Today I made avacodo and Mandred loved it! He ate the whole avacado in one day! I also bought some apricots and some bananas to try out in a couple days. I've been making his babyfood for about a month now, but have always stuck to carrots, beans, yams, bananas, and apples. Figured it was about time to try out some new foods. Any of you Mamas out there make your own babyfoods? Any tips or suggestions?
I made sag aloo for M. Just spinach with lumps of soft potato and some spices and curry powder. M LOVES it. Hummus is a good one as well, for protein!
We've never really bought baby food for any of our six kids. A cheap baby food grinder does the trick. By the first year our kids pretty much ate what we ate, within reason of course. We will set some food aside before we really start spicing it and grind it up.
I got a book with all sorts of different baby food recipes in it from "Mandred" for Christmas. There are some really great ideas in it, and age levels that different things can be introduced... like hummus is in the next group up from Manny (am excited to make that for him, as it will be an excuse to give it to my husband... sneaky little witch I am, eh?) It also has some curry recipes, some fish recipes and other wonderful ideas... things I probably wouldn't have thought of on my own. Basically, it has lots of taste ideas in it... and I want to introduce Manny to as many tastes as possiable from an early age to try and keep him from becoming a picky eater.
What is the name of the book? I'm really interested in this. My son was a great eater when he was a baby, he loved all kinds of new foods and was eating almost all that we ate at 1 year old. But, now he is so picky, even with the introduction of so many foods (I am mexican, his daddy is turkish, so there is a great variety in our house). He hardly eats anything at all and says he just doesn't like food. I have a feeling that his sister will really like food and be a great eater. At least here's hoping LOL. Anyway, I want to make her food so I need book recommendations. For avocado and banana, I can just mush it and mix with breastmilk, right? Are those good foods to start with?
I used to make all of my kids' babyfood when they were babies. I loved doing it because I knew exactly what was going into their food, and it was so much cheaper! I would go to the farmers' markets and stock up on fresh fruits and veggies, got some kick butt deals too! I used the book "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron. It had a lot of really, really good information in it. Do you ever use the batch and freeze method? Oh, and I went through several cheap blenders during the years of baby food making so I ended up buying a really good one to do the job when I had the twins since I was doing double batches. Cost a bit for my blender, but totally worth it, still running like a pro even with grinding nuts, flaxseeds, whole oats, brown rice, you name it.
The book I have is called "Blender Babyfood"... but its a Canadian book, so I don't know if its availiable in the US. 6 month foods they recommend are: apples, apricots, banana, blueberries, cherries, kiwi, figs, mango, watermelon, papaya, melons, nectarines, peaches, plums, prunes, avocado, beets, broccoli stems, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, corn, cucumber, green beans, dark leafy greens, parsnips, pumpkin, spinach, squash, sweet peans, sweet potatoes, turnips, and zucchini. I started with carrots, sw. potatoes, green beans, peas, apples, and bananas. I do do the "batch and freeze" method... although some things don't freeze well (so the book says) like kiwis. Kiwi can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Avocado oxidizes really quickly so they say to only make what you are going to use right away. One of the picky eater solutions the book offers is to remember that it takes up to 10 attempts to get a child to try new foods. It also says to let your child have his favorite food of the month as long as its a healthy choice as he will grow out of it shortly.
I'm odd, in a way. With M, I don't make her food HOT spicy, but I add lots of herbs and flavours to her dishes, and always have. I didn't see the need to keep it bland. She prefers the spices anyway!
I guess I'm the odd mama out. I never made Lily babyfood...in fact, she won't really eat mashed up stuff except for potatoes and avocados. I started giving her baby carrots when she began teething at around 7-8 months. Before that it was 100% breast milk. Shes 13 months now and I just give her bits and pieces of whatever I'm eating. She loves guacamole, hummus, fruits, veggies...pretty much everything but bananas :lol
You should make some home made icecream (or store bought, whichever). Make it french vanilla or regular vanilla. Get some mangos, and toss the two in a blender and you'll end up with an AWSOME yummy treat. My daughter LOOOVES it.
I actually plan on making breast-milk icecream once it gets a little warmer. lol.. figure since i have all this milk I might as well make something fun with it!
