BABY FOOD

Today is cooking day! Since Daniel started eating solid food, I have made all if his baby food. It really is very easy. It is also healthier and more cost effective. I started off slowly introducing foods and now he eats a whole crew of fruits and veggies. He is yet to be introduced to any meat. I find it is easiest to make all of my food on one day.  Here is what I made today

Asparagus

Yellow Squash

Zucchini

Eggplant!
(Until I made this baby food I had no idea how spongy and plain looking it is once the skin is off!) 

Mango!

Green Beans!

I started to puree what I had aready cooked but had to stop since  my neices Emma and Allie were visiting and both were taking naps. This machine is very loud! Thus the cooking continues and the food starts to pile up.

MMMmmm Butternut Squash!

Rutabaga (I have never even eaten this but Daniel likes it!)  

Pears

Avacado

Everything I have cooked today minus the rutabaga because it was still baking.

I also made sweet potato and have yet to make broccoli, melon and carrots. I got tired and since we only have 3 ice cube trays I figured I had done enough for the night. Once pureeing begins I will pour the food in to ice cube trays to freeze then transfer to freezer bags to store. I will keep all of this in the fridge until the first batch of food freezes. 

 Let me tell you this makes for a looooong day but it is so worth it. You just have to make sure your kid/kids are occupied and there is someone else there to help out with them or you would never get this done in a timely manner. 

It is also more time efficient to be cutting, cooking and pureeing at the same time. I usually prep anything that needs to be baked like the butternut squash and sweet potato first and get it in the oven since it takes the longest to cook. Then I start on the steaming. (I try to either steam or bake anything because boiling sucks your food of its nutrients. Pretty much anything that can be boiled can be steamed.)

  

 Once I get the first batch of steamed food in I begin cutting up the anything else I have to cook and stick it in a bowl or container to keep until the steamer or oven is ready for it. I take the first batch of steamed veggies and dump it in the food processor. I poor the next batch of veggies in the steamer and begin pureeing what just came out( adding a little water until it is the right consistency). I poor the processed food in to an ice cube tray and pop it in to the freezer. Once it is frozen I put it in labeled freezer bags and voila you are finished!

 I used  momtastic.com  for all of my questions regarding what kinds of things to prepare for Daniel and how to prepare them. They even have recipes for a variety of mixes and suggests some spices you can add once the baby is a little older. I don't normally do all the fancy stuff but feel free. I have used nutmeg and cinnamon when baking the rutabaga. 

(hmmm.for some reason the baby food link on that site isn't working...)

Baby D eating and watching me cook