Spaghetti

This is a recipe that I recently made for Andrew because I wanted to start introducing chunkier foods to him to get him ready to eat cut up adult food. Andrew has been eating most of the grain snacks that are out there on the market –so it’s time he works on eating some more adult foods! I saw spaghetti on the shelf at the store, so I thought I could easily make that for him and get a lot more yield for the money! There is a cheat version and more wholesome version!

Cheat Spaghetti

Ingredients:

1 box Ditalini Pasta
1 ½ Large Can on Del Monte Traditional Pasta Sauce
Boiled or Purified Water

Directions:

Boil the pasta until it is past al dente and is soft and squishy. Drain pasta, rinse and put into a blender, pour sauce over pasta and stir with a long spoon. Add 4 ounces of water to start and use the mix button or a lower speed on the blender so that the pasta becomes mixed, but still has small bits of pasta left. You can puree the mixture smooth if you have a child who still likes food smooth, but if your baby is ready for chunkier foods, leave the chunks in! You may have to add more water to create the consistency that you want.

This recipe cost me about $4 to make four trays of cubes and some left over to serve for dinner that night. I would call this meal and steal compared to what it would cost in the jar!

More Homemade Version

Ingredients:

1 box Ditalini Pasta
3-4 Cans of Tomato Sauce
Diced, Cooked Green pepper
Diced, Cooked Carrots
Basic herbs – parsley, basil – things that your baby has already tried
Basic Spices – Onion or Garlic Powder – things your baby has already tried

Directions:

Follow the same instructions as above, but you may want to add some other veggies into your sauce other than the ones listed above to give more flavor. This recipe includes just the basics for sauce. If you have a family recipe for pasta sauce you can make that and tone down the spices and herbs a little so it’s not too intense for your little one! Puree just the same as the above recipe and your baby will be eating spaghetti with you in no time!

Don't Worry....There will be new posts soon!

As some as you know already - Andrew and I took a vacation back to Ohio to visit our friends and family. Since we have been busy traveling and getting things back in order since we got back there has not been much time for blogging!

Check back in a few day and hopefully there will be some new recipes posted. I have been working on several new ones and am ready to share them with all of you!!!

Teething Biscuits and Sticks

So, we’ve entered a new realm of food in our household. Andrew is teething and although toys to chew on are great, I felt that a teething snack would be good also.

I made two different teething treats for Andrew to try out. I made a basic teething biscuit with no allergenic ingredients and then a teething stick that had a little more flavor in my opinion, but did have eggs in it. I know that some parents are very concerned about putting any allergenic ingredients or dairy into their child’s diet. I felt that these sticks would be ok to try since the eggs are fully cooked and we have no allergies in our family. I would not recommend using the sticks if you do have any family history of allergies, try the biscuits instead!

Basic Teething Biscuit

Ingredients:

2 Cups Flour
2 Cups Rice Cereal (May need 2 ½ cups)
2 Cups 100% Apple, Pear, or other Juice

Directions:

Mix all of the ingredients together into a very sticky dough; you may add more flour to get the mixture less sticky and more condensed. Flour workspace and hands before starting, either roll out dough and cut shapes or roll in hand to make tubes of dough. Place shapes or tubes onto cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. If making tubes, press each one to flatten into an oval shape.

Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through. Take off sheet and place on cooling rack, pack in an airtight container to store or into freezer bags to freeze.

Andrew really loved these biscuits, he actually got mad when I took it away from him because it was getting a little too messy and he was rubbing it all over his clothes and blanket!

Sweet Potato Teething Sticks

Ingredients:

1 Cup Sweet Potato Puree
½ Cup Oil
2 Eggs
¼ Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
1 ¾ Cups Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients then add all wet ingredients mixing until smooth and creamy. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan or 9X9 pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until the bread is firm and set. Take out of oven and let cool in pan for 15 minutes, take out of pan and let cool for 20-30 minutes. Once cool, slice bread into sticks – cut into slices, then cut each slice 4-5 times to get sticks.

Place sticks onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, spacing them out so that none are on top of each other. Bake sticks in a 250 degree oven for 1 hour or longer to get crispy, checking each 20 minutes and turning so each side is evenly baked. Once sticks are crispy and hard let cool and pack in an airtight container or place in a freezer bag to freeze for later use!

