Baby (Finger) Food Night

Maybe there's going to be a pattern here? Thursdays just seem to work out for prepping Sophie's food. I've just come from the store and this way it doesn't interfere with Fridays when I try to get OUR meals prepped. Ugh, though... it's kinda unfortunate that that would mean two nights completely spoken for each week. Whatever. She won't be eating different food than us for long and I'm sure I'll consolidate sooner or later.

For now, it's nice to have stuff at the ready...

Tonight was turkey apple loaf... appetizing-looking, huh? Just kidding. It's ground turkey, pureed carrots, applesauce, wheat germ and a few extra ingredients. I bake it in a loaf pan and then portion it on a cookie sheet to freeze individually before popping into a freezer bag. I was overdue for grinding up some more oats for cereal. (LOVE my food processor!) I keep them in an airtight container with an easy scoop lid.

My rice cereal looks the same and just last night I made up another batch of rice and lentil "porridge".

New this week will be plums (which she's never had before) and diced, steamed green beans. Note to self: plums are steamed in way less time than I thought... these are a little too soft. And she's had pureed green beans, but never whole. I buy them fresh, trim the ends, dice tiny and steam for a long time.

More zucchini and summer squash. She hammered through the last batch.

And I cut up a cantaloupe for Will, which can just be diced smaller as needed for Soph. Wow. What has my blog come to? I'm taking pictures of cantaloupe. :)

And because I deserve it... here's MY treat.

Fun fact #47 about me: I've never had a cup of coffee in my life (though some days I wish I were a coffee-drinker), but I ADORE coffee-flavored things. Namely, ice cream! I love the smell of coffee and I do occasionally have coffee-type drinks like cappuccino and such. I have an awesome "recipe" (courtesy of Giada) for an amaretto float that calls for chilled espresso and amaretto over vanilla ice cream. Oh my Lord - it's heavenly. And, though I don't own an actual coffee maker, I did buy myself a little stove top espresso maker like the one on Everyday Italian so I can feel authentic instead of buying instant. :)

Back in Business

Okay! After a few weeks on auto pilot, I'm ready to move full speed ahead with finger foods again. I'm hoping to use up most of my purees in the freezer and then only keep a few staples like pureed squash on hand. Otherwise, I think Sophie's ready to take mostly foods she can pick up with her hands (with the exception of a few favorites like yogurt and cottage cheese). She LOVES little pieces of cheese, peas, and of course cheerios and bananas. She's gotten a lot faster and more accurate recently as her hand-eye coordination improves.

So tonight after my grocery store trip and getting the kids in bed, I hunkered down in the kitchen and got some new things made up.

Baby cereal pancakes - whole wheat flour, store-bought baby oatmeal cereal, banana, and a little cinnamon and vanilla. The batter is pretty thick and dense so they don't keep a very round shape on the griddle when flipped. :)
Broccoli cheese nuggets... just like it sounds, plus some egg yolks and bread crumbs to bind.

Both of the above recipes are from my favorite wholesomebabyfood.com website.

Also, I got a bunch of basics diced up and steamed/baked. This will be Sophie's first week trying zucchini and summer squash. Will used to love these and has since changed his mind. I remember when he was just about 15 months or so taking a little container of steamed (cold) squash chunks and a baggie of fishy crackers to a soccer game we attended as a snack. Everyone thought it was funny that I packed squash for a snack, but Will devoured it. Now, prepping food like this again brings back good memories of doing the same for Will. It's so handy to just take an evening to dice and steam a whole bunch of fruits and veggies and keep them in storage containers in the fridge for meals that week.

Summer squash getting ready to steam on the stove top.

Sweet potato dices tossed with a little canola oil and nutmeg.

Getting ready to bake.

Steamed pear dices ready for the fridge.

Chicken strips simmering in some stock with a couple bay leaves. I'll leave these in strips in a container and tear/shred them up for a meal as needed.

