There is a major dilemma stirring in our household and it's got the LIttle One excited.
The Little One is getting big and busy. His new-found hobbies of waving, grabbing his feet and attempting to roll from his back to his belly have left him famished. Starting solid foods a couple of weeks ago has helped calm that roar and also opened his eyes to a new world of smells, textures and yummy tastes.
In an ideal world, I'd make all of his food from scratch. In the real world, the Husband and I work full-time jobs, write this daily blog and want to spend as much of our down-time as possible playing with the Little One. There is no way I want to sacrifice listening to his new belly laugh for being stuck in the kitchen stock-piling pureed fruits and vegetables. We opted to serve him jarred food instead and happily settled on the Earth's Best organic brand. My plan was to eventually sneak in servings of mashed food from my plate. Forks were made for that kind of thing, right?
Everything changed over the weekend though. While at a mommy and baby play date (which, for five-month-olds amounts to a lot of staring at the other babies and occasionally sucking on someone else's hand or foot,) the conversation turned to solid foods. Some of the moms are making their own and raved about how easy it is.
A couple of them said that they are using food processors, but one professed to using only a potato masher to smash steamed or baked fruits and veggies. The conversation continued on Facebook and eventually I caved to their sales pitch.
On Sunday evening I walked into the kitchen and popped a sweet potato into the microwave. While it cooked the Little One and I read a book, sang a couple of songs and talked about his day. Then I strapped him into his highchair, wheeled it into the kitchen and squeezed the potato guts into our blender.
Twenty seconds and a crazy mommy blender dance later, he was eating fresh, pureed sweet potato. It was as easy as they said and his face was brighter then I expected with the results. I think "Yum!" might be his first word now. While I can't say that I'll be blending up a gourmet meal for him every day, Chef Mommy has a new tool in her belt and she knows how to use it!
The PA uncle and grandma always say you are a great cook.
ReplyDeleteI made ALL my babies food. I would bake, microwave, steam, whatever was required to soften - then blend, and in the case of peas run through a strainer, pour into a type of ice cube tray that had a lid, freeze and pop out and store in freezer in ziploc bags to use any time.
ReplyDeleteIt took me under an hour each week to prep many delicious foods. You can even start to combine them.
Applesauce with Plum
Sweet Potato with Banana(just mashed, no need to cook first)
Anything with cereal.
Just beware of beets - they make the bm's a vibrant red!
Under an hour? I think I can tackle that. Thanks for the ideas. The sweet potatoes and bananas actually sound good to me. Maybe it will be a treat for all three of us!
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