Making Homemade Baby Food

      My little girl is growing so fast and it is already time to eat baby food!  We actually started trying different foods at 6 months and she will be 7 months tomorrow.  I want to try to make the majority of the food she eats.  One of the places I have found most helpful is Wholesome Baby Food website.  It is seriously full of great information on making your own baby food, storage, allergies, and when to introduce foods.  She also has a book but so far I have just been using this website.  Miss Amelia likes to sit and watch me in the kitchen (for a little while anyways) so she plays while I cook. She is just the cutest little helper I could ask for :)

     One of the things I have found really helpful is a steamer.  I would not have gone out and bought one but my mom had one she wasn't using, and I love it!  It makes the process super easy.  I have some green beans I froze this fall so I can simply take a bag of those from the freezer and dump them into the steamer (or slice some carrots or whatever I am making), set the timer and come back when they are cooked.

     After they are nice and soft I just put them in my nurti bullet (any blender or food processor should work) and with the green beans I added just a little of the water they were steamed with and blended.  I didn't add too much water since I am freezing some of them for later and I can always thin them more before serving.  With the carrots I added a little bit of water but not the water they were cooked with since you have to be careful of nitrates.  The website has an article that tells more about nitrates here.  I have also used breast milk to thin purees although I usually add that right before serving (you could add it before freezing provided it has not already been frozen).

   I took the blended purees and spooned them into freezing trays (ice cube trays also work great).  I only filled these partially since they are big servings and I didn't want to waste food.  With an ice cube tray you could probably just fill them since that is a smaller portion.  After letting them firm up in the freezer I popped them out and put them int freezer bags labeled with the day they were made and the kind of food.  It was quick and easy to make and now I have portions ready to go when I need them.

    A few foods that are really great for if you don't have a lot of time are bananas and avocados since all you have to do is mash them with a fork.  Amelia loves bananas and would be happy if she ate them everyday.  She also really liked pears and I canned some applesauce this spring which will be another quick option.  I am having a harder time getting her to eat her veggies so I think I will start making some combinations for her.  There are a lot of good fruit and carrot combos but I am not sure what to mix with the green beans.  Her next new food is going to be a sweet potato which I think she will like.

    Thank you for reading my blog and if you have any questions on making baby food I would head on over to Wholesome Baby Food's website.

Disclosure: This is not an affiliate post nor am I advising you on your child's care.  Any introduction of new foods should be discussed with your doctor.