We have discovered that Lilly loves to eat! So far she has eaten peaches, pears, apples, squash, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados, and plums. Her favorite is sweet potatoes. She HATES green beans. Maybe we will try those again later but she blows raspberries when we try to give them to her. To see if it she did in fact dislike them and it just wasn't her telling us she wasn't hungry, after we attempted a few times to give her the beans, we tossed them and offered sweet potatoes. She ate them up! I am also toying around with the idea of making my own rice cereal and oatmeal. She doesn't seem to be a fan of the box stuff-I don't blame her it tastes like the box it comes in!
There are many things that have really helped me get on board with making my own food. The first is that I love to cook and bake so it almost seemed like a no brainer. The second was finding a great resource for recipes and advice on selecting, preparing, and storing the food. I was recommended, from many people, the website wholesomebabyfood.com. I HIGHLY recommend it if you are thinking about making your own. They even have a blog that offers lots of great suggestions and recipes!
Having the right tools to do any job or project is key. My final step toward making Lilly's food was getting the right food processor. I had many options-the baby bullet, a standard food processor, a hand blender. I had to consider a few things. One being that I absolutely hate doing dishes and cleaning lots of small parts of a food processor was not something I felt like doing. Second I don't have the space for another bulky appliance. So basically that ruled out everything except the hand blender. I just needed to find one that wasn't crappy and didn't cost an arm and a leg.
When I found the Cusine Art Smart Stick Blender on Amazon for just $27 bucks (retails for $55) I was sold. I heard lots of good things about it and I figured I could always return it if it sucked. The Smart Stick purees beautifully and as an added bonus can also make a mean smoothie. Clean up is a breeze. It comes with a blending cup that is dishwasher friendly and the bottom of the stick pops off and cleans up with a little rinse and even can go in the dishwasher no problem. The rest of the stick can be cleaned up with just a wet paper towel if there are any splatters. Bing Bang Boom. Perfect.
I decided to go with these bad boys for freezing the purees. A friend of mine recommended these and they are awesome. Much better than ice cube trays-plus they offer coverage so it's safer for storing.
I have a nice little stock in my freezer and I am looking forward to trying out some of the blended recipes at 6 months-which is only in a few weeks. Here are a few shots from my baby food making extravaganza over the past month.
So far my favorite to make was the butternut (or winter) squash. It was just so pretty. The easiest to make was the green beans (figures she would hate them) because I bought the fresh green beans in a bag you just pop into the microwave and the hardest to make really is nothing but if I had to pick it would be plums only because they stain everything! Up next to try are peas and pumpkin. I have a feeling pumpkin will be a major pain and since they are not available yet I plan on just buying the canned version (not pumpkin pie filling). I may try my hand at fresh pumpkin when we get them for Halloween.
Happy Pureeing!
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