Tomorrows breakfast and lunch for the babysitter (left to right): breakfast is banana, blueberry yogurt, baby cereal pancake... and lunch is broccoli cheese nugget, diced pear, sweet potato puree to mix with cottage cheese (one of her faves). She's pretty consistently up to about 4 ounces/cubes of food now and gradually taking less milk - tear :( - my baby's growing up!

What's For Dinner? Feb Week 1

I watched the movie Julie & Julia last night and I'm feeling inspired. Yes, partly for cooking simply because I love food! But mostly for writing. I always wanted to be a writer when I was a kid and I just love the feeling of getting my thoughts down on paper. I think that's why blogging is so fun for me. I've kept a journal since junior high, so this is really just an extention of that. And now I feel like less of a dork for blogging about food - LOL.

So here's my most recent challenge: I'm on the hunt for a really good tomato soup recipe. I love tomatoes. They are what I craved in both my pregnancies and their flavors are so vast with potential for many things. But I never thought I cared for tomato soup, likely because the "standard" tomato soup comes in a can with a Campbell's label on it. Nothing wrong with that if it suits you - I just didn't care for it. But then I tried a couple different versions of restaurant tomato soups and fell in love. I actually prefer them a little bit chunky (ala Panera Bread) with garlic and herbs and perhaps some croutons. Remember the one I tried with white beans back in November? Blech! That one was definitely NOT a keeper. I'm not necessarily opposed to white beans in tomato soup, just not as a dominant flavor. So I've found another recipe to try: a roasted tomato soup from (surprisingly) Family Fun magazine again: http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/roasted-tomato-soup-699298/. It is a smooth texture, but it calls for fresh tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and s&p and then roasted in the oven to bring out their flavor. I love using my emersion blender for easy blending and my Le Creuset stock pot makes any soup look pretty.

So we'll call this Tomato Soup Challenge - week 1. :) I've already got it prepared and I'm serving it on Tuesday night with some croutons and shaved Parmesan. I'll report back on what my testing committee (Craig & Will) rate it.

Also this week:
1) Chicken fettucine Alfredo with salads, garlic bread and cookies 'n cream pie - we had this on Sunday night and it's one of Craig's favorites. Pretty rich though - gotta' hit the treadmill after this one. :)

2) Taco salad - nothing too exciting but it's easy and another one of Craig's favorites. And I guess I'm just feeling like being a nice wife this week.

New for Sophie this week: I boiled some whole wheat macaroni noodles (I like the Hodgson Mills brand) for a finger food on Sunday. Those may still be a little big for her - I think I'll cut them in half in the future. And since we never got around to broccoli last week, that'll be this week. I'd also like to incorporate some spices into her meals a little more regularly now so I'll play around with that. P.S. she didn't really care for the baby omelet last week. I think egg yolks are a strong flavor for babies, but I'm going to keep trying different variations here and there to see if she changes her mind. Her current favorite meals are probably: cottage cheese with sweet potato, avocado with banana, cereal with yogurt and fruit, and Cheerios!

Here she is eating her avocado dices with Cheerios. Will saw them and said "I want that!" I knew he hasn't cared for avocado in the past, but I gave him a piece and he put it in his mouth. Then he made a "yuck" face, spit it out and said "I don't like 'adacado'." Ah well, Sophie loves them!

Not really sure what this face was all about... I think Craig was trying to get him to hold a grape between his teeth for a silly picture and he wasn't interested.

What's For Dinner? Week 4

Let's talk about finger foods! This is such an exciting stage for babies because they get to be in control and explore new textures. It's also a helpful stage to parents because the whole process of finger feeding is very entertaining to babies and allows for a little self-sufficiency so that parents get to actually eat their own meal during dinner time too. Before this stage, it is usually a mad scramble to juggle spoon feeding baby while simultaneously managing to consume anything off your own plate. When it was just Will, we never ate all together. He'd get fed and completely taken care of and off to bed before we even bothered eating ourselves. Now with two kids, we are keeping family meal time all together, but often getting up multiple times during the meal for one reason or another (i.e. refilling Will's cup, grabbing washcloths to clean little hands and faces) and eating very quickly amidst the chaos. But hey, we're a family and that's how meal time goes with little ones.