Both of these recipes yeild at least 30 biscuits or sticks. You can use some to eat and some to freeze for later. Not only are these treats good to chomp on for a while, but they also keep your little one entertainted for a while! Make sure your baby is sitting up and keep an eye on them while they are snacking on these because they can potentially be a choking hazard.

Garbanzo Beans

The most recent food that I have whipped up for Andrew is Garbanzo Beans! You might think…really, Garbanzo Beans? Yes, these beans are very nutritious and are great to mix with so many other foods. Andrew is fine just eating plain vegetable purees, but I really like to mix together little dinners for him that combine a vegetable or two and some kind of grain or protein. Since he is not eating meat yet, I like to use beans that contain protein in them so that he is getting that nutrient. The other great thing about beans is fiber! What baby could not use a little more fiber in their diet!!!

I found that pureeing garbanzo beans is easy, but the prep is more time consuming than most fruits and veggies. The pay of is well worth the extra time because you can get a bag of beans for a couple of dollars and you end up with 3 trays of cubes and a little extra to use for a few days after you make them!

Basic Garbanzo Bean Puree

1 1lb bag of Garbanzo Beans (dried)
16-24 ounces of purified or boiled water

Directions:

You must soak the beans for 8 hours before cooking them. Place beans into a large bowl or pot and rinse with water. Drain the beans, place back into pot or bowl and add 8 cups of cool water to beans and let set. You can let them sit overnight so they are ready the next day to cook.

Once beans have soaked, drain the beans and rinse once more. When beans are drained again, fill large pot with water and add beans. Bring the beans to a boil, turn down heat, add lid and let simmer for 2 ½ hours until they start to pop open. When they pop open, they are very soft and ready to be pureed.

Drain the beans and place half into blender. Add 8 ounces of water to begin with and puree until all blended, you may need to add about 4 more ounces of water depending on the thickness of puree you want. Once the first half is done, pour into trays and then puree the second half following same directions. You should get 3 trays of cubes and some extra to store in the fridge for a few days!

Add the beans to any veggie or veggie combo you want! Your baby will love the new taste and texture of these beans and you’ll love the nutrients they provide!

Cherry-Pear Dessert

Today I was trying to think of some new fruit mixtures for Andrew to enjoy because I am beginning to feel like he eats the same thing every day. This is hard to believe because my entire freezer is full of cubes of his food, however, it stills feels like he eats the same apple this or peach that each day. As I was looking at the freezer I saw cubes of cherries and thought that he needed a little cherry today. Now, the question was what to mix with the cherry…so I thought Cherry and Pear might be a good mixture. Since I have not posted a Cherry recipe yet or Pear, I will post those basic purees and then all you have to do is mix the two together. So Simple!

Basic Cherry Puree

1 Bag of Frozen Cherries (red sweet)

Directions:

Place frozen cherries into a microwave safe bowl and place in microwave for about 5 minutes depending on your microwave. Once the cherries are thawed and warmed throughout place them into a blender or food processer. Puree the fruit until it is a nice frothy mixture, cherries have a lot of liquid in them so there is no need to add any extra water.

Pour puree into ice cube tray. Normally one bag of cherries will equal one tray of cubes.

Basic Pear Puree

6-8 D’Anjou Pears

Directions:

Wash, Peel and Cut pears in half taking out core. Place cubes onto a baking sheet and place into a pre-heated 350 degree oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until soft. Once soft, take out of oven and let cool for a few minutes. Cut baked pears into cubes and place into blender and puree until soft. There is a lot of moisture in pears so normally there is no need to add any extra water.

Pour puree into ice cube trays, normally 8 pears is equal to two trays of cubes.

Once you have made these basic puree cubes you can easily make CherryPear Dessert! For a 7-8 month old baby, serve them 2 cubes of Cherry and 2 cubes of Pear. You may need to add some rice or oatmeal cereal to thicken the puree if your baby prefers a less runny mixture.

Cinnamon Apple Crisp

This recipe is very similar to the blueberry apple crisp that I have previously posted, but is a more simple fruit dessert recipe. You could serve this as a fruit course or as a dessert; I usually just serve as a fruit course, but normally at dinner time. Once your child has truly begun to eat more diverse foods you can begin to introduce simple spices into their diet. You should never add sugar and salt to recipes as they do not need them, but you can add spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and sprinkles of thyme and parsley. You want to introduce new flavors, but nothing that is too strong or too powerful for your baby’s developing taste buds. Normally as a rule, you can start to introduce these flavors around 7-8 months.

