The Kitchen: Baby Food

I must be spending most of my time in the kitchen these days as my posts seem to all revolve around food.  Yes, I must say the kitchen is probably my favorite room in the house and I do spend a little over half the day in there.  All of our meals are made from scratch, or as close to scratch as possible.  I have not fully gotten into making my own pasta yet, but I have attempted it a couple of times.  Even though I am so snobby about cooking fresh food there has been a big gap when it comes to homemade baby food.

When I set out to make baby food for my first child I had no idea how much an infant can actually consume.  It was more than I ever expected.  My first challenge was keeping up with the child.  I was already cooking for my husband and I and my son needed his own "special" meals.  When I found out I was pregnant with baby number two, I gradually gave up on my homemade baby food adventures.

We have been huge fans of Earth's Best baby food.  All of my kids have loved the stuff and I have seen them polish down two to three jars in one sitting.  It is an expensive, but easy way to feed a baby.  I also went out more with my baby and this made it easier to take food on the go to coffee dates and such.

I did not have the pregnancy excuse with baby number two, but I still could not work up the energy to make baby food.  Someone gave us a food mill, so on nights when I made things the baby could eat I would mill some food, but we still bought jars of baby food.

Just like everything in life, making baby food needs to become a part of one's routine.  I have heard parents who just steam veggies for baby next to the meal one is preparing for everyone else.  Then there are the super prepared moms (I wish I could get this good) who manage to make a week worth of baby food ahead of time and store it in the fridge.  I have managed to make jam, why not baby food?

My routine so far with baby food goes as follows: we are out of bananas today, I guess I need to steam some pears and maybe I will throw in some blueberries.  Start out with easy foods, bananas and avocado.  All one needs to do is mash these foods up.  Then consider making more things.  I tried sweet potato mixed with applesauce and my baby loves it!

Figuring out a texture that is acceptable for the baby can be a challenge.  In the past I have used the little food mill and even a food processor.  My latest discovery is the blender.  Babies like smoothie texture.  Do not be afraid to add a little more water to the mix.  It is more like a thicker blended soup.

Now baby Bria does not want to go back to baby food in the jars.  This is a little sad for me when I might want to take a break.  She still eats a few things, but mostly, she is waiting for mommy's creations.