Baby Food

I decided to finally try my hand at making my own baby food today and was happily surprised at how quick and painless it was!  I had a few large containers of fresh fruit that I was worried Chad and I wouldn't eat in time, so I figured a good way to make sure nothing went to waste was to puree and freeze some of it for Charlotte.  She loves fruit, so hopefully she will appreciate my efforts :)

I used strawberries and honeydew.  For the honeydew, I bought a pre-chopped and peeled container so a lot of the work was already done for me.  All I had to do was toss it in the blender and puree for about 20 seconds.  Since Charlotte has teeth (5 of them, oh boy!) and has been on solids for quite awhile now I left the texture a little rougher, but for a younger baby you'd definitely want to make sure to leave it in there awhile longer to get it as smooth as possible.  After that, I poured the mixture into a clean and dry ice cube tray, popped it in the freezer, and once it was completely frozen put all the cubes into a labeled freezer bag.

I have a book on making all sorts of baby foods and it recommended a slightly different process for berries.  I washed, hulled and chopped each strawberry and put the pieces into a small saucepan on low.  I cooked them on low for about 5-6 minutes, then mashed with a potato masher (fork will work fine as well) into a finer consistency.  Again, I left a rougher texture and some tiny pieces in there (smaller than a pea) but you could mash or puree to a super fine texture for younger babies.  I followed the same freezing/storing process as the honeydew. 

Now I have two large bags full of fruit!  It was so easy that I think I might start experimenting with more fruits and vegetables.  The best part about these is they can be thawed and served as is or mixed into cereal or oatmeal.  Also, if Charlotte doesn't like them then I can just put them back into the blender with some milk, yogurt, and ice cubes and make us smoothies.  Don't those strawberries look delicious?

~Stacy