Cinnamon Apple Crisp

2 Basic Fruit Puree Cubes defrosted
1 TBSP oatmeal cereal or quick cooking oats cooked
1* tsp of purified water
1 light dust of Cinnamon

Mix the previous ingredients together and add more or less water to create a consistency that your baby will prefer. If using quick cooking oats you can add a little more to make a good serving size. Make sure to only add a little dash of cinnamon as you do not want too much of the spice, just a little taste of it.

*may need more or less of ingredient.

When I served this meal to Andrew he really loved the new taste! It is a great recipe to shake up the normal everyday meals! Have fun with your baby’s meal and it will make meal time a blast everytime!

Apples and Apricots!

Using the apple recipe and the apricot recipe from previous posts you can make a great fruit blend to serve your baby! As your baby gets older, they will want to eat more complex flavors and tastes. It is very easy to accomplish this by just mixing the simple purees together.

One mixture that Andrew really enjoys is apples and apricots. Sometimes apricots are too strong of a taste by itself, so mixing it with a lot of other foods is a good way to keep it in your child’s diet. The apples make the apricot very sweet and tasty!

Apple and Apricot Mix-it-up

2 Cubes Apple
2 Cubes Apricot

Microwave or Thaw the fruit and mix together! Apples can be runny, but the apricot puree is very creamy and thick, so together they are a great mixture.

Have fun with your baby’s mealtimes and mix it up often by giving many different combinations!

Apple Blueberry Crisp

One of Andrew’s favorite foods currently is Apple Blueberry Crisp. It is a great recipe for when your baby is ready to start eating more complex flavors. Andrew has been eating foods for two months now and he is starting to get bored of all of the 1st food flavors, so I have been trying to combine those foods with new flavors and textures. One recipe that I came up with was Apple Blueberry Crisp. It uses a basic puree for Apples and Blueberries and then I add some single grain oatmeal to make the “crisp”!

Apple puree seems like it would be easy to make but I have found that you have to find the right combination of apples and the preparation is very important. When I first made apples for Andrew he thought they were horribly sour because I used Red Delicious apples and boiled them. I found that babies like sweeter apples and that if you bake the apples they retain more of their natural sugars. Here is an Apple recipe that is simple to make and hopefully your baby will not find it too sour!

Simple Apple Puree

6 Royal Gala or Sweet Lady Apples (or a sweet baking apple of another variety)
Fresh Boiled Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel apples, slice in half and take out core. Place half apples on a cookie sheet and put in oven, bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Once apples are soft, take out of oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. Once apples are cool enough to handle, cut up apples into smaller pieces. Puree apples in food processer or blender until smooth adding water until an applesauce consistency.

You can freeze the puree for 3 months and keep it in the fridge for 2-3 days. Apples are great alone or mixed with many fruits and vegetables.
Blueberries are more of a 2nd food since they have a stronger taste. I chose to introduce them after I introduced all of the first foods. Andrew really seems to enjoy them mixed with Apples, Pears and Peaches! I think he would like them with bananas too if he were able to eat them.

Simple Blueberry Puree

Frozen Blueberries (1 bag), can use fresh if in season
Fresh Boiled Water

If you chose to use frozen or fresh blueberries you can cook them in the microwave or steam them. I chose to use the microwave because I used frozen blueberries and I was able to defrost and cook them at the same time. Once defrosted and cooked, simply puree them in the processer or blender until smooth.

I found my blueberries to be a little grainy, but I didn’t need to add water to make a nice consistency. If you use fresh, you might need to add a splash of water. Blueberries can be frozen up to 3 months and can be kept in the fridge for 2-3 days.

As for the Apple Blueberry crisp, I wanted to mix it up a little so I decided to come up with a simple recipe with a fun name to make a special treat!
I mix two cubes of apple with two cube of blueberry and defrost them in the microwave. Once the cubes are thawed, I mix a Tablespoon of Oatmeal cereal into the fruit. Sometimes you have to add a little more and sometimes less to make a good consistency. If you need to you can also mix some sterilized water in.

