Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Designer Baby Food

There is much ado in the world of food these days; from genetically modified cows in America’s heartland to E. coli tainted veggies coming from the West Coast.

And the products coming out of China… dog food, toothpaste, toys… don’t get me started.

I grew up in the ‘70s eating lead-based paint chips, riding around unrestrained in cars, and playing with Weeble Wobbles, little egg-shaped esophagus stoppers.

So genetically modified, lead-based, antifreeze fortified food and drinks are fine for me.

But The Squeaker deserves better than that. So we are making all of her baby food from fresh veggies.

Okay, ‘we’ is a bit of a stretch; P.Pie does most of the work. I wash the dishes when she’s done.

Occasionally.

Okay, I really don’t have much to do with it but I like taking the credit.

We were recently at a parent-type get together and P.Pie mentioned that she makes all of Squeak’s food. Everyone was shocked and the comments were across the board –

“Where do you find the time?”

“How do you do it?”

“Is there a special recipe?”

“Seriously, is your husband always that obnoxious?”

Some people just don’t have a sense of humor. Anyway, P.Pie gave out the recipe, so I thought I’d share it with you all:

Take a fresh veggie of your choice*
Steam until tender
Puree (adding the water from the steaming process**) to a very smooth consistency
Then pour into ice cube trays and freeze

Once the pureed veggie cubes are frozen (usually overnight), remove them from the trays and store in freezer bags. For breakfast and dinner, along with nursing, The Squeaker eats one cube (nuked for 30 seconds) with rice or oatmeal to thicken and fortify.

Bon Appetite!

*as with any new food, clear it first with your pediatrician. Never, never take advice from me with checking it with someone who has some common sense first.

**this is the part that makes it super healthy; many of the natural vitamins in vegetables are lost through steaming… but they’re in the water! Genius!

10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Due to the Nitrates in carrots do NOT reserve any left over water for thinning out the carrots.

9/18/2007 8:48 PM  
Blogger geenalyn said...

i made all of my kids babyfood too....its super easy, and yet everyone thought i was doing something extremely difficult lol

9/18/2007 9:04 PM  
Blogger Ainsworth said...

I think my mum and dad must be a bit lazy, because the miss out several of your stages when the give me my food. I think they just do this:

1) lightly steam some veg or fruit chopped into easy-to-hold pieces

2) let them cool down

3) give them to me.

I love to pick them up and see how much I can get into my mouth! When I've had enough like that, mummy mashes what's left with a fork and helps me with the rest. Banana's even better; they just give me that straight out of the skin!

Ainsworth (ages 6 months)

9/19/2007 4:51 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We did that tooo. It saved us a bunch of money and it was way easier than it sounds.

9/20/2007 6:49 AM  
Blogger Stepping Over the Junk said...

Ah. NICE! I made mine for a few months. And then I had stockpiled so much, I didnt have to make it anymore. And then she just started eating my lasagna and enchiladas and salad right off my plate.

9/20/2007 3:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I never even thought about making my own food. That's a pretty good idea.

9/20/2007 5:20 PM  
Blogger Creative-Type Dad said...

We tried making some baby food for my daughter early on...
But it didn't come in a package with a big golden M on it, so she would spit it out.

9/21/2007 12:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hmm. Saving money. And saving on all those containers. Sounds like an option. I may have questions later...

9/21/2007 5:22 PM  
Blogger Childsplayx2 said...

I have to laugh because I made our twins food for a long time. I steamed and pureed a lot of different veggies.

Because so many people were surprised, I too made a post about my secret recipes and it was exactly like your wife's.

You may be hearing from my lawyers.

9/21/2007 11:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think people have forgotten that baby food isn't some gourmet recipe! Takes much less time and effort than cooking for an adult in fact....
India is rapidly going the Western way unfortunately and processed foods and sugar high cereals are threatening to take over, when there are so many traditional baby foods here which are nutritious and tasty and make it easier for the kids after sometime to ease into the main family diet since the tastes are the about the same.

Raji

9/26/2007 3:12 AM  

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