i have been so excited for months to be making amelia's own baby food. her first tastes of pureed bliss need not come in a jar or plastic tub, but from mommy's own kitchen and glorious food processor! it has been alot of fun to create her first baby meals, and let me tell you, she has fun eating them!!! she even has her own fresh fruit and veggie bowl on the table.... yes, that is all hers. plus carrots in the fridge. and it will all be gone before the end of the week. my little piggy!
so i thought i could give you a quick little picture guide of how i am making her yummy foods. here, i am showcasing carrots, since that is what i was out of. so, without further ado...
seven carrots, lovingly peeled and ready to chop!
chopped into pieces so that they will steam quick.
i put them in my biggest pot with a steam basket that i had.to.have about two years ago.... it has been well worth it. i was just preparing for the future, yaknow? the pot gets covered with a lid and cooks for....
so after fifteen minutes, (give or take.... but always set the timer or you will inevitably burn the pot because the water evaporates so fast. trust me on this.) you pull them from the steam basket and process them in the food processor (which, regretfully, i forgot to photograph. sorry). give them a whirl in there until they are super smooth, but not too runny. you can add some of the water from the pot if you need to thin them some.
then i spoon it all into an icecube tray. i usually make several foods all at once, since i have SO many dishes to wash in the end, i need to really make it worth my while! so here is the carrots, and below they are stacked with pears. she goes through food so fast, i make it about every two or three days, but try to rotate what i'm making so i'm not having to freeze three or four different foods at once.
yum yum! i let these freeze for about 24-48 hours, depending on how thick they are. these are alot denser than just water (duh!) so they take longer to really freeze through.
so after they are fully frozen, i pop them out into these really nifty freezer containers made by Ball Jars. i have them numbered so that i can easily find which foods are which (color recognition alone does not work with carrots and sweet potatoes....). i keep a little list on my calendar about which number is which food!
whenever it's almost time to eat, i drop a few cubes out into one of amelia's bowls and let it thaw in the refrigerator. if i'm in a pinch, i'll heat them in the microwave for about 15 seconds, but i'm pretty anti-microwave.
so after fifteen minutes, (give or take.... but always set the timer or you will inevitably burn the pot because the water evaporates so fast. trust me on this.) you pull them from the steam basket and process them in the food processor (which, regretfully, i forgot to photograph. sorry). give them a whirl in there until they are super smooth, but not too runny. you can add some of the water from the pot if you need to thin them some.
then i spoon it all into an icecube tray. i usually make several foods all at once, since i have SO many dishes to wash in the end, i need to really make it worth my while! so here is the carrots, and below they are stacked with pears. she goes through food so fast, i make it about every two or three days, but try to rotate what i'm making so i'm not having to freeze three or four different foods at once.
yum yum! i let these freeze for about 24-48 hours, depending on how thick they are. these are alot denser than just water (duh!) so they take longer to really freeze through.
so after they are fully frozen, i pop them out into these really nifty freezer containers made by Ball Jars. i have them numbered so that i can easily find which foods are which (color recognition alone does not work with carrots and sweet potatoes....). i keep a little list on my calendar about which number is which food!
whenever it's almost time to eat, i drop a few cubes out into one of amelia's bowls and let it thaw in the refrigerator. if i'm in a pinch, i'll heat them in the microwave for about 15 seconds, but i'm pretty anti-microwave.
then, enjoy. but don't enjoy too much (as you can see baby amelia did). life is messy.... especially when you involve delicious pureed delicacies from mom's kitchen!!
you are such a good mama!!! she definitely looks like she enjoys! that is so easy and I am sure it is so much cheaper (and better) than baby food!!! thanks for the step by step- I'm filing this away in my "When I'm a Mommy" brain folder! ;)
ReplyDeleteha! you are going to be using that brain folder SOON... i'm talking honeymoon, baby!
ReplyDeleteyes, it is SO easy.... not as easy as popping a lid off a jar of baby food, but i KNOW what's she is putting in her mouth since i make it. really, i spend maybe a total of 3 hours a week making these things.... and while it steams i can multi-task (ie blog, facebook, twitter and coupon.... all at once, serious multi-tasking).
it is SO much cheaper. a jar of baby food ranges .50-$1.00 and i spent about $1.50 on 2 sweet potatoes, which essentially makes enough for 8 jars!!!