Baby Food How to

In general my baby fooding goes something like this:

1. Find super deal on whatever is in season or on sale. So at the grocery, if there are carrots on sale, carrots we buy. At the farmers market, zuchini seems to always be a good buy. Eggplant too.

2. Take it home and wash it good. I've been washing most things in baking soda, it seems to take off some of that waxy film. I scrub them down from there.

3. For the most part I try to leave skins on or at least partially. I chop things into chunks that will steam up pretty well. If its potatos, hard winter squash or eggplant, they go in a slow roasting oven and I use the oven heat to make dinner with too. For green beans, spinach, peas etc they go in the top of the steamer. I steam things one right after the other, making a pretty rich broth in the bottom. Don't steam brocolli or asparagus with other veg, they make for a rather strong flavored, sometimes bitter broth.

4. I separate each of these things into separate bowls to cool while the next thing steams. So while carrots are in the steamer, green beans are being stemmed and spinach has just come out of the steamer and is cooling in a bowl.

5. Now we get out the blender and start blending. Its better if you have a food processor but I don't so the blender it is. Dump in the veg, either whole or portions and start blending. Add a little bit of your broth as you blend to keep things moving through the blender.

***If you're introducing baby to a new food don't steam that veg with the veg baby has already had. You want to make sure you know what baby is getting when in case you come across an allergy. So for the new veg, make sure you keep that broth separate. I rinse my blender between veg to keep things separate. Again you want to make sure you know what the reaction is to something new. ***

6. Rinse your blender between veg and put blended veg aside in a separate bowl.

7. Now get out a bunch of old ice cube trays. Best to have made ice a day ahead of time, otherwise your husband may wonder why there is no ice and no ice cube trays. Spoon blended veg into ice cube trays. Its good to wrap them in plastic wrap too. Freeze

8. When you have trays full of frozen veggie cubes, get out your sharpie and quart size freezer bags. Write when and what that baggie is for, seal it up and Ta-Da, you have baby food for a while.

When its time for baby's breakfast, lunch or dinner, grab out the cubes you want. Pop them in the microwave to defrost a minute. I add cereal to most of !'s food. But the mix is all up to you. If you microwave the cubes, stir them around and give them a minute to cool, no burning baby. If you are going out for the day, put the cubes in a bowl and they'll be thawed out when you're ready for them.

For chicken and beef, make sure you boil or roast them through. No rare meats for baby. For beef, I roast stewing beef with carrots, potato, onion and sweet potato. You could crock pot it. Beef takes some high powered blending and a lot of added water or broth. Be patient with it.

Something to take note of- Americans tend to serve bland food to baby. For the most part, there isn't a reason for this. Baby has been tasting spices in the womb. I put cinnamon in baby! applesauce, rosemary in the chicken and bay leaf in the beef. But that's up to you. Just something to think of.