(Note: As I started typing this blog today, I thought it may be fun to introduce our family. Maybe I will add a second post today and have a little brag session about my beautiful family!).
Well… I tried my hand at home made baby food today! I have to say, it was surprisingly easy. From the day I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to make Little C’s baby food. However, you all remember how crazy busy I am right? So I am going in with an open mind. If we feed him store bought foods, so be it, but I can do my best and make what I can and freeze it. Let’s see how this goes…
Little C is a tiny lil’ guy. He is *barely* on the growth chart, but he is gaining weight every day! YAY! Turns out my milk supply never fully came in, so he was starving for the first 5 months. Poor guy (guilty mommy moment right there)! He was such a happy baby that he never fussed for more food. Aside from him losing weight, we never would have known he was hungry! We decided to start solid food just shy of 6 months to see if it would help with his weight gain. I have been reading non stop on home made baby food and have found some wonderful sites! For anyone wanting to make their own food, but not knowing where to start, check out Momtastic's Wholesome Baby Food and Homemade Baby Food Recipe. Those two sites have been great information sources for me. I learned you can give your wee one things like avocado for their first food, not just rice cereal. Who knew?
With great first foods in mind, I went to the farmers market and the grocery store to get started on Little C’s meals. I blindly bought avocado since I know little to nothing about what’s ripe and what isn’t (thank goodness for my iPhone and Google), and we bought pears, carrots, peas and sweet potatoes. Not that I am setting myself up for failure, but *just in case* my home made versions didn’t work out, we bought a few jars of Wild Harvest Organic Baby Food.
Life went on as normal and we found little time in our crazy busy schedule to make baby food. Little C had the avocado (he ate it, so hopefully that means I bought a good one), then he had a jar of bananas (which he did not like), a jar of pears (which he did not like), a jar of peas (which he loved) and a jar of sweet potatoes (which he loved). Hmmmm….. I starting to wonder if Little C likes veggies, but not fruit…
I had a little time to make a batch of baby food, so let’s see how he likes carrots. They have to be his favorite because they are home made with love (insert cheesy sigh here).
At the farmers market I picked out the best of the best carrots! Well, that’s not completely true, my kids picked them, but they looked great to me too!
I came home and chopped them up into small chunks.
We don’t own a steamer, so I improvised. Good thing I sell Tupperware! Their double colander works perfectly!!
While the carrots steamed, I got out my Smooth Chopper and Freezer Mates ice trays. The Smooth Chopper doesn’t need electricity, so I can easily use it while the kids are napping and it won’t wake them up. The ice trays are nice because they come with a seal (not shown) to keep out any odors!
The carrots looked done, so I mashed one with a fork to make sure. Easy peasy squishy, so that means they are good to go!
I put the carrots in my Smooth Chopper…
…pulled the cord 3 times (no joke. 3 times)…
…added a little water and pulled a few more times…
And wah-la! Little C’s Made With Love Carrots.
I stored them in ice trays for individual servings and freezing and we are good to go. In case you are wondering, Little C loved them! Of course, because they are vegetables. Maybe we will try apples next…
Awesome! I wish I would have made my own baby foods, we did the Gerber premade baby food which he liked but we moved him to solids rather quickly (he has pretty much been eating whatever we are eating since he was about 8-9 months old)!!
ReplyDeleteMix the avocado with the banana. My kids LOVED that. I also did homemade baby food, while it is time consuming, I just took one Sunday out of each month and did it ALL that day. I even bought a million Ziplock 4 oz containers for storage and put them all in my deep freezer. There's a GREAT book I used, that contains wonderful recipes and helpful tips, called The Best Homemade Baby Food On The Planet by Karin Knight. Seriously, the best purchase I had made. Good luck! It's well worth all the effort! Also, butternut squash makes a ton off food that you can mix with applesauce and chicken for tons of meals.
ReplyDeleteEgg yolks but not whites are okay too :)
ReplyDeleteI have a book you can have if you want, I used it with Leo. I made 95% of his food, spent a afternoon and made batches of all kinds of stuff. Get apples nad put them in the crockpot, takes about 6 hours but it works slick. As he gets older you won't have to mash as much, it is awesome! I have some containers you can have too :)
Kellyn
Wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to make A her own food, but couldn't. I think I'll try it whenever we have another!! It's good to know I have someone to go to with questions!
:)