Luke is 9 1/2 months now, and he is eating anything and everything in sight. He eats his baby food, he eats our big people food, and he aggressively grabs my arm and pulls it to him if I have food in my hand or if I am not feeding him fast enough. This kid...he can eat. He is also a cool dude.
When Calvin was a baby, I was determined to make his food, even though the thought of it overwhelmed and frightened me. I had no idea what I was doing. I also had no idea how easy it would be! I've gotten even more creative and daring with Luke's menu and it has been a blast! I am definitely a follow-the-recipe kind of cook. I am still stuck in that mode when cooking for adults, but Luke is adventurous and easy to please, so he will like anything I make for him. Another reason to love babies. (He also thinks I have a beautiful singing voice...or at least it's entertaining because he laughs.)
My first step outside my comfort zone was a few days ago when I attempted chicken soup with rice. I was researching posts about how to get more calories and nutrients into baby and came across this comment: Have you tried making a chicken soup with rice and then blending it?? Delicious!! For my daughter, I put boneless chicken, carrots, spinach, broccoli, squash, spices, vegetable broth, lentils and basmati rice into a pot (you can pick and choose which of these you want to include and which you prefer not to include). Then I boil the whole thing until everything is cooked and soft. Then transfer it into my blender and make it soft like a thick pureed soup. The baby loves it!
I thought this sounded great. Except. There are no measurements, temperatures, times. Spices? Which spices? This is definitely like my worst nightmare kind of recipe. I tried it anyway. I got my pot and put one chicken breast, some spinach, carrots and broccoli, beef broth (it's what I had), and one cup of basmati rice. I added some water, too. Deciding on spices was the most challenging part. I got out all of the spices I had, eliminated the ones I thought would be too spicy or too strong. With the ones that were left, I opened them one by one and smelled them. As I sniffed, I separated them into categories of no and maybe. I ended up with cayenne pepper, paprika and chili powder. Just kidding! I think it was ground ginger, coriander and basil. I think. Then, I put the lid on and boiled it. I don't know how long it boiled, maybe an hour. I checked it and stirred it. When I was convinced it was soft enough to blend, both boys were napping and I had to wait. The story of my life. When I finally blended and put it in my handy dandy storage containers, I ended up with 19 servings of something that Luke devours in a heartbeat.
These are some of my storage containers. I have an embarrassing amount of the tall green ones that were given to us at Calvin's baby shower. They are multi-purpose and wonderful! Each compartment has a lid with a spout and can be used for purees, pre-measured formula, snacks...the list goes on and on. They say Packin' SMART, so I don't know if that is the brand or what. They came from a cute shop in my hometown, Gruver, Texas called Shear Style. The orange and green ones in the back are wonderful. They were a gift from a dear friend who got them at Williams Sonoma when she worked there. They are Beaba brand and made from silicone. They are bigger servings (which is great for our little piggy) and once frozen, you can simply push the serving you want out and viola! The other is basically an ice tray with a lid that they can call baby food storage and charge more. It is handy and is measured at an ounce, so you can get the number of cubes you need (in our case, it's at least 4 now).
This morning I decided to attempt a mixed fruit dish that I haven't tried before. I started with 4 Bosc pears, which I think are so pretty, but I didn't take a picture before I cut them up. I have these awesome steamers for the microwave that I use with almost every puree. They came from Pampered Chef, and they are definitely a favorite of mine.
I cut the pears into chunks, added a little water and microwaved them for about 3 minutes since pears are already somewhat soft.
Next, I washed and cut up strawberries, rinsed blueberries and stirred them into the mix. Sometimes I use my food processor, but my magic bullet was clean so that is what I used. :) I spooned fruit into the bullet and blended.
If you are Type A at all...like I can be at times...then you will understand the next step. It didn't all fit in the bullet, because it makes SO much! So, once a batch was blended, I added it to a bowl rather than directly to the storage. Then, once it was all blended, I stirred it all together so the fruit could be evenly distributed.
Then, added some to containers for the refrigerator and some for the freezer. This made about 25 servings. Yay! Baby food stash is beginning to grow again. I will do a carrot and potato mash later today. And it wasn't all that bad after all.
Here are some resources I have used along my journey to baby food making:
The Petit Appetite Cookbook: Easy, organic recipes to nurture your baby and toddler
My Pinterest pins for baby food recipes are here
Good old fashion, trial and error to see what works! I have price compared with buying already-made food, buying frozen veggies to steam and puree and buying fresh. It really depends on what you want, but I do a combination of all of these things. My big test is if I will try what I'm feeding my baby. If I won't eat it, I don't expect him to eat it either. Bon Appetit!
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