in my specific one. On the other side I was thinking about another video “how to film a video recipe with your iPhone” that might be interesting for more people.
Cheryl
June 12, 2018 at 11:34 amI found your you tube channel accidently as my 1 year old was going through a funny phase of refusing food so I decided to try a few different recipies and she has loved them All!
Barbara Lamperti
July 5, 2018 at 1:27 pmawww, that’s simply awesome!! I’m so glad to hear that and that my recipes can be useful to other moms!! ciao, b
iride olga laura de steffani
July 31, 2018 at 11:17 amCiao, ricette carinissime!!!
ma i tuoi “ragazzi ” mi sembrano bambini…o nel frattempo sono cresciuti? Altrimenti quando lo saranno come li chiamerai?
a presto
Iride
Barbara Lamperti
August 17, 2018 at 8:30 pmCiao! LOL, devo aggiornare questa pagina con le nuove foto fatte quest’estate!! I miei bimbi adesso hanno 5 e 7 anni, wow, il tempo vola!!!
Shobha Bellamkonda
December 4, 2018 at 7:50 pmHi Barbara, how ru?
I have to say first of all, thank u so much!!!Ur website saved my life, when i started my son on solids 2 months ago he would eat nothing, he would spit everything out. He hates food from outside. I dont blame him, the stuff tastes old. I was doing research online for baby foods and i came across ur you tube video, i was like god saved me!!! Thank u! My baby used hate banana and avacodo now it’s fav. Ur recipes r great!! Im so happy they r vegetarian friendly because we are vegetarians!! Thank u. I made the baby pancakes for us and baby. It’s goong to be our new routine. Please continue to do this.
Barbara Lamperti
January 7, 2019 at 11:01 pmawww, thank you so much for the sweet comment!! I’m so glad that my recipes can be useful to other moms. When I first started 7 years ago with my baby I didn’t know a lot about baby food 🙂 I loved to cook (and I still do!!), but I didn’t know what to change while cooking for a baby 🙂
BuonaPappa was born to share my journey in the baby food world and healthy cooking. My kids are now 5 and 8, but I still love learning about baby nutrition and cooking for little ones and luckily I still have many friends with babies to test my new baby recipes with!
Ciao! b
Juliette
December 22, 2018 at 12:11 pmCiao Barbara
Sento molto felice per conoscuti (anche tua belissima mama) alla festa per il cumpleano di Gemma! How beautiful the small joys in life!
Una grande baci e Buon Natale a tutti!
Barbara Lamperti
December 30, 2018 at 11:27 pmHi Juliette! E’ stato un vero piacere conoscerti alla festa della piccola Gemma 🙂
Spero di rivederti presto, nel frattempo tanti tanti auguri di Buon Anno!!! ciao, b
Dulmini
January 22, 2019 at 6:48 amHi Barbara, .
Your you tube channel is so amazing about baby food. You and husband have done great job. well made both food and video. I have 9 month old baby. He is not doing well with solids. He is so sensitive for foods with allergic to my favorite Banana and Avocado. Still he doesn’t want to take textured puree without smooth puree. I m so stressful with making food for him. Please give me advise.
Barbara Lamperti
February 15, 2019 at 10:33 pmHello my dear! Thank you for your sweet comment and I’m sorry to hear about your little one’s allergies. Allergies are not fun at all.
I really wish he will outgrow them, it happens very frequently with little ones.
Luckily both banana and avocado are not basic ingredients for baby food. Very nutritious indeed, but not essential.
I would not worry a lot about the texture. Some babies move up to the more textured food later in the developmental process. My second one kept preferring purees to chunk food up until almost two!! And now he’s eating and chewing like a sheep 🙂
Suggestions: first of all, don’t worry and keep trying more “textured” foods once in a while, few times a week to see if he likes them. You might also want to try separately: puree meals and on the side a finger food snack like steamed carrots or sweet peas or strawberry in small cubes or blueberries cut in pieces. Let him grab with his hands the finger food. Yes, he will make a mess, but he will exercise two things: hand coordination and chewing with his gums. Did you check my post about baby food textures? There are some tips on how to move from one stage to the other 🙂 The most important concept is that every baby is different and develops at a different pace. I hope I was helpful! Let me know if you have any question. ciao!! B
Shannon McCarthy
March 12, 2019 at 3:26 amHello Barbara,
I am so happy to have found your page! My youngest son is 15 months and he’s not gaining weight. He’s allergic to wheat, dairy, eggs, peanuts and barley. He also has a sensitive gag reflex and acid reflex. He’s had a lot of bad experience with vomiting so he’s a very picky eater and afraid to try new things sometimes. I’m very excited to try a lot of your recipes. All these great recipes are a life saver! Thank you very much!
