Another Baby Food Adventure....

Blueberry-Banana-Avocado "Pudding"

I get so many great ideas from the mommy blogs I read and this was definitely one of them.  I know it sounds a little weird but it turned out really good and the texture was amazing.  Avocado is so so good for you (and baby too) it's packed full of all the "good" fats and I've read it's a great first food for baby.  

It was a hit!

Start with half banana, half avocado and a couple spoonfuls of blueberry puree
 (I already had the puree made) 

Give the banana and avocado a rough chop and put in the adorable baby bullet

Blend away!

Yum!

She loved it! (she loves everything though)

A little of this; a little of that....

First, a little Christmas decorating...

So glad our decorations are easy to get to (and might I add- very well organized :)

Alright! Here comes my helper! 

So happy about Christmas!  (this was right after she woke up)

She was having fun with all this "new" stuff

Now, a little mid morning snack... 

I made some fresh blueberry puree yesterday and wanted to try mixing with plain yogurt...

It definitely needed some sweetening

She loved it! YAY!

I'll leave you with a little adorableness....

"Forever in Blue Jeans"

Mama's on a roll now!

Today I made Savannah some butternut squash, green beans and pears.

First, I started with the squash...

Cut a small portion of the end off so you will have a flat surface
to stand it up, then cut down the middle in half.

(my cutting in half didn't work out so well)

Scoop out the seeds, set aside.

Bake 350 degrees, 1 hour.  

Once cooled, scoop out flesh (should have consistency of a sweet potato)

Puree until smooth (if you want it chunkier just mash with a fork)

My 2 lb butternut squash cost $2.60, it made 8 - 1oz servings.
Oh and it tastes delicious!

<Check on baby>

Rinse and separate pulp and seeds

Bake seeds for about 10-15 minutes, add salt.
You can snack on these or add them to your salad like I did. 

Then onto green beans and pears (I didn't end up doing the apples)

After seaming and pureeing the pears, I added oatmeal to half
and to the other half I added oatmeal and applesauce. 

After pureeing the green beans I mixed half of it with rice cereal and
 to the other half I mixed in rice and applesauce for a sweeter taste.  

After dating and labeling, it's time to freeze

There's something to be said about opening your freezer
and seeing a bunch of adorable smiling faces staring at you!

I tasted everything I made today and it was all good! Not that I'll be having the green beans, oatmeal and applesauce mix for dinner or anything but I like to make sure that they at least have a nice baby friendly flavor.  

The idea for the squash came from one of my all time favorite bloggers Roni....

Roni's Weigh / Green Lite Bites

Peaches Please

The only solid food Savannah has been eating for the past 3 weeks is the rice cereal so I wanted to get back to trying new foods.  I went with the peaches we had in the fridge.  I steamed them for about 10-15 minutes, pureed then mixed with rice cereal.   I make the rice with formula instead of water since she enjoys that taste so much.

Took me only 5 seconds to puree!  

I use store bought rice only because when I made it myself
the consistency was sticky and kinda funky

rice and peaches...yummy!

"um, what IS this mom??"

"are you trying to confuse me mommy?"

She sure made some funny faces while I was feeding her so I ended up adding even more rice cereal to it.  She ate about half of the little cup.  We'll try again with her afternoon feeding.

A little tid bit from wholesomebabyfood.com (great website)

The Goodness of Peaches & Nectarines for Your Baby

Peaches are high in Vitamin C and Vitamin A and they contain a great amount of fiber. Peaches are known to have a diuretic affect and also are a natural laxative. Along with Prunes/Plums, the Peach is a great fruit to give to your baby if constipation has become a problem.

Time for Pea's!

The Baby Bullet is working out great! So far I've made sweet potatoes, rice cereal and pea's.  She seemed to enjoy the potato's and peas the most.  I can't believe how simple it is to make homemade baby food. And I must say it just feels right.  We don't grab a jar of food every time we eat- we cook our food.  So why should it be any different for her? PLUS, the cost savings is amazing! 

• A bag of peas cost me about $1.50 
• 3 cups of peas per bag  
• 3 cups will make 12 - 2 oz servings
• That's 12 servings for $1.50
• Which is 18 cents per serving! Wowza!

 I believe 1 jar of organic baby food is about $1, give or take.  So I'm saving some serious moolah!  Right now Savannah is only eating about a tablespoon at each feeding, but eventually she'll be eating the full 2 oz.  Whether she eats more or less, I'm still saving a lot of money not to mention I know exactly what she's eating, cause Mama made it herself! :) 

Disclaimer:  I feel the need to say this-  I know that zillions of babies have eaten jarred baby food for zillions of years and they are just fine.  I completely get that, and have no problem with it. I say whatever works for you and your family is the way to go.  For now, this is what works for me and my family.  There, I feel better now. :)

Savannah Eats!

It's Solid Food Time!

So little miss will be 4 months old tomorrow, and I'm ready and raring to go with solid foods.  She has had such a problem with spitting up since she was born and I think that incorporating some solids will really help her keep it down.  I've known since she was born that I wanted to try to make my own homemade baby food, not only do I want her to have the healthiest foods possible but I know I'll really enjoy doing it (I think I was inspired by Diane Keaton in Baby Boom, love that movie).  Ive had my eye on the baby bullet since I saw the informercial when I was pregnant.  Then I found it at Kohls- paired with my 30% off coupon- it was just meant to be.  After all my reading I made my first batch this afternoon:

Savannah meets the spoon

 peel the sweet potato

cut into chunks

steam, about 20 minutes 

put in baby bullet, add water and puree the heck out of it 

puree, puree, puree

and.... wa-la, homemade, all natural baby food

put in adorable baby bullet cups,
use the date dial with todays date

put enough in fridge for 3 days and freeze the rest 

silicone freezer cups

 put in freezer

Thoughts:  The baby bullet worked really well and was super easy to use.  After steaming the potato, it only took me 10 minutes to puree and store it.  Of course since Im just introducing solids to her I only did one small sweet potato today. After 4 days I'll introduce another kind of food and see how she takes to that.  Eventually I will make multiple foods and prepare enough to feed her for a week.  Overall, I liked the baby bullet and can't wait to see if she likes the sweet potato.  Were going to try it tonight so Shane can be here for the momentous occasion :)