Trying different combos of fruits and veggies are fun for you and fun for your baby! Try to come up with something creative today and remember your baby’s tastes are not as discriminative as yours and they might just love something you would think of as yucky!

Grapes and Peas

One of Andrew’s favorite fruit is the grape! For some reason he loves them by themselves or mixed with anything. We did not introduce grapes at first with the rest of the first food fruits but after he had tried apples, pears and peaches. Since he loved all of those flavors I thought it was time to mix it up a little. I chose grape because I thought that is a good flavor that would go well with everything! Pureeing a grape is easy enough and you can also put them in the safety feeders. We have not tried the feeder yet, but we have made the grape puree a couple times now.

Simple Grape Puree

1 bag red grapes

I chose to cook my grapes in the microwave to warm and soften them up but it is not necessary. After this, place in blender or processer and puree. You do not need to add any water or other fluid to the mixture as the grapes have enough moisture in them. They make a frothy puree great for mixing with other fruits and veggies or just add some cereal and serve alone.

Simple Pea Puree

1 bag frozen peas
Fresh Boiled Water

Steam or microwave the peas until they are able to be smashed. For frozen peas, it takes around 5-6 minutes; I like to stir them halfway through. Put peas into a blender or processer and puree until smooth adding water. You have to puree the peas for a few minutes to get them smooth and the peas shells broken. One bag of peas makes 2-3 trays of cubes depending on how runny you make the puree. You can also use fresh peas; they take more preparation because you have to shell them.

I like to serve veggies and fruit for Andrew’s dinner so that he gets a well balanced meal. You can combine any of the fruits and veggies together, or serve them separately. I serve Andrew his veggies first and then his fruit so that he gets the sweet stuff at the end.

Avocado - a great 1st food

Avocado is a great first food because it is gentle on the digestive system and is packed with calories and nutrients. The preparation is very easy; you do not even need to use a blender or processor to puree. If you have a very ripe avocado all you need to do is mash with a fork! When I prepared it for my son, I tried the fork method but found my avocados were still a little hard to mash. I decided to use my blender and add a little water to the mixture to make it a nice smooth and creamy consistency.

The recipe is easy! Use one avocado at a time or do several to place in the freezer. The cubes will brown a little, but that does not mean that it is unhealthy for your baby to eat, it’s merely oxidization. I have read that slicing the avocado and storing in the freezer will help maintain the color and you can mash as needed.

Simple Avocado Puree

1 Avocado
Water, Breast milk or Formula

Mash avocado until the fruit is a smooth consistency adding fluid as needed. You can also use a blender or processor to get a creamy blend.

I was able to make one tray of cubes with three avocados with some left over to use for a few days in the fridge. The top of the cubes did turn a little brown, but it was mostly green. You can add a little citrus juice such as lemon or lime to help with the browning if you would like. See the article below for nutrient information.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Try-Avocado-as-a-Great-First-Food-for-Baby!&id=809392

Apricots - a 2nd Food

My son is currently beginning 2nd foods, which really are not much different than 1st foods. 2nd foods are just more complex tastes and can sometimes mean a more coarse puree. In our house, 2nd foods just simply are new foods that have a stronger taste than those first mild, easy to digest foods. Andrew still eats all of the first foods while we introduce new foods to continue expanding his palette. For example, tonight Andrew at a bowl of green beans (see previous post for recipe) and apricots (which are new to his diet).

Simple Apricot Puree

2 bags of dried apricots
8 oz boiled water

First place the apricots in water to let them rehydrate. Once they are rehydrated, boil them until they are very soft and cooked. After boiled, put in blender or processer adding water while blending to get a smooth consistency.

I found that apricots make a very smooth and creamy puree. They are perfect for a baby who is ready to try new flavors but still wants food that is finely pureed.

Since your baby will continue to eat the 1st foods while eating new 2nd foods, this blog will contain all types of recipes that will work for all babies of any age, just mix and match to make meals that are suitable for your little one!

Green Beans - a 1st food

I chose to start my little guy off on vegetables instead of fruit. It's really up to you what you want to begin with. Some people chose veggies, some fruit and different groups have different recommendations. The basic purees are very easy to prepare for your baby's first veggie tastes.