Sophia is definitely not exclusively eating finger foods. I'm pretty sure it would take her FOREVER to consume enough to meet her needs. Instead we balance it out with about 2/3 spoon feeding and 1/3 finger foods. Obviously that proportion will change as she becomes more adept at finger foods. Spoon feeding is fast, fairly clean and condensed so that baby can consume a significant amount in a short time with little mess. Nice! Finger foods are generally messier and time consuming. But the beauty of this "mixed plate" is that she still gets a substantial meal out of purees/grinds AND gets to practice her hand at pincer-grasping lots of new things while mom and dad eat too.

Some people worry about choking and/or baby "not having enough teeth". Baby won't likely have those molars until well after the first birthday... and you're certainly not going to wait until then to introduce table foods. Instead, they're able to use saliva and strong gums to mash foods appropriately. The key is size and texture. Right now I'm sticking to "pea-sized" food pieces and soft textures. Some ideas include:
-any soft or steamed fruit, i.e. avocado and banana pieces (could be rolled in cheerio crumbs or oatmeal cereal for easier pick up), blueberries, diced pear, apple, mango, cantaloupe, peaches, etc.; same goes for any soft cooked veggie like peas, dices of carrots, squash, green beans, etc.
-grains such as cereals (cheerios, etc.), tiny pasta varieties such as orzo or ditallini work well, bits of toast, rice
-proteins such as hard-cooked egg yolk bits, shreds of cooked meat/poultry, diced tofu, canned or cooked dry beans
-dairy such as bits or shreds of cheese, cottage cheese, cheerios mixed heavily in yogurt so that yogurt can essentially be "picked up"

Banana pieces... So focused! - LOL It's pure entertainment!







Cheese bits. Love the little, open, birdy-mouth.


Steamed blueberries (make SURE to plan this right before bath time!)
Don't you just wonder what she's thinking? Such a new experience to feel this stuff all over your fingers! Almost all kids eat better when allowed to get their hands dirty. :)





She loved the tropical fruits last week. Now this week, I'm thinking we'll probably do red and green bell peppers, maybe diced and sauteed and then added to scrambled egg yolk for a "baby omelet". Then maybe broccoli - not sure I want to puree this so we may just do a small chop and steam for another finger food. I'm also going to dice up some pear and steam for finger food. You can dice, steam and freeze-in-a-single-layer-on-a-cookie-sheet just about anything! Then once frozen, scoop off into a freezer bag for future use in whatever portion you desire. I continued doing that for Will well after his first birthday. It was just so handy!

Speaking of Will... we're patiently waiting for another big snow so we can sled and build snowmen again. In the meantime... we'll settle for a snowman grilled cheese.


This week for dinner, I'm looking forward to a hassle free week. I did ALL the meal prep in advance. On the menu this week:
1)Chicken noodle soup and sandwiches. Tyler's recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-noodle-soup-recipe/index.html
It's in the stock pot ready to go for tonight. Just going to pop it on the stove top, add noodles, and simmer.
2)Chipotle Tamale Pie. Cracks me up that this sassy Latino lady on Food Network is named Ingrid Hoffman! Isn't that German? Here's her recipe - I've done this one many times: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ingrid-hoffmann/chipotle-tamale-pie-recipe/index.html
It's a pretty healthy casserole type meal - ground turkey, pinto beans, tomatoes, cilantro, cheese, etc. topped with a boxed cornbread "crust". Easy to make ahead and just top with the crust before baking.
3)Meijer had those pork loin roasts on sale again this week and I have leftovers of that marinade I used last time. So I made the roast last night along with some cheesy mashed potatoes and bacon green beans. Will got a mashed potato snowman:



And one last shot of him eating up those dried fruit and nut granola bars I made last week. That has been a lunch staple along with a cheese stick and some raw veggies and fruit.

