Makin Baby Food

rutabega

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:07:40 GMT

And oh I meant to say about rutabega - if you haven't tried it yet please do! I peel it and chop it up just like I would a potato, then throw it in the pot with my peeld & chopped potatoes and make a mash out of it. It winds up being a little lumpier for those kiddos needing or wanting more texture, and it adds a bit of interesting flavor. Not spicy exactly, just, different. And yummy. :) I've served it to the toddler & the husband and they both liked it as well.

You will, however, almost certainly have to tell the person at the checkout what it is. I've never bought one without having the person at the register look at it, look at me, look at it again, then finally ask me what it is. :D

soup & growing up

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:03:00 GMT

We're at the point of relying less & less on purees and more & more on feeding Henry from our normal meals. With 4 meals a day right now, it is looking something like this:

B: Fruit puree cubes + Weetabix
If you havebn't used Weetabix as baby food yet you are missing out! Find it in the health food cereal section. I use it all mixed up with baby milk and a puree, currently I'm using apricot & pear puree)

L1: Mixed veg cubes
Not pureed but mashed, for coarser texture - currently he's having rutabega + potato or carrots + peas

L2: Mixed veg cubes
Whatever he didn't have last time

D: What we're having.**

Any snacks he gets are either cheerios, freeze-dried apple bits (which are also great to mix in with oatmeals and weetabix), toast, or cooked and cooled peas.

Soon I'll stop using cubes altogether except for fruit purees which are actually realllly useful a lot of times. I'll start making more meal-type things for Henry in case he doesn't like what we're having, or like for a lunch when we're just having sandwiches. I'll be making mini shepherds pies, stews, things like that. And here is the first recipe I'll be using, something that I accidentally made this afternoon that ended up being perfect baby food for Henry:

I Totally Guessed At Veggie Soup
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can chopped tomatoes w/garlic in it
1/2 bag frozen cauliflower
1/2 bag frozen green beans**
1/2 bag frozen corn
2 potatoes peeled & chopped
bay leaf
bunch of pepper
bunch of thyme
bunch of parsley
bunch of basil
Throw it all in a pot and cook on low for a few hours.

It is yummy soup that we'll have tonight with cornbread. Henry ate it easily with a little bit of fork-mashing.

** Don't ever use french-style green beans for little ones, I learned the hard way, because no matter how well you think you've gotten rid of those little strings... you haven't. They will be there. Your baby will gag and you'll have a heart attack.

Bananas

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:21:33 GMT

Okay, Mr Baby is going to have his first foray into solid foods this weekend. We are going to have bananas mixed with some breastmilk.

What do I need to know before I do this? Can I just mush the bananas up, or do I need to put them in a blender/food processor?

Here's everything I know...

If your baby is used to the sweet taste of human milk, start with mashed bananas.

Use your finger as baby's first "spoon." It's soft, at the right temperature, and baby is familiar with it. Encourage baby to open her mouth wide. Place a fingertipful of this glorious glob on baby's lips while letting her suck on the tip of your finger. Next, advance the fingertipful of food to the tip of your baby's tongue (where there are tastebuds receptive to sweetness). If this gets swallowed, or at least is not spit back at you, try placing the next glob toward the middle of baby's tongue.

Watch baby's reaction to this new experience. If the food goes in with an approving smile, baby is ready and willing. If the food comes back at you, accompanied by a disapproving grimace, baby may not be ready. Some babies make funny faces just because this is all so new to them. What happens in the mouth may be a more accurate indicator of whether a baby is ready to eat solids. If the mouth opens for a second helping, give it another try � you may have a winner. Even if the food comes back out, the baby may just need to learn to seal his mouth shut when he moves the food from the front to the back. Rejection of the food could also indicate that the tongue-thrust reflex is not yet gone, and baby can't move the food to the back of his mouth and swallow it. If your baby just sits there, with an open mouth, confused by the glob of food perched on her tongue, she's probably having difficulty with the tongue-thrust reflex. Let her practice a while. If she still doesn't seem to know what to do, wait a week or two before you try again.

I'm pretty much starting this solids thing from a place of zero knowledge beyond that, so any advice is welcome.