The first food Andrew tried was green beans and the puree is very easy.

Green Beans (fresh or frozen)
Boiled Water

If using fresh, wash beans, trim and pull out stem. Cook the beans by boiling, steaming or in microwave. Puree in blender or food processor adding fresh boiled water to make a smooth consistency. Beans can be a little lumpy but try to get them as smooth as your baby prefers.

You can save some beans in the fridge in sealable jars for 2-3 days and the rest can be frozen to be store for 2-3 months. Heat and serve to baby at feeding time.

He loved those first tastes of green beans, although he did make some funny faces at times!

First Foods

First foods are the first tastes that your baby will try. They include foods that are relatively mild and are easy on the baby's digestive system. There are many different recommendations on when and what you start to feed your little one.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends beginning solids at 6 months but many doctors still recommend starting solids anywhere between 4-6 months or when the baby is showing signs that they need to starting eating solids. It is recommended that foods are started no later than 6 months though. It is also recommended that foods are only feed from a spoon and never in a bottle. See list of signs baby might be ready and see link.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/solids.htm

-wakes up more often than before
-begins reaching for what you are eating
-watches you while you eat
-is a supported sitter

It is widely accepted to begin feeding cereals then following with first foods, there are some groups that feel you do not need to start with cereals and can begin feeding the most mild of foods. Cereals include - Rice, Oatmeal, Barley, Mixed Grains (always begin with rice as it is the least allergenic)

First foods are easy to make and consist of the vegetable or fruit and some water, breast milk or formula to make the right consistency. These foods are in their most natural form when made by you and have no additives or preservatives. These foods include :

Vegetables: ............................................................ Fruits:

Sweet Potato ..........................................................Pear
Squash ....................................................................Apple
Pea ..........................................................................Peach
Green Bean ............................................................Prune
Avocado .................................................................Banana
Carrot

There is also controversy on which to start first, vegetable or fruit. It is more commonly suggested to begin with the vegetables and then offer fruits. I have found that by giving my son vegetables first he is more likely to eat them then getting fruit first. Babies tend to like a sweeter taste because breast milk is naturally sweet.

To be sure that your baby is not allergic to any food, it is important to feed your baby a single food for at least 3-4 days before moving onto the next food and longer if your family has food allergies. Be on the lookout for signs such as vomiting, hives, rashes, breathing difficulties, coughing, etc. See link on food allergies.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/allergy.htm


For My Family:

There are many pressures when it comes to beginning solids with your baby from doctors, family members, peers and even yourself. Although the AAP does not recommend starting food until 6 months, you must do what is right for your baby. Some babies grow at a faster rate therefore needing to start solids a little earlier than 6 months, others are still thriving on milk alone. Do what is best for your family.

We started our little man on solids earlier than 6 months due to issues with acid reflux. Our doctor recommended starting rice cereal around 3 months because that was one thing he would take when he wouldn't take a bottle because of the pain and we needed to get something in him. Since we started the rice earlier we began feeding solid foods around 4 months because he was used to eating off a spoon and was showing all of the signs of begin ready to begin trying new tastes. Since his reflux was under control with medicine, we went ahead and began to introduce new foods ( it is not recommended to start foods unless reflux is under control because it can make it worse). He has been doing very well with solids and we are expanding his palette every day with new tastes.

Good luck with your adventures in first tastes! Recipes for first foods are on their way!

Welcome!

Welcome to a new, user friendly, info packed guide to making your own baby food. I have been making baby food for a few months now for my son and have archived hundreds of recipes and created many of my own.

You will find not only recipes but, guidelines on how to prepare and store food, how to serve and when to begin which foods. I have learned so much about baby food and hope this blog makes it easy to find recipes and look up feeding information.

To begin you will need a few supplies...

To Cook :
Large pot, such as a dutch oven
Saucepan
9x13 Metal or Glass Baking Dish
Steamer Basket

To Prepare :
Cutting Board
Knives and Peelers
Sieve or Strainer
Blender or Food Processor (I use a Kitchen Aid Blender)

To Store:
Ice Cube Trays (Rubbermaid makes one with 16 cubes)
Freezer Storage Bags
Small Glass Jars (could use store bought food jars)



***Be on the lookout for first food recipes (and photos) coming soon.***