What's For Dinner? Week 3

Sophie liked the blueberry-banana-tofu! She also decided cottage cheese and sweet potato is a great combo. We never got around to the mango (we'll do it Monday night instead) but she did get a lot more practice with "finger foods". Mostly Cheerios and little bits of cheese, but I think she's really enjoying the new challenge! Her pincer grasp is coming along though she still needs some practice getting the food into her mouth. It usually somehow works it's way down into her palm and then she can't seem to manuever palm-to-mouth. :) Here she is in action:





Still working with the sippy cup. She does pretty well with this Avent cup, though we mostly use the Playtex sipper without the spill-proof valve. The valve slows them down - too much like a bottle.


Coming up, Sophia is going to have a very tropical week! I've got the mango prepped for Monday and I picked up a papaya for a salad this week and so she's going to get some of the papaya too - probably mixed with avocado or banana or both! Papaya is "in season" usually beginning in February until late spring, peaking in April/May. But Meijer had them on sale last week and they looked good. Check out this link for how to buy, cut and prepare a papaya: http://thaifood.about.com/od/thairecipesstepbystep/ss/howtocutapapaya.htm. Mangos, on the other hand, have a very long flat seed. I had to refresh my memory on how to cut one. Very weird: http://homecooking.about.com/od/howtocookbasics/ss/cutmango_2.htm.

Baking... I did make Aunt Cathy's chocolate chip cookies last week. (Craig's aunt is famous for her cooking. Pretty much anything Cathy makes, Craig likes. And me too!) I came home from the store Thursday night and Craig laughed at me because I was debating on what I wanted to do with my free time that night after the kids went to bed: use the treadmill... or bake chocolate chip cookies. I went with the cookies... and they were/are fabulous!

But I did attempt a workout for the first time in ages on Saturday during nap time. I tried the infamous P90X workout but didn't complete any one session. I dabbled in the chest/back workout and the plyometrics. I can do push-ups, no problem, and Craig says my form is good. But I've lost all ability to do pull-ups. What happened? I almost made the school record in high school! So I could use a little more arm strength I suppose, but I'm lifting kids all the time so I'm not worried about arm definition. It's funny: I could hold a baby all day with no trouble where Craig would complain that his arms are exhausted. And yet, he can do pull-ups and I can't. Anyway, the plyometrics were awesome and kicked my out-of-shape behind! But I LOVE the feeling of being whipped after a workout - it's kind of a high. So I'm looking forward to more of that and wanting to have Craig and I workout together when his knee recovers.

OKAY! Moving on from that tangent... (LOL)

I have a great recipe to share for kids and adults alike! It's a granola-type, energy bar filled with ground almonds, oatmeal, dried fruit and sesame seeds. I used REAL maple syrup for the binder. They're yummy and healthy and I was happy to use that as a substantial part of Will's lunch on Saturday since he's not always a sandwich-kid and is often lacking in protein. They were good for breakfast too and I'm planning to pack them with my yogurt for a morning snack this week. Here's the recipe (from my favorite Family Fun, of course): http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/energy-boost-bars-688876/

Okay onto this week's meals. I unintentionally went with a Mexican theme for the week. It just sounded good and who doesn't love Mexican food?
1) Chicken Tortilla Soup with chipotle peppers and fire-roasted tomatoes. How about a little bacon, cilantro, red onion and lime to jazz it up? Oh my gosh, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! I made it ahead today and we're eating it Monday night so I don't have to waste time cooking during the week. It's easily one of my favorites and I love to serve it when entertaining as well. Check it out at Food Network.com. I promise you will love it! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/chicken-tortilla-soup-with-chipotle-and-fire-roasted-tomato-recipe/index.html.
2) Beef and bean chimichangas (baked, not fried). I think I got this recipe from a Quick Cooking magazine YEARS ago! I love it for an easy make-ahead meal and extra portions freeze very well. 3) Green salad with papaya and mandarin oranges. A few years ago, my friend Jill and I attended a cooking class with a Jamaican "jerk" menu. This salad was absolutely amazing! Sliced papaya and canned mandarin oranges on top of a bed of greens. Then a dressing consisting of mayo, olive oil, fresh lemon and lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper. I think that's it? It's got a tangy bite to it and I may pair this salad with the chimichangas.
4) Hmm... for the extra day, I may just pull a soup from the freezer and do soup and sandwiches. Or maybe a panini night???