A few pointers

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 13:40:03 GMT

I scanned through the beginning chapeters of my Annabel karmel book "The Healthy Baby Meal Planner" and these are the things I had highlighted as points the first time around, and it fits what some of us have been talking about lately:

1. Dairy products like yogurt and mild cheese can be introduced after 6 months. Choose whole fat products rather than low fat ones.

2. Eggs can be given from 6 months on but they must be cooked thoroughly until both the yolk & white are solid. Soft boiled eggs can be given after 1 year.

3. Honey shouldn't be given to any child uner 12 months because of the risk of botulism.

4. Initially, baby rice (commercially prepared) is the easiest for baby to digest. Once baby has passed 6 months and is happily eating slightly courser textures there is no need to coninue specialty baby cereals. Use instant oatmeals, grahams, Chex, etc but make sure it is low in sugar and salt. *

5. Limit indigestible foods such as spinach, lentils, cheese, berries & citrus.

6. Commercial teething biscuits are often loaded with sugar, try toast or the following recipe instead:

Homemade Teething Biscuits
Cut a thick 1/2 inch slice of whole wheat, cracked wheat, or rye bread into 3 strips. Place on cookie sheet and bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Add some grated cheese to the top for extra flavor or texture. These will keep in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

*WEETABIX! If you haven't discovered it yet or don't know about it, Weetabix is perfect baby food and Henry is starting it today actually! Can be purchased at World Market (more expensive there as it is imported) or Super Target has it near their healthy cereals. It comes in a brick so it is super portable for taking baby food on the go.

Henry will be done with baby rices and his grains will come from Weetabix and I'm also going to make him some pasta stars! Those little bitty pastas that can be easily spoon fed, rather than chippong up something else. :) Or orzo maybe, since that's what I have in the cupboard....

Successes and Failures

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:50:05 GMT

This is all going to come out quite randomly, but I want to note what's going on with 7 month old Henry's feeding progress:

Apples have failed. Just like his older brother, Henry gets a predictable and nasty belly ache with apples, so he won't be getting any more of them until after he turns 1, which was the magic apple-eating number for Philip.

Blueberries have turned out very well and they last for ages. I took frozen blueberries (no sugar added, just natural blueberries) thawed them a bit and blended them into a puree and froze them. One bag has lasted me AGES because when thawing, the blueberries are very liquidy and so I add a bit of milk and a lot of rice, so I only really need 1 cube of blueberry per meal. Same with peaches, but peaches don't thaw quite as liquidy as blueberries do.

The carrots have needed norice as a thickener, their consistency - and sweet potatoes - has been perfect.

With both blueberries and peas he hated them when it was too strong a taste, but mixed with baby rice he's loved them both.

Green beans are a current favorite.

I've still got him mainly on single foods, the only combinations have been rice + a fruit, and he'll also do blueberry + peach. The next mix I'll do - which won't be for a few weeks - will be zucchini with potato. Eventually that will have cheese in it as well, that was one of philip's favorites. So was sheperds pie.

I've changed ice cube trays a million times and have finally settled on the very hard plain white ones I get for a buck at target. If they are too bendy then they break when trying to get the cubes out. And the silicone ones I wswitched to were a pain in the rear as well ebcause the food seemed to stick to them.

Currently in the freezer: carrots, blueberries, peaches, green beans.
Today will be a big food making day and I'll be making, freezing, and generally stocking up on rutabega, peas, butternut squash, sweet potato, and pears.

These frozen cubes are a world of goodness even when the foods get more solid because they can be combined with so many things.

Round One

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:41:39 GMT

Something I forgot about making food last time - silicone ice cube trays are my best friend and I shouldn't be using the hard plastic kind for my food cubes because it is a major pain in the ass to pop the food out!!

I made apples and pears for Henry this morning. Since I'm doing purees rather than slightly chunkier foods I used my sexy blender. When the consistency doesn't have to be so smooth then I'll use the little hand mixer stick thing. But my blender made me some smooooooooooooooooth applesauce and pearsauce that Henry absolutely inhaled.

He gave me a gigantic smile after his first bite of apples, looking as if he were thinking "THIS is what i've been waiting for! Real food!" and he at what seemed like 12 pounds of the stuff. :)

Success!!

Apples for now... pears next... then I'll be doing carrot puree and a sweet pea puree.

Oh how I've missed this. :D

One more thing...

