about making baby food

I wouldn't say I'm very "crafty" or into making too many homemade things. I like to cook, but usually my Betty Crocker cookbook is where I go for inspiration. Every once in awhile I go through a quick phase (Like when I made a mobile for Graeme's room...and no, I did not see the idea on Pinterest. I still do not have a Pinterest and refuse. It's just not for me.) But, I thought making homemade baby food would be something I could get behind.

1. It's cheaper.
2. It seemed pretty easy.
3. It's cheaper. 

Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it can be healthier in some ways, but I also know there's plenty of perfectly fine pre-made baby food out there that we will definitely buy sometimes for convenience.

This is another "mom choice" that doesn't have a right answer. For now, making baby food works for us. If it doesn't later on, that's fine too.

I happened upon a "Baby Puree Recipe Book" at the used bookstore one day and picked it up for some inspiration. It has a lot of recipes, and I will probably use it more as Graeme gets a little older. It is also helpful for some basic tips. I'm also loosely following the idea in Babywise to introduce orange and yellow veggies first, followed by green veggies two weeks later, followed by fruit two weeks after that. I always wait at least four days before I give Graeme something new to try to make sure he doesn't have any issues with the new food. It's been two weeks since he started vegetables, and next week, we will move on to green things.

So far I've made:

1.  Carrots.

I guess I thought a one pound bag would make more than this. It did not. I steamed the carrots, put them in a blender (we aren't fancy enough for a food processor), and added water as needed until they were a good consistency. I let them freeze in the ice tray, then popped them out and put them in a freezer bag. Two cubes is usually a good serving for Graeme. He loves carrots so far.

2.  Butternut squash.

I read in the baby puree book that steaming vegetables is the best way to make sure they keep the majority of their nutrients. I'm not sure how true that is, but I took the book for its word. Baking the squash was an option, but I decided to peel the sucker, clean it out, cut it up, and steam it. 

Graeme also loves butternut squash. A whole squash filled up one whole ice cube tray and a little bit of a second one.

First bite of squash.

3.  Sweet potatoes.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but that's a lot of sweet potatoes. Two trays full. I'm still figuring this whole thing out, and three sweet potatoes made a lot more than I thought it would. Then I thought, "Oh well, Graeme will surely love these the most," because what crazy kid wouldn't like sweet potatoes?!

My crazy kid. I don't know if it's the texture or the taste, but after three different tries on different days, Graeme is not a big fan of sweet potatoes. He will take a few bites and then refuse them with a funny look on his face. I won't give up, but we will take a break from them for awhile. I told my friend that I have an overabundance of frozen sweet potatoes, so she is going to take some for her baby. 

4.  Yellow squash.

This is the last orange/yellow vegetable I will add for awhile probably. I love yellow squash, so I was hoping Graeme would too. I cut it up and steamed it like the others. Yellow squash didn't need any water added to it. Two of them filled up one ice tray.

Graeme tried this for the first time today. It was still so runny even without water added to it, so I added just a little bit of his cereal to thicken it up. He loved it. 

Hates sweet potatoes, but whatever. 

I'm not sure what green vegetable we will try first yet, but I'll let you know how it goes.