Homemade Baby Food

There are so many reasons to make your own baby food (lower cost, no preservatives, larger variety...) but I truly think Little J enjoys the taste of my homemade baby food better than anything I've bought from the store. 

I have Little J all figured out... he's just like his daddy (except he has an "outie" belly button and likes to be held upside down).  They both enjoy iPhones, monkeys and most of all, sweets.  Just a couple days ago I caught the babe gnawing on the last Golden Oreo (that I had set aside for myself and forgotten about.  Bad mom moment... although I at least restrained from licking the remaining frosting off of his pudgy little fingers).

My young chap won't eat anything unless I mix a little fruit into it, so I devised my own recipes that mix sweet flavors and veggies together.  Since he's 9 months old, I have a little more freedom (some foods are still off limits until he's a year old, like honey and citrus, and there are still a few foods that have a higher risk of allergy - especially since Jared has several food allergies).

Banana & Spinach
Sweet Potato & Zucchini
Carrot & Pear
Sweet Potato & Green Bean
Mango & Avocado

I begin by purchasing fresh produce (some fruits and veggies are better to buy organic - a rough guideline that I try to follow can be found here).

I try to make big batches all at once to contain the mess.  I peel and cut everything up first, trying to make all pieces roughly the same size and thickness.  My fruits and veggies can be cooked by steaming or boiling (but boiling is much easier for me).  Foods that do not need to be cooked are bananas, watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, and avocado.

I snipped my green beans with kitchen shears.  Jared informed me when I was almost done that these scissors don't work very well to trim nose hairs.  I don't think I want to know how he discovered this fact...

I cook my produce until soft.  The amount of time varies, so I fish my pieces out when they're done and let the rest continue cooking.

 
Spinach does not need to be boiled - it cooks just fine without any water.  I took a shortcut here by microwaving my spinach in a bowl for a couple minutes before blending it with bananas.  Little J loves bananas so much that I could have added a more flavorful vegetable (spinach is fairly mild) and he probably wouldn't have even noticed.  Jared says I could feed him trash mixed with bananas and he'd gobble it up.

before

after

 My mother-in-law was sweet enough to buy this Baby Bullet for me while I was pregnant.  I prefer the BB to a normal blender because it's easier to store, use and clean.  It also comes with a wonderful storage system.

The yellow tray came with the Baby Bullet.  It measures 2 ounce pellet shaped servings that can be easily popped out once frozen.  They fit snugly into single-serve containers or can be stored all together in a regular old Tupperware (see below).  The green tray measures 1 ounce servings that pop out just like an ice cube tray.

store pellets in the freezer and thaw overnight before serving.

 The batch I made today with the food pictured above made about 80 ounces of puree.  In addition to rice cereal, that's enough to feed Little J for more than three weeks. 

Some recipes I'd like to try in the future are:

Banana & Pumpkin
Apple & Broccoli
Pineapple & Squash
Peach, Mango & Watermelon
Cantaloupe & Garbanzo Beans?

For a look at my next baby food adventure, click here!