When I made the bananas ("made", as in smashed with the imersion blender), she seemed to like them pretty well on the first try. But when I gave them to her again the next morning, so turned up her nose. Even when I mixed them with her cereal they were a no-go.
Last night I was feeding her store-bought green beans (which I have to hide in her cereal to get her to eat), and she still seemed hungry after she had eaten 4 Tbsp of cereal plus about half a jar of green beans (as in screaming her head off as soon as the spoon left her mouth), so I was rushing around the kitchen trying to find something else I could feed her quickly. I grabbed a pear and peeled it and quickly smashed some with a spoon and fed it to her. She immediately starting gagging (which was pretty funny at first because I thought she was just making a face because of the sour-ness), but then she proceeded to spit up all of the green beans I worked so hard to get into her. She has never done that before! I felt kinda bad. So I grabbed a jar of apples (old faithful) and gave her that instead. That kids loves her some apples and would probably eat 10 jars a day if I let her.
As a side note, I decided I'm not going to make my own apples because a) I hate peeling, coring, and slicing apples and 2) they had a buy 1 get 1 free at Babies R Us on cases of apples (24 jars for about $8) so I figured that would save me time and money.
So this brings me to my question to any and all baby-food-makin' mamas out there (or anyone with more sense than me): I don't eat green beans, therefore I neither buy them nor know how to cook them. SO, do you steam the whole green bean, or do you take the individual beans out of the pod (if that's what you call it)? I have no clue. And what other foods can I try? I know I'm going to get some peaches and avocadoes. I have a cute cookbook that has recipes beginning for age 6 months, but I think I'm going to wait until she's a little older for most of the recipes (a lot of them call for things like eggs and cheese or are blends of several different foods). A lot of the toddler recipes look good and would work for the whole family. I got it at my favorite little bookstore, Sundog.
I broke down and bought the Beaba Babycook for all my baby-food-makin' needs.
When I first saw this, I thought it was a waste of money and didn't even consider it. I have a food processor and figured I didn't need another appliance, especially since it ain't cheap. But the more I thought about it and the closer it got to baby-food-makin' time, I figured it would be nice to have something that steams, purees and defrosts all in one. And I liked the thought of having an appliance used only for baby food. Plus it's just the right size compared to my big food processor. And I am really glad I went ahead and made the purchase! Plus, my sister and friends can use it too when the time comes for them.
9 comments:
No need to take the green bean apart. You can simply steam it and puree it. And know, that when you are searching the produce section for veggies if they come from halfway around the world you a better off heading to the freezer section for some frozen US produce. In the amount of time it takes for produce to travel the produce lose alot of nutrients. As for other foods you can try...pumpkin is one of Riley's favorites, and he also really really really loves spinach. Go figure. And when it comes to spinach, you can by frozen organic to avoid the concern of nitrates.
Thanks for the tips, Allison! I will definitely have to try pumpkin and spinach. Question: do most items in the produce section say where they came from? I have never noticed before. Good tips about the frozen produce...I hadn't thought about that.
Good tips! I don't know but I just bought a few books to prepare myself for the transition, and we have a babycook. So, no help from me, but keep the posts coming, because I could use the tips ;)
Oh, Mary Louis! I think it would take a bag of green beans to make 2 oz. of baby food if you just used the inside. Definitely use the whole bean!
As far as applesauce (this was my main tip I was going to email you about- just realized I never did) we just buy the big jar that is for adults. Just make sure to buy "organic" or "no sugar added" and check the ingredients, but the no sugar kind is just like baby food, except a little thicker!
The main things I make are peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, and bananas.
Like I said we do it mostly for the cost saving benefit and it only saves you money on certain things. For example, fresh peaches (and really even pears) end up being expensive so we just buy jars for that and don't really feed it to her that much. Also, I buy most of the veggies (except sweet potatoes) frozen. And you can save money by buying the ripe bananas and using them- baby won't care, you have to mush them up anyway!
I should have just e-mailed you. That was a novel.
Hi Mary Louis. Fun post! I've enjoyed making baby foods for Simeon, it is some of the easiest cooking I've done. I don't have a babycook, but I have the freezer trays they make and I really like them. My pediatrician said I could make any vegetable we eat, so I've made brocolli, carrots, pumpkin even parsnips and field peas. I've mashed bananas and pears. The pears gave him a rash, maybe they were too acidic? Since Simeon was having some digestive difficulties maybe due to the iron in his multi-vitamin I also simmered some dried prunes and dried apricots (separately) and pureed them. He is such of a good eater he'd eat pureed cardboard I think. I also have cooked chicken and beef in hope a little more protein and fat would help him to sleep through the night, not so much but it wasn't so bad. I've enjoyed making food, he hates my blender and cries sometimes when I run it so I try to be quick:) It sounds like you're having fun.
Oh by the way the dried fruit was from the health food "weirdo" store and is sulfate free, some people don't handle sulfates well so probably not the best thing for babies.
Glad you got the baby cook; it really is nice and is the perfect size for a bunch of baby portions! I echo everyone else that has said use frozen when you can; most of that stuff is flash frozen when it's freshly picked, so it saves a lot of time and effort and is pretty much the same nutrient-wise. I usually get the frozen organics. They cost a tiny bit more, but it's worth it to me.
So far I have done potatoes (white and sweet), zuchini (have to do this one fresh, make sure you buy organic on anything like this with a thin skin), blueberries & cherries (this was very thin so I just use it to mix with cereal), mangoes, plums (they were super tart, so I have to mix them with something else), peaches, butternut squash, green peas, and green beans. My mom also plumped up some dried apricots in water and then blended them for him. They were a tiny bit too tart, so again, we went with those in some cereal. I've not cooked bananas, just mashed them up with a stick blender.
The last batches of things that I made, I experimented with adding some herbs/spices. I made cinnamon apples (although I agree with whoever above that said just to use no sugar added organic applesauce from now on), zuch with basil, and peas with mint. Mitchell seems to like all of those combos. I am trying to help him develop a good palate early on, haha!
My baby cook book also suggests that you can make your own rice cereal by grinding up brown rice in a blender, but I just buy the Happy Babies brown rice cereal or oatmeal (because it has DHA and probiotics, plus M seems to like the taste of it better than plain white rice cereal). I feel like trying to make/cook my own rice powder is just a little bit more than I'm willing or able to do!
I am going to wait a while longer on meats, but my mom said she used to blend up chicken with a little bit of cottage cheese once we started eating meat, because we didn't really like the texture of the straight meat. Mitchell does love mashed up avocados, so I give him some of that every few days for a little bit of good 'fat'.
Wow, sorry for the length of that comment. Should have just written you an e-mail ML!
Thanks for the help, gals!
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