What's For Dinner? Week 2

First a glimpse of last week:

We went ahead with the blueberries (steamed and smooshed up with yogurt):



And then her 2nd new food last week ended up being cantaloupe, just diced and then ground a little bit in the food processor.

Here's Will helping me make the pesto pasta for dinner. He stirred the bowtie noodles and peas while they cooked together. Then we did an assembly line "chop and drop". I chopped. He dropped. Chicken, roasted red pepper, mushrooms, basil and the sundried-tomato pesto. I think helping in the kitchen makes such a difference in a kid's desire to try something new. Will's been offerred this before, but he ate it MUCH better last week after helping me prepare it.

Okay, onto this week:

I prepared a bunch of food for Sophie to restock the freezer: chicken, green beans, and "turkey apple loaf" (ground turkey, carrot puree, applesauce, bread crumbs and wheat germ - baked in a loaf pan and then scooped into portions for her food cubes).

NEW foods for her this week: we're going to try tofu! A great source if iron, protein and calcium, it works as a great finger food for older babies and is good blended with any fruit to create a sort of sticky "fluff" that makes good practice for little ones practicing with a spoon because it "sticks" to the spoon well. I bought firm tofu and I'm going to blend it with frozen blueberries, banana and wheat germ. This could also be frozen as a sort of "ice cream" as well.

And secondly, we're going to do mango. Depending on how firm the mango is on the day I cut it, it may or may not be steamed, and then smooshed/ground. Probably mixed with banana and/or pear.

Oh! And just today, Sophie has made great strides with her pincer grasp and is now able to pick up a Cheerio and put it in her mouth! Hooray!

Food for us:
1) Tonight was spaghetti and meatballs (Grandma Verna's recipe) - another good Sunday supper to simmer in the crock pot all afternoon. It's a family favorite for us because we ALL eat it and like it. I know I never mention side dishes on here, but we ALWAYS have a vegetable and/or fruit on the side along with some other side like bread or cheese - whatever I need to balance out the meal.
2) I'm doing that big salad again this week with chicken, white beans, tomatoes, Asiago, and a homemade balsamic and dijon dressing. Again, a family favorite that we all eat well.
3) On Christmas Day, my mom roasted a pork loin with a simple, bottled glaze called Charred Pineapple Bourbon Sauce. It was awesome! And even Will chowed down. So I'm trying that myself this week. Probably on Tuesday when Craig and I will be home after his surgery since it takes more time to cook. (More on the surgery topic later.)
4) And, darn it! I was all psyched to make some of Aunt Cathy's chocolate chip cookies tonight, but didn't have everything I needed, so maybe my dear husband will run out on his lunch break tomorrow to pick up a few things and then we can have the smell of cookies baking along with our roast for Craig's recovery.

Happy eating this week friends!

What's For Dinner? Week 3

Probably gonna' be taking a lot more help from the freezer the next few weeks with all the parties and other functions going on. However, more parties also means less meals to plan too.
On the menu this week:
-homemade mac 'n cheese, steamed broccoli
-grandma's chili (from the freezer)
-roasted vegetable penne (from the freezer)

Thankfully, the mac 'n cheese recipe is huge so I froze half for later and therefore contributed to the freezer instead of just taking away. ;)

We have parties every weekend for the next 4 weeks, not including Christmas Eve and Day! I'm still not sure what I'm bringing to each but I need to decide fast. Not sure what kind of grocery shopping I'll be able to do next week, so this Thursday is going to be a big one.