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 12:18:37 GMT

I found a really, really good website without homemade baby food information:

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Particularly useful are the guides for which purees freeze well and which don't! I'll have a good scour through this and post some of the infrmation here when I have a bit more time.

Straining the juices

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 11:51:53 GMT

When making 1st food purees, did any of you strain the juices before freezing?

I didn't with Philip, I just poured the puree into ice cube trays, froze them, and defroosted as needed. But then I would frequently have to use baby milk to make it the right consistency.

So my idea is to puree a gob of pears, strain it for ages on a sieve (maybe some cheesecloth?), and collect the pear juice. Then freeze the juice separately along with the pears so that if any consistency changes are needed I can add the pear juice vitamins BACK into the puree, and also keep the taste of the pears more natural. That way not everything ends up tasting like fruity milk.

DId anyone else do this? I'll report back with my success or failure...

Henry is on day 3 of rice and I swear to God he *snorts* it. Chews properly, eats every little bit.... we only got the sweet rice-face mess for a day!

idea for food + art

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:53:04 GMT

http://cleanerplateclub.wordpress.com/2007/04/26/she-played-with-food-she-ate-veggies-and-fruits/

I found this great idea on a food blog I visit frequently - a suggestion on how to get your older kid really interested in fruits and veggies. :D

Preparing

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 14:09:15 GMT

Henry is only 4 weeks old ... ( and since he was 6 weeks premature we's half-jokingly call him Negative Two Weeks Old at this point) ... and I am already CRAZY EXCITED about making his babyfood! I honestly think that aside from the happy gooesy feeling that come along with motherhood, making babyfood was my favorite part of Philip's youth. I am under no illusion that my babyfood making is the reason why he is such a good eater now - I know some kids really are just born picky, I know I was! - but it didn't hurt, did it!

I'm in the market for a deep chest freezer so I can make a whole bunch of food to keep frozen for those times when I can't make it fresh.

Also... I've got a super crazy yummy chicken & lentil stew that I made the other day from a Baby Food Cookbook... it was supposed to be pureed for baby food but we ate it as a stew. Once I can find the recipe I'll post it. :)

Here we go again!! :D

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 02:48:45 GMT

I am really desperate..This may be off-topic somewhat, but I need some help here!

My 27-month old daughter eats no meat really. She ate some chicken tonight(processed, into a kiev..) and the odd time, she will eat 1-2 chicken nuggets that we have in the freezer. She is a carb addict, and eats a lot of breads, wheats and sometimes pasta.. She also loves fruit and eats peas, corn and cooked carrots.

She drinks apple juice(diluted atleast 50/50) and 2%milk, but that's all she will drink. She doesn't like orange juice, she won't drink any 'red' juice and isn't fond of plain water, but will drink it if she's thirsty enough..

My problem is that she is developing a yeast problem, a rash-like problem, in the creases of her arms and legs, as well as a little bit on her tummy. I'm quite certain it's yeast, and will be booking a dr. appointment tomorrow.

I've started her on acidopholus, and she eats 1 yogurt *everyday* at breakfast. I need to come up with some lunch and dinner ideas, that she might atleast try to eat...and I'm stuck. We eat grilled cheese, kraft dinner, spaghetti-o's, omlettes, toast, bagels and french fries for lunches mostly(with apple wedges, applesauce, grapes and bananas as an option..) and for dinner, she pretty much eats rice with some veggies, or potatoes with veggies, salads, kiev or a nugget or two... It's a very small variety for a diet, I know, but she is SO not into eating meat.

(oh, and we don't eat red meat, period.) Just chicken and VERY rarely fish.

Any meal ideas/suggestions? Even snack ideas? Anything??

lunch ideas?

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 12:57:19 GMT

It's basically a desperate plea for inspiration--what are your toddler's favourite lunches? I'm running out of ideas of sure-fire meals, as he seems to get more and more finicky as time goes on.

I'm feeding Alex his main meal at noon, which is leftovers of what I made for us the night before, as it's hit and miss as to whether or not he eats it (but I want to keep offering him the same food as we eat, making sure there's something in there I know he likes), but don't want the meal he might leave untouched to be his last meal of the day.