Shannon
Barbara Lamperti
March 29, 2019 at 10:42 pmHi Shannon! Ouch, I’m sorry to hear that. Allergies and intolerances are not easy, I totally understand. I really hope your little one will outgrow them, it happens very often and I wish you he’s one of them. Let me know if you like a recipe and maybe you would like to know the substitution for an ingredient. Thank you so much for following BuonaPappa!! ciao, b
Anh
April 10, 2019 at 4:50 pmHi Barbara,
I have been following your page since I started doing research on baby food. I love your recipes!!! I have followed your instructions to make a lot of different types of purees for my kid. However, I haven’t used cheese as an ingredient. I’d be grateful if you could tell me whether I could use Cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan cheese in all of your recipes in which Parmesan is recommended. Thank you very much. Please keep posting new recipes. I love cooking more because of your inspiring page.
Barbara Lamperti
September 26, 2019 at 8:47 pmHi Anh, thank you so much for your sweet comment!!
Cheese. I use a lot of Parmesan in my recipes indeed, I really like it and, being aged, the lactose content is reduced to minimum, that making it easier to digest for little ones.If Parmesan is not available, any aged cheese can be a nice substitution (Asiago, Pecorino, Gouda, Manchego) exactly for the better digestibility reason.
So, yes to Cheddar, but the aged one if you want to switch it with Parmesan. I hope I was helpful and thank you so much for following BuonaPappa!! ciao, b
Skarlette Mora
July 24, 2019 at 12:30 amOoooh I’m so excited I found your blog, new mom of a wonderful beautiful baby boy 8mths old I subscribe here and YT
Off to surf your web
Skarlette
P.S hubby is Italian so you know he’s very close on what’s being serve
Barbara Lamperti
September 25, 2019 at 5:55 pmAww, thank you Skarlette. Welcome to BuonaPappa!!! Homemade baby food is always the best!! And your hubby can help you cooking 🙂
Ciao,b
Chiara
September 23, 2019 at 7:05 amCiao Barbara!
Finalmente trovo ricette originali! E d’altra parte l’autrice non poteva che essere italiana 🙂
A presto,
Chiara
Barbara Lamperti
September 25, 2019 at 4:58 pmCiao Chiara,
che carina che sei!! Grazie mille e sono contentissima che ti piacciano le ricette 🙂 Fammi sapere se hai qualche domanda. Un caro saluto, B
Robert Valdez
October 20, 2019 at 1:42 pmWhere do i find recipe for chicken soup. That you had on there at one time.
Barbara Lamperti
April 9, 2020 at 10:41 pmHi Robert. This one?
https://www.buonapappa.net/chicken-soup-with-noodles-pastina-recipe-how-to-boost-your-immune-system/
Thanks! ciao, b
Tevy Hin
August 25, 2020 at 9:39 pmHello , I have tried so many recipe for dairy and egg free cake but no one make the best cake than you . They are moist and fluffy. I just wonder if you have any recipe for dairy free , egg free brownie .
Thanks you
Looking for ward to here from you .
Barbara Lamperti
October 19, 2020 at 5:37 pmAwww, thank you! I’m allergic to eggs so that doubles my effort when I look for egg free recipes 🙂 I learned that it’s kind of easier to substitute the dairy rather than the eggs. Allergies are very common and it’s nice to enjoy a yummy recipe without risking side effects. I do have some vegan brownie recipes you might want to try. The avocado brownies are fudgy https://www.buonapappa.net/avocado-brownies-no-eggs-no-dairy/ I also have another one, the texture is more fluffy. https://www.buonapappa.net/guilt-free-chocolate-brownies-recipe-healthy-and-vegan/ Let me know which one you like the most!! Ciao, b
Annie
September 18, 2020 at 3:28 pmHi,
I am from India live in Dallas. I love your recipes. I have 27 month old boy. I am going to try dates banana bread this weekend. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Barbara Lamperti
October 19, 2020 at 5:09 pmAwwww, thank you! I’m so glad my recipes can be enjoyed by other families 🙂 Let me know should you have any question! Ciao, b
Kris Barone
October 22, 2020 at 2:00 pmHello, so happy to find you. Not for children, for my husband. Like minds. I troll food blogs for more than a decade. There are now two I rate with 5 stars. Yours is one. The other is Cookie and Kate. BRAVISSIMO! Making the Zuchinni muffins today. Thank you!!!!!!
