Oh, you didn’t know I make all my own baby food from scratch? <eyeflutter>
…OK, obviously that’s a bold-faced lie.
Despite the fact that I received a very lovely baby-food blender as a gift when I was pregnant, I have never done the homemade-baby-food thing before. (Although have I wanted to? Yes. It sounds very glorious and maternal. It’s just that those overpriced packets are so durn convenient, and pretty delicious-looking, and inclusive of things like quinoa and salba and rutabaga – no, seriously – that I wouldn’t ever in a million years think to throw into my family dinner. And newborns are a touch time-consuming, generally speaking, and so I sort of decided to make food preparation one of my Lazy Zones while I figured out how not to panic over the other intensely large responsibilities associated with recent procreation).
But since Indy has started eating more or less what we eat on most days (just mashed up), I’ve started realizing that a) Kendrick and I eat balanced meals most of the time, but certainly not all of the time, and while I generally have carbs and protein covered I’d really like our son to one-up us in the fresh-fruit-and-vegetable department, and b) it’s totally fun to cook for him, now that food is something that really interests and excites him.
Oh, and it’s cheaper.
So yesterday afternoon I stopped into the supermarket and basically picked up everything that I thought looked good, and then went home to do a little sautéing, steaming, blending, and mix-and-matching.
The whole thing took about 45 minutes from start to finish, and now there’s a solid week’s worth of food sitting in our freezer, ready to be defrosted a cube or four (the kid can really eat) at a time. Honestly, though, the point is to have healthy options on hand for days when whatever Kendrick and I are eating isn’t baby-suitable…so chances are this batch will last a whole lot longer than that.
Totally easy.
And fun.
I’m sold.
Baked sweet potato / sautéed apple / dash of cinnamon / splash of milk or water
Steamed swiss chard / sautéed apple
Steamed, mashed broccoli (straight-up; he loves it, what can I say?)
Pot roast pulled into tiny pieces / broiled carrots / steamed rice
Sautéed zucchini / broiled carrots / mashed potato
Cheese tortellini / mushroom tomato sauce / steamed broccoli
*When pureeing the ingredients together, I used the lowest setting to keep the blends chunky, and even reserved a few pieces of vegetable to cut up into chunks and add to the purees for more texture.
*Sautéed vegetables were prepared using a little olive oil
P.S. Important caveat that applies to anything and everything baby-related that I post on this site: what works for one baby doesn’t necessarily work for all (especially when it comes to nutrition and the introduction of new foods), so please consult your pediatrician about any questions you may have.