The other night, he refused his dinner and wouldn't even take the backup--an unbuttered slice of bread (yes, I know this sounds harsh, but he loves bread and if he's truly hungry he'll eat it, and I don't want to teach him that I'll keep making food for him until he finds something to his majesty's taste--I'm not going to be a mom who makes a different dinner for every member of the family, dammit). I gave him some milk, just because I was worried he'd wake up hungry, but even so, he had a really restless sleep and woke up an hour and a half earlier than normal, pleading "bagel!" It absolutely broke my heart, so I'm going to see how switching his meals around goes--iffy food at lunch (as he can always have a small snack a few hours later and then have dinner) and something I'm pretty sure he'll eat for dinner.

But I'm running out of ideas! Help! Please? What did you give your toddler for lunch today...? What are their favourites? I refuse to bow to the call of beans, fish fingers, and chips (more than once a week, anyway).

crossposted to ukparents

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:11:43 GMT

is it light corns syrup or dark for constipation? thanks

Courgette & cheese fritters

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 16:35:16 GMT

Just made these, Ethan loves them!!

1 courgette, grated
2-3 oz mature cheddar, grated
2 eggs
2-3 tbsp plain flour
splash of milk

Whisk the flour, eggs and milk together in a bowl. Add the grated courgette & cheese and mix well. Add a little seasoning if liked.

Heat a tbsp of olive oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, drop tablespoons of the mixture in the pan, flatten out and fry til golden on each side. Drain on kitchen paper & serve.

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 20:53:57 GMT

Hello everyone. I am a new one. I am 22 and have 3 children Chloe, who is almost 4 years old, Aiden who is almost 2 years, and Faye who is 7 months old.
I buy some foods but I really want to make more things for my littlest one Faye. I have an oldfashioned baby mill which I love! It works so well.
I was wondering about freezing guidelines. Are there any types of foods that you shouldn't freeze? How long it is safe to freeze fruits and veggies?
I have made food for my other 2 children but I never thought to freeze it. I always made it fresh and with 3 small children it is hard to have the time to stop and mill at EVERY meal time.
Thanks in advance.

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 01:38:03 GMT

hi im new to the community. we decided not to start solids, in a big way, until babys one year birthday. that said, she hates baby food now. can anyone give me any ideas on feeding my child? im going to make her sweet potato fries, something with butternut squash, and i already give her steamed baby carrots. anything will help.. thank you! ps she loves to feed herself

Good Idea

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 16:29:17 GMT

On a blog I like to read, the author just wrote a post about a great little finger food for the sometimes icky transition from baby foods to real foods. Here is the link, and in case you read this later, it is the entry dated 02/20/2006 - I can't fiure out how to link directly to that certain post.

In a nutshell, she made macaroni and cheese shells and refrigerated them in a small container, which turned it into a cheesy pasta block that can be sliced up. And easy way to eat pasta for babies who can't quite get the finger pinching thing down yet. She posted photos and everything!

http://www.alittlepregnant.com/

almost 9 months...still no sign of teeth!

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 20:43:09 GMT

My baby is 8.5 months old. She is breastfed roughly every 4 hours (give or take...it's her call) and she eats two meals a day of solids. usually a fruit, a veggie, some finger foods (banana pieces, avocado pieces, etc.) I am not giving her any meat other than fish right now (white fish) and she gets her protien from: yobaby yogurt, fish, and occasionally she will eat black beans. Also, she is not too into egg yolk no matter how I prepare it.

Now, the question: I am going grocery shopping in about 3 hours and I'm hoping to get some feedback so I can walk into the store with your advice and buy stuff for my baby to eat...
a) can she have cottage cheese? does it have to be full fat? (i'd like to give her lowfat)
b) can she have ANY other kinds of cheese?
c) is white fish the only fish you can give a baby with no teeth?
d) where else can I get protien sources for her?
e) when do I go from 2nd foods to 3rd foods?
f) she has NO teeth. so, what are some food ideas for babies with no teeth.

Secret Ingredients

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 16:52:16 GMT

As Philip gets older and older, I'm making less and less special food for him. Mainly he just eats what we eat... which has gotten healthier now that he's in the picture. I do make him his own pasta though, and last night I tricked him into eating veggies he'd never have touched otherwise!

