November 20th, 2008 · No Comments

Getting started

Wallace relied on Meade’s site when she was making baby food for her daughters.

“They have a specific guide as to what babies can eat at different ages,” Wallace said. “I would make it and cook it, and freeze it in baby food freezer trays.” Every day, she’d take the cubes out that she needed and let them defrost.

Wholesomebabyfood.com has very easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions at the “Puree and Store” section of the site.

As Meade points out, you don’t need a lot of tools to get started making your own baby food. A blender, a good hand wand or stick mixer, a grinder or food processor and some freezing trays are enough to begin.

In addition to wholesomebabyfood.com, there are many other excellent book and web sites parents can use.

Christine Abrey of Austin, Texas, has three sons. The oldest is 3, the middle son is 2, and her new baby boy is three weeks old.

Abrey is from the United Kingdom. Like many British mothers, she relies on Annabel Karmel’s books for advice. Karmel has written 16 books on baby and child food and nutrition and is as well-known in the UK as Rachael Ray is here.

Abrey has made all her own baby food from the beginning, and plans to do so for her third child as well.

“I like cooking and I just thought it was the healthier option,” Abrey said. “I have been able to make their meals from scratch with ingredients that I knew, to create things that they liked.”

At www.annabelkarmel.com, parents can find many healthy recipes for infants and young children. In the best first foods section of the site, Karmel recommends apple, pear, banana, papaya and avocado as excellent choices for infants age six months and up.

Abrey began with pureed pears and sweet potatoes, and then advanced to mixtures of pureed fruits and vegetables. And contrary to what many other mothers think, she didn’t have to spend hours slaving over a stove.

“It doesn’t take a lot of time at all,” Abrey said. “Just use your freezer. You only need to dedicate an afternoon or an evening every week to preparing lots of individual portions, and then you have them. It’s very easy. In one week I would prepare half a dozen different fruits and veggies.”

Trays

While it’s possible to store and freeze baby food in regular ice cube trays, many parents find these unwieldy, and have to wrestle with the whole tray in order to get a few cubes out.

Trays which are specially made for freezing homemade baby food are much simpler to use, and many parents report being pleased with them.

At Freshbaby.com, the So Easy Baby Food Kit comes with two freezer trays, which have lids and one-ounce serving cubes. The kit also includes a cookbook and how-to DVD; the price for the kit is $37.95. The trays are BPA- and phthalate-free.

Carefreestore.com also sells baby food freezing trays, for $5 each. Each tray has a lid, one-ounce serving cubes, and is safe to put in the dishwasher.

Recipes

Once baby has gotten to used to eating different types of pureed foods, you can experiment with other, more complicated recipes.

One yummy recipe which would be excellent for October (or any month ) is the Banana Pumpkin Smoothie, from Wholesomebabyfood.com. It makes enough smoothie for one adult and one infant:

Banana Pumpkin Smoothie

Ingredients:
1-cup milk or plain yogurt
2 tablespoons canned pumpkin
(or homemade puree pumpkin)
1 banana
dash of cinnamon (8+months old)

Directions:
Blend in blender until smooth and foamy.
Serve immediately.

Also, there’s no reason baby shouldn’t be allowed to have some Thanksgiving-type food. Maggie Meade has a wonderful one-pot Thanksgiving recipe which can be pureed, suitable for babies 8 months and older. Your infant will thank you!

One Pot Thanksgiving Dinner

- A simple and quick recipe making use of the Thanksgiving foods. 8 months+

Ingredients Needed:

1 cup of Turkey – uncooked ( breast or leg meat)
1/2 cup peeled and cubed winter squash
1/2 cup peeled and cubed white potato
1/2 cup peeled and cubed sweet potato
1 small handful of fresh or frozen cranberries

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a medium sized sauce pan
Add 2 cups of water
Bring to a gentle boil and then turn heat to low
Simmer on low for 20 minutes or until turkey is no longer pink and veggies may be easily pierced with a fork.

Transfer cooked One Pot Thanksgiving Dinner to a large mixing bowl and mash or chop as needed.
Process in a Blender or Food Processor if needed for babies who do not like lumps and textures.

This will freeze nicely if pureed

On Thanksgiving Day, you may also take a piece of cooked turkey and combine it with the veggies being served to create Baby’s Thanksgiving Dinner.

(Photo credit: Brad Wallace)

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

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