I've been meaning to do a baby food post for a while. Today I played hooky from school which left me plenty of time for laundry, baking cookies and coffee cakes, watching Big Love, crocheting, cleaning, and hanging out with my mom and my mouse. And just enough time to churn out this here post for you, dear reader. Bon appetit.
I usually start with a trip to the grocery for some tasty-looking produce. Fresh or frozen (with no salt or other questionable additives) - either one is good. Staples around these parts of late are: butternut squash, carrots, frozen peas, black beans (dried), apples, pears, and broccoli.
Then I head over to my favorite website, Wholesome Baby Food, to figure out the most delicious and nutritious way to prepare the bounty. I like to peel, chop, and bust out the steamer for the most efficient cooking. Although baking makes the house smell super yummy.
After the goods are steamed to perfection, into the food processor they go for a nice long spin. When I first started making food, I'd puree everything for a very long time. Now that Evelyn is getting a little older, though, I let some chunks slide.
After the food processor, I scoop the food into a ziplock bag and snip off a corner to get ready to fill up my ice cube tray and/or Baby Cubes. I'm essentially pretending that I have one of those fancy-pants icing bag things. But I don't. So I use ziplock bags with a corner snipped off and it works just as well. You could use a spoon, I suppose, but I like my method. It's fun.
By the way, Baby Cubes are pretty awesome. And they don't even give me free cubes to say so. They're these 2 oz. plastic cubes with LIDS ATTACHED that seal firmly and are freezable and microwavable and free from all the weird plastic stuff that you'd want them to be free from.
Here we have some pureed chicken and broccoli cubes hanging out in the freezer. (The chicken was really not fun for me to make. I prefer to stick to soaking, cooking, and pureeing beans for protein. Because pureeing chiken? Yuck.)
But if the cubes are full, I just use some ice cube trays to make little servings of whatever I'm cookin' up. It takes 2-3 cubes to equal a full serving for Evelyn these days.
I bag up the cubes after they're frozen and then I have a nice stash of fruits and veggies in the freezer at all times.
It makes the 6 AM get ready for work and school rush so much better when we can just grab some food and go. And I think Evelyn approves of this whole eating thing, too.
Maybe one of these days, she'll even have teeth to help her out!
*This title is that of one of my favorite childhood books. Like some of my other favorites, it's now out of print and selling for $40 for a new copy. While I do appreciate that my mom had impeccable taste in choosing our books, I am beginning to think it'll cost a small fortune to share these gems with my kids.
I usually start with a trip to the grocery for some tasty-looking produce. Fresh or frozen (with no salt or other questionable additives) - either one is good. Staples around these parts of late are: butternut squash, carrots, frozen peas, black beans (dried), apples, pears, and broccoli.
Then I head over to my favorite website, Wholesome Baby Food, to figure out the most delicious and nutritious way to prepare the bounty. I like to peel, chop, and bust out the steamer for the most efficient cooking. Although baking makes the house smell super yummy.
After the goods are steamed to perfection, into the food processor they go for a nice long spin. When I first started making food, I'd puree everything for a very long time. Now that Evelyn is getting a little older, though, I let some chunks slide.
After the food processor, I scoop the food into a ziplock bag and snip off a corner to get ready to fill up my ice cube tray and/or Baby Cubes. I'm essentially pretending that I have one of those fancy-pants icing bag things. But I don't. So I use ziplock bags with a corner snipped off and it works just as well. You could use a spoon, I suppose, but I like my method. It's fun.
By the way, Baby Cubes are pretty awesome. And they don't even give me free cubes to say so. They're these 2 oz. plastic cubes with LIDS ATTACHED that seal firmly and are freezable and microwavable and free from all the weird plastic stuff that you'd want them to be free from.
Here we have some pureed chicken and broccoli cubes hanging out in the freezer. (The chicken was really not fun for me to make. I prefer to stick to soaking, cooking, and pureeing beans for protein. Because pureeing chiken? Yuck.)
But if the cubes are full, I just use some ice cube trays to make little servings of whatever I'm cookin' up. It takes 2-3 cubes to equal a full serving for Evelyn these days.
I bag up the cubes after they're frozen and then I have a nice stash of fruits and veggies in the freezer at all times.
It makes the 6 AM get ready for work and school rush so much better when we can just grab some food and go. And I think Evelyn approves of this whole eating thing, too.
Maybe one of these days, she'll even have teeth to help her out!
*This title is that of one of my favorite childhood books. Like some of my other favorites, it's now out of print and selling for $40 for a new copy. While I do appreciate that my mom had impeccable taste in choosing our books, I am beginning to think it'll cost a small fortune to share these gems with my kids.
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