Food for the baby!

It's about that time again.  We are starting Athaiah on big girl food!  I love watching them at this stage explore all the fun and different flavors of food.  I made our baby food last time and we decided to do it again this time.  It is way easier on the wallet than buying a whole bunch of the baby food in the jars.  The run down on the cost is usually between 4 and 11 cents for 2 oz, which is about what they eat in the beginning. 

I make a lot of basics and then I just mix them together to make a lot of fun and different mixes.  Here is what I have made...pears, apples, bananas, mango, carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, and squash.  I need to make fresh of all the veggies as I had one small bag of each leftover from when Elijah was eating them.  They have been in the deep freeze so they are still good to use, but won't last us too long. 

 She has tried all the fruit so far and has loved it.  Last night she ate sweet potatoes for the first time, we mixed it with some pears.  She couldn't get enough.  My little eater is quickly turning into a big eater in just a few weeks.  It is amazing how good she is doing and how much she is loving it. Her current favorite is pears, she can't get enough of them.  She isn't too keen on bananas, it must be a texture thing, Elijah didn't like them until he ate them as finger food. Usually once she is done with all the basic flavors then I start to slowly add extras.  A big combination of fruit for a fruit salad feel, or a whole bunch of veggies together.  I love to add cinnamon and nutmeg to pears, apples, and sweet potatoes.  They just seem to make them taste so much better, and it is fun for them because then they get a taste of something different.

(Cute little messy lips!)

I can't wait to finish making everything and to have fun experimenting with different types of food.  I think this year I may make some pumpkin, it wasn't really too fresh when Elijah 1st started baby food, so I would like to try it this time.  Speaking of Elijah he still loves the baby food, every time we sit down for Athaiah to eat he comes and sits right next to us and begs for bites the whole time.  That boy and food, I tell you what!

Acorn Squash

I have found the easiest way to do this is in the microwave!

Cut an Acorn Squash in half and scoop out all the seeds
Place in a microwave safe pan and heat for about 13min
Let cool for a few minutes so you don't burn your fingers
Scoop out all the insides and place in a blender
Add about 10 oz of water to start-you may need to add more if it is too thick to blend
Blend, when all smooth pour into ice cube trays and Freeze
When they are all frozen place in Ziploc bag with the name of the item and the date!

Sweet Potatoes

I usually make about 2 sweet potatoes at a time although you can do as many as you would like.  Sweet Potatoes are really easy to make and thank goodness because my little man absolutely loves them.  You can also use yams if you can't find any sweet potatoes as they are interchangeable.

Set the oven to 350.  Wash the potatoes, and poke some holes in them so they can steam.  Then you are going to place them in the oven.  I would put a cookie sheet or something below them as some of the sugary goodness does seep out and you don't want to have to clean the whole oven out after cooking these. They will need to cook anywhere from 1-3 hrs depending on how many are in the oven and how big they are.  I find with 2 it usually takes about 1.5hrs.

When they are done baking you simply slide them out of the skins and put them in the blender.(They will be hot so if you need to let them cook for a bit please do as we don't want any burnt fingers.)  Now they are smooth but my blender has a hard time mashing them together and I found that it takes about 12oz of water in order for my blender to work.  But even with this much water they still turn out quite thick. Then spoon into ice cube trays and freeze. Once they are frozen move to freezer bags and label.


The other way that you can make them is you can peel them, and then cook them in the microwave until soft.  Or you can microwave them with the skins on.  It is really up to you how you want to cook them.  I just prefer the oven, because I throw those in there first and then I work on all the other baby food while they are cooking.

Apples-Pears

I am putting these two together because they are done the exact same way! 

First you are going to peel the fruit be it the apple or the pear.  Then I usually slice them both with an apple slicer since it will take the core out.  Then I cut it into small pieces, so that it cooks faster, I can be a bit impatient.  Take a pan and your veggie steamer and fill the bottom of the pan with enough water to just touch the bottom of the veggie steamer. Place the fruit in the steamer, cover will a lid.  Cook until soft.  Just make sure that the water in the bottom of your pan doesn't run out or it will burn since they are both very sweet fruits.  When they are done cooking pour into your blender, mix with some of the water from the bottom of the pan about 4oz or so.  Blend! 

 Then you just pour it into the ice cube trays and freeze.  When they are set about 4hrs, then move them to a freezer bag and label. And you have some nice homemade fruit!

 This is what it should look like when done, exactly like applesauce.

Note: I prefer to use Gala apples since they are sweet but not too sweet and Bartlet pears, but you can use whatever kind you like.  The more water you add the runnier it will be, so the younger the baby the more water you should add, but they are both soft fruits and should blend pretty easy without too much water.

Bananas

Bananas are probably one of the easiest baby foods to make.  You simply take off the peel, I then put it in the blender because I normally make a lot at a time. Add a bit of water, so that it mixes better.  Then once it is all blended I pour it into my ice cube trays.  Once they are formed, which usually takes about 4 hours, then I take them out of the ice cube trays and put them in a freezer bag with the name and the date on it.

*One bunch of bananas these days make about 2 ice cube trays worth.  Now in the beginning they made more because I added more water so that it was easier for him, but now he can eat thicker consistencies just fine.

Homemade Baby Food

Baby food is so easy to make and is way cheaper than buying it in jars or pouches....so why wouldn' I make it!  When I added up the cost of it it comes out to be about 4-7cents an ice cube.  When you are just starting a baby out they only eat about 1 ice cube at a time, so this turns out to be really economical figuring a can of baby food is at the least 48 cents a jar. I will post all my stand bys that I use such as the basic foods that babies eat.  Just remember to only introduce one new food every 3 days, this will help you to detect if your baby has any allergies.  So come on and join me in the fun and in the savings.

PS.  All you need is some ice cube trays, a blender, some freezer bags(a sharpie to mark them with), and then the food-Pretty simple huh??

                                          This is Eli enjoying his Avocados for the first time!