BABY FOOD!!

I make lots of baby food for my almost 7 month old little man. Here is the easiest way for me to tell you how to make the first foods:

Peel, rinse, clean any veggies or fruits you want to make. Put a small amount (1/2-1 cup) of water in a medium sauce pan. Cook one food at a time and keep them separated. Add (for instance) 1 bag of frozen peas to the pan of water. I set my timer for 10 minutes and simmer the peas.

Dump them all in your blender and blend on PUREE. Keep adding water and stir as needed (the water they cooked in plus more tap or bottled water until you get the desired consistency). These will puree very smoothly. Remember to keep adding water.

After you have reached desired consistency, spoon the puree into ice cube trays. I usually just use one tray per bag of veggies and fill them very full. (Usually is about 1.5 ounces per cube.) I cover the ice cube trays with plastic wrap and freeze them. In a few hours I run the cubes under hot water (bottom side of trays) to loosen the food cubes, then pop them out and put them in a plastic freezer bag labeled with the name of the food and the date. SO EASY!

It is AMAZING to me how much water is in a jar of baby food and you will realize this too if you make your own. The supermarket charges about $.59 per 4 ounce jar of baby food.(OR MORE!) For less than a dollar I can buy a bag of frozen veggies, cook them, puree them and make about 20 ounces of baby food. That is SIXTY PERCENT LESS! And even LESS if I buy my fruits and vegetables on sale!

Anyway, you can make fruits in the same fashion, but you will not need as much water to puree these, especially berries.

Avocado and bananas do not need to be cooked. You can just mash them raw any time and give them to baby.

For squash and sweet potatoes, I just buy them whole, peel and clean them well, cutting them into chunks. They will need to cook longer, and you will need a LOT of water to thin these out.

If you don't want to give your baby meat but still want them to have protein, you can cook lentil beans and puree them to add to their vegetables.

For rice and oatmeal as cereal or a thickener, just cook these according to the directions on the box and then puree them in the blender. (I do not make my own baby cereal. I'm just too lazy, so I buy the boxed.) But yes, you can make your own!

All these things can be made in the blender. I don't use anything special because I don't OWN anything special. Basic things work great!

Remember wait five days after each new food is introduced to your baby to make sure he or she is not allergic to that food. But once he or she has had a certain food, IT can be added to the new one!