All I did was cook up some macaroni noodles, then mixed it up with sliced (canned) mushrooms and a few heaping spoons of cooked spinach. He gobbled it up, having no idea spinach and mushrooms were part of the deal. :)

Another good way of getting secret veggies in him (other than peas - he adores peas!) is by making mini quiches. I can stick onions, spinach, peppers, and all SORTS of things in there and he has no idea because all he cares about is the egg and the crust. :)

First Birthday Cake (unbelievably non-sinful)

Wed, 31 Aug 2005 09:05:52 GMT

Okay, got a spare five minutes to post a cake recipe from What To Expect.

Disclaimers:
1. this is typed up verbatim, I haven't made this cake.
2. I don't know if you can get apple juice concentrate in this country.
3. I have a cold and I just had a filling, so blame any appalling typos on that.

Makes 1 double-layer 9" square cake.

400g (14oz) thinly sliced carrots (5 medium)
600ml (21 fl oz) apple juice concentrate (you will use slightly less than this)
225g (8oz) raisins
vegetable cooking spray
285g (10oz) wholemeal flour
25g (1oz) wheat germ
2 tbsp low sodium baking powder
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 whole eggs
4 egg whites
1 tbsp vanilla extract
175ml (6fl oz) unsweetened apple puree
Cream cheese frosting

1. combine carrots with 280ml (9 fl oz) of the juice concentrate in a medium size saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the the heat and simmer, covered, until carrots are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Puree in a blender or food processor until smooth. Add the raisins and process until finely chopped. Let mixture cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) or gas mark 4. Line two 23cm (9") square cake tins with waxed paper and spray paper with vegetable cooking spray.

3. Combine the flour, wheat germ, baking powder and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add half the juice concentrate, the oil, eggs, egg whites and vanilla; beat just until well mixed. Fold in the carrot puree and apple puree. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tins.

4. Bake until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool briefly in the tins, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely. When cool, frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream cheese frosting

Frosts one 2-layer cake

100ml (4fl oz) apple juice concentrate
450g (16oz) light cream cheese
2 tsp vanilla extract
115g (4oz) finely chopped raisins
1.5 tsp unflavoured gelatin

1. Set aside 2 tbsp of the juice concentrate

2. Process the remaining juice concentrate, the cream cheese, vanilla and raisins in a blender or food processor until smooth. Transfer to a mixing bowl.

3. Stir the gelatin into the 2tbsp of juice concentrate in a small saucepan; let stand 1 minute to soften. Heat to boiling and stir to dissolve gelatin.

4. Beat the gelatin mixture into the cream cheese mixture until well blended. Refrigerate just until the frosting begins to set, about 30 to 60 minutes. Frost the cake.

Hi!

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:18:21 GMT

Hi!
I'm new here!
I'm making my own baby food! I love it!
My baby only just started eatting a little bit of solids per day just to get used to it and using the spoon - he loves it!
Sweet Potatoes, Pear and Banana so far.
Glad to find a community with good tips!

Does anyone have recipes for ...

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:08:29 GMT

sugar (and honey) free toddler cookies or cake? Something with banana in it would be good.

Thanks in advance.

Eating and drinking raspberries

Fri, 15 Jul 2005 15:42:05 GMT

I don't know how to post a photo into a comment, so I'm doing it here. lunarx said I should take pictures of the mess next time... silly girl, assuming I didn't take them the first time! :)

Raspberry Mess

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 23:02:47 GMT

Philip has been toying with the idea of liking raspberries, as he keeps putting them in his mouth but cant seem to get over the tarness of them so this afternoon I made the following "recipe" and it got him to atleast ingest some... and then he was happier to actually eat the berries whole. :) It is *MESSY*, but fun, so make sure oyu're in the mood to clean and bathe afterwards. :)

RASPBERRY MESS

Raspberries
Whipped Cream (store bought or homemade)

In a bowl, squish the raspberries with a spoon until they are a pulp. Add whipped cream until it is a big gooey mess, and give the bowl to the toddler.

Philip had a field day eating this. He sucked it off his hands, he tried to pick the seeds out, he tried to drink it, and he actually ATE 6 raspberries. :)

A little tip ...

Tue, 24 May 2005 15:36:41 GMT

From the mother of a VERY fussy eater who was slow to start on solids ... put cream in everything. :)