Still trying different ways to get meat/protein foods into Will's diet. He's refusing most every main dish lately, but he's got veggies and fruit coming out of his ears. We tried "ants on a log" last night and he liked the crunch-factor so he managed to ingest a little peanut butter. Oh well. Will's still a very good eater and I guess if I have to deal with pickiness in one food group, meat's not so bad. We can work around that... it just takes creativity!

New for Sophie this week: lentils and cottage cheese (separately - LOL). I bought a bag of dry lentils (super cheap!) and ground them to a coarse powder like her cereal grains. Then I just cook a mixture of lentils and rice on the stove top to form a perfect porridge to be mixed with various vegetables and fruits, i.e. carrots, apples and squash. Cottage cheese - an excellent source of protein and good source of dairy - can be paired with any fruit, veggie or grain.

Quick nutrition lesson: Rice and beans - one of the oldest dishes in human history - originated with the discovery that diets based on single plant foods do not foster optimal growth because certain amino acids are lacking. When certain vegetable proteins are combined, they can make up for those deficiencies together. For this reason, they are nicknamed "complimentary proteins". Other examples: grains/legumes such as pea soup and toast or ANY combo of rice and beans; grains/dairy such as pasta and cheese, rice pudding, cheese sandwich, etc. Often times, people think of rice and beans as a fattening dish. But that just depends on how you prepare it. Creating a porridge as I mentioned above (even if the grains and legumes are left whole) is a very healthy dish for people of all ages. Chinese cultures make a dish called congee ("con-jee") that you can make right in the crock pot with 6-8 cups of liquid (water or broth) to just 2 cups of any grain (brown rice, jasmine rice, barley, etc.) or bean. Sounds like a lot of liquid, but they let it cook overnight and then serve it for every meal of the day adding various things to change up the dish. For example, you could do a jasmine rice and add cinnamon, nuts and dried fruit for a breakfast porridge. Then at lunch and dinner add some savory vegetables and herbs. Of course you can also scale back to much smaller portions prepared just on the stove top... as in Sophie's dinner tonight!

Some other routine meals for Sophie:
-avocado mashed with banana or yogurt and a grain on the side
-oatmeal, yogurt and applesauce (soon to be topped with cinnamon for an "apple pie" flavor)
-chicken with mixed veggies and a grain on the side
-a grain/veggie combo with pears on the side

So this coming weekend we have a birthday dinner with friends and one (of many) family Christmas parties on Sunday. Should be some good food and socializing!

What's For Dinner? Dec Week 1

Confessional time: the cranberries were horrible. Blech! Cranberry juice, on the other hand, not so bad.

While home for holiday, I needed a bunch more lunch ideas for Will and I. His response to various foods are hit or miss depending on the day. So we did hummus and veggies (hit... sort of... he didn't actually consume all that much hummus), black bean and cheese quesadillas (hit), pasta with butternut squash and sage brown butter (miss), and peanut butter banana paninis (hit).

Here's the recipe for the pasta: http://wondertime.go.com/life-at-home/article/butternut-squash-with-pasta.html I thought it was wonderful - it had diced, roasted squash, toasted pecans, and parmesan cheese. Will got to pick his own pasta - he chose a spiral - and he slurped a couple noodles before pushing it aside. Stinker.

On the menu this week is:
-bbq beef sandwiches (crock pot meals are so nice on Sundays)
-sweet 'n sour pork stir-fry (peppers, cilantro, crushed pineapple... yum)
-same salad as last week with chicken strips (Will surprised me and totally devoured it and it's one of my faves.)
-oatmeal brownie cookie bars

New for Sophia this week: egg yolk on Sunday, oatmeal on Thursday, yogurt on Saturday. Oatmeal's not super risky so I'm not waiting four days to introduce another food after it. She's still adjusting to the new texture of proteins (turkey and egg yolk) but when mixed with sweet vegetable puree like squash or sweet potatoes, it goes down very nicely. I've also decided to limit her solid food intake to 2-3 oz per meal as I've noticed her milk intake declining a little too much and milk is still her most important food at this age.

Baby Food!

