Homemade Baby Food!!

Some people suggested I write a blog post about making your own baby food. So here goes ...

Everything I make is fresh to serve. I haven't frozen any foods yet - mainly because whatever I make, they both gobble right up. I'm sure if I had one baby, I would have leftovers and need to freeze some things. I will soon start making bigger batches and will put them in the breast milk freezer bags (as opposed to ice trays). That way I can travel with them! My friend Shayna gave me that idea when she and I met up with our baby boys over the summer. :)

So I start by boiling mostly everything, individually of course. I boil organic apples and baby carrots and peas. And I microwave or bake the sweet potatoes and squash. I don't cook the banana or the avocado - those are mashed up as is.

Apples:I clean the apple and boil a pot of water. Once boiling, I throw the whole apple right in. After about 10-15 min, the peel starts to fall off, so I turn off the heat, peel it all the way and let cool. Once it's cool to the touch, I slice off all the mushy "good" parts and throw them in the magic bullet. I add a little water...and zap zap zap, pour into a little baby food bowl and serve! Fresh applesauce! The boys love it.

Baby Carrots & Peas: 
The carrots and peas are done the same exact way as the apples, minus the peeling step. I boil them and then throw them into the magic bullet with water. Find a good consistency that your baby likes and you're good to go. 

Sweet potatoes:
I buy the plastic "microwave" sweet potatoes and put them in the microwave for 8 minutes. Once it's cooled and/or I actually have a minute to make their food, I peel and dig out the good stuff, toss into the bullet with water and you know the drill. I find that sweet potatoes need a lot of water, so again - get a good consistency and serve.

Squash: 

The squash is very similar to the sweet potato, except I cut it in half and bake it in the oven. I usually buy an acorn squash. Once it's done, I take out all the seeds and let it cool. After it's cooled - I use the same process as the sweet potato. I dig out the good stuff and put it into the bullet with water. 

I have these great size bowls that have lids that I use for baby food. My friend Kiley had them in LA so of course I bought them too! I store them in the fridge for up to 3 days. They usually don't last that long because the boys eat it within a meal or two. I think I bought them at Crate and Barrel maybe.

Banana & Avocado:

I find banana to be the easiest - and it was my first real solid food that I gave to Conor and Caden, besides the brown rice cereal in the photo. I literally peel the banana, break it up and put into the magic bullet. I add a good amount of water (hard to see in the pic) and then mix together. I do the exact same process with the avocado. I tend to mix the banana and avocado together since the flavor of plain avocado isn't the best.

A typical day for us these days: 

The boys wake around 6-6:30AM each morning. When they wake, they have a 6-8oz bottle. They play for a couple of hours and then go down for a 30-45min nap. Caden usually wakes first. While Caden is up playing, I make their first solid food meal of the day. I puree one banana for them to split, some rice cereal with the Nutramigen formula so Caden doesn't get an upset tummy and each a bottle to top of their meal. They only have a couple ounces, depending on how much they ate. I am hoping to soon eliminate the bottle from this meal...I've been trying but they sort of fuss til they have it.

**Note: I add a few spoonfuls of the banana puree to the rice cereal for some flavor. Caden is clearly loving his rice cereal and banana combo here in this pic below.

Conor eventually wakes and joins in. They each have their rice cereal mixture and banana. They then have a little bit of their milk and continue to roll around and hit each other in the face. Thanks to Penny Jenny for these cutie firecracker bibs! She bought them for the boys around the Fourth of July. Her daughter Callie is 5 days younger than C-Squared. :)

Usually after they are done eating, I wash their little faces, change their diapers and dress them for the day! Then we play for about an hour until it's time for a change of scenery. We typically walk to get coffee or go for a drive. We then have another 6-8oz bottle again around 1-2pm and dinner is often some squash or sweet potato around 4:30pm. Once we are nearing the end of the day, we do baths around 6-6:30pm, have our final bottle and go to bed around 7pm. Repeat tomorrow at 6am! ;)

xo,

Shaz and the boys in blue