Kris Barone
Barbara Lamperti
October 26, 2020 at 5:49 pmAwww, you just made my day!! I’m humbled and honored to receive your 5 stars, thank you
Anna
January 22, 2021 at 3:08 amHi Barbara,
My boy is turning 6 months this Sunday but I’ve already started with solids since last week. I am very interested in trying your apple and chicken receipt. You’re very creative with good and I think IL be trying many of your recipes in coming months ( yay! I’m excited). I just want to know if I can just go ahead and make him try a combination of ingredients instead of going one ingredient at a time? For example I haven’t yet fed him chicken OR apple yet. I see all these other recipes with more than 2-4 ingredients and this question always comes to my mind.
Thanks
Barbara Lamperti
May 24, 2021 at 11:01 pmHi Anna! I’m catching up with the messages. Your little one should be an adventurous eater by now 🙂 Your question is a good one! The research behind introducing solid food into a baby’s diet keeps evolving and the “2-3 days waiting rule” that was recommended by pediatricians few years ago is now changed. It used to be that you had to wait 2-3 days before introducing a new food in your baby’s diet. That was to check any possible allergic reaction and being able to isolate it and directly relate to the new food. The new evidence shows that non allergen foods can be introduced without waiting and even at the same time (apple, avocado and banana as an example). The rule remain for allergenic foods ( cow’s milk, eggs, nuts, shellfish, wheat, soy). The other new fact is that you can start introducing potentially allergenic foods (the previous list) right away at 6 months without the need to wait one or two years of age. I know, things keep changing and it’s always good to ask and keep themselves updated 🙂 I hope it helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Ciao, B
Kevin Locke
March 7, 2021 at 8:27 pmBuongiorno Barbara,
I found your YouTube video on making videos this morning and wanted to say Grazie! Found your website (because I’m too old for all of your other social media outlets) and learned a bit more about you and your family – very nice! You must miss Italy. I had hoped to celebrate my 60th with friends there this year, but then life dealt us this :). I traded California sunshine for Washington rain years ago (now hail!) when the Navy placed me here and my wife’s family keeps us here too. Love that you’re cooking such wonderful food for your family! I try to do the same for the two of us. Ciao!
Barbara Lamperti
May 26, 2021 at 8:46 pmBuongiorno Kevin,
Thank you so much for your kind message! I’m happy you enjoyed my video on how to make cooking videos. It’s a non stop learning process and I thought it would be helpful to share my experience 🙂
I do miss Italy a lot. The pandemic didn’t allow us to fly back and I can’t wait to see again my family, friends and enjoy my beautiful country. That being said I’m grateful California is such a sunny and positive state. I enjoy our life here and feel lucky I was always able to fly back and forward from two gorgeous places.
I hope you will enjoy some of my recipes and I wish you will be able to celebrate your birthday in Italy soon. Birthday celebrations do not have expiration date 🙂
Ciao!
B
Sarah
May 18, 2021 at 2:22 amHi Barbara! What a beautiful family and story I love it And I can wait to make the zucchini brownies! Our family is whole food plant-based so it’s always fun to find a new compliant dessert recipe! Love your accent ! Best wishes
Barbara Lamperti
May 24, 2021 at 7:16 pmHi Sarah,
Thank you so much for your sweet comment! I hope you will enjoy the zucchini brownies, it’s indeed one of our favorite recipes! Indulgent and guilt free 🙂 A very good friend of mine, Kayla, follows a whole food plant-based diet for her family too. She has an instagram account I think you will really like. It’s https://www.instagram.com/thefamilyfoodproject/
Ciao, B