Sophia is doing so well with each new food we've introduced. She seems to like most everything and our freezer is fast filling up with prepared baby food cubes.

Six months is the earliest recommended age (per the American Academy of Pediatrics) for babies to start solid foods. And even then, they're pretty much considered an "extra" - not a substantial part of the diet until about 9 months. By 9 months, babies should ideally be taking 3 regular food meals per day in addition to nursing. Figuring out how to incorporate all these feedings around naps and with family meals is a bit of a challenge and we're sort of in transition with that now. Sophie typically nurses around 7, 10, 1, 4 and 7 through the day and currently takes 2 food meals per day, but not at regular times depending on naps. What we're working towards is nursing at 7, 11, 3, and 7, with food meals at 8:30, 12:30 and 5:30/6-ish. Then naps can fit in between 9 and 11 and between 1 and 3. I anticipate that being the routine in the next month or so. Obviously, it's not always exact, but it sure helps to have an idea so we can be consistent with the babysitter and know how to plan for outings.

In the meantime, we're working through one new food at a time - four days between each new food - to watch for allergic reactions. Reactions may include rashiness around the mouth or bottom, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. (None so far and I don't anticipate any as food allergies are not common in our families.) And of course we stay completely away from the common allergenic foods until after the first birthday: cow's milk, peanuts (pb), shellfish, egg whites, citrus & berry fruits (except blueberries are okay), honey, etc. Wheat is another common allergy, though I choose to introduce it carefully around 9/10 months.

Since there are so many foods to try and a four-day wait period between, my calendar is filled with post-it notes for the next few months of what I'd like to introduce and when. That way I keep track of when she started each new food and don't waste time with moving onto the next. The order of foods introduce is not an exact science. I prefer to start with a grain - rice or oatmeal is fine - and then work through basic fruits and veggies like sweet potatoes, squash, pears, apples, green beans/peas. At 7 months, I start with meats: turkey, chicken, legumes (i.e. lentils), egg yolk. (Sophie will get to eat turkey with us on Thanksgiving!) And then shortly after try dairy: yogurt, cream cheese, cottage cheese, melted/shredded mild cheeses. Finger foods follow and pretty soon we're doing lots of wonderful concoctions like turkey apple meatloaf, lentils with rice and veggies, scrambled egg yolk "omelet" with green pepper, mushroom and cheese, etc.

I love making my own baby food because, aside from the obvious (huge!) cost savings, it allows me to control the quality of ingredients, adjust the texture to my baby's needs, and play with lots of preservative free combinations. (Besides, meat in a jar grosses me out.) I even add spices for extra variety after about 8 months. How about apples with cinnamon, squash with nutmeg or chicken with basil? Sophie ate a whole avocado (mashed with banana) on her own the last 3 days! Loved it! And this way, the kids are eating like the rest of the family right off the bat and are more likely to transition into table foods easily.

Starting with grains, I buy a short-grain, brown rice or steel-cut, whole oats and grind them into a powder in the food processor. Then store in an airtight container and cook on the stove top as needed with 1 cup water to 1/4 cup powder for ~10mins. Fruits and veggies are pretty easy too. Just bake or steam any item and puree. Once you have a prepared food, it can be scooped into ice cube trays or specially designed food storage cubes (see onestepahead.com), labeled with food name and date and frozen for up to 3 months. Pop frozen ice cube trays into a labeled freezer bag. So we use the ice cube trays for food at home and lidded food cubes (1 or 2oz sizes) for the babysitter. Meat can be baked in whole pieces or use a ground meat. It's easiest to puree or grind cooked meat after it's fully cooled. Add milk or broth to thin and give an added boost of nutrition when pureeing meats or starches.

Sweet potatoes:








And here's what my freezer looks like now. I reserve a whole shelf for baby food 'cause it's only going to increase from here! This time around I have a deep freeze, though, so that will be a big help.




We start green beans tomorrow, carrots on Saturday and turkey next Wednesday just in time for turkey day!


For more info and ideas, visit: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ or check out Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron.