Baby Food

Since Wade is eating solid food now I decided I would try my hand at making baby food. Although I do appreciate the benefit of homemade baby food not containing preservatives that's not my real motivation. Making your own baby food is just a fraction of the cost of store bought food. And since I'm not working I figured I have the time to give it a try. It turns out all you have to do (at least for veggies) is buy them fresh or frozen, steam and then puree them in the blender or food processor. Of course, assumed in that process is that you know how to work a blender...which it turns out wasn't quite true for me.

I got up Saturday morning and while the boys were still sleeping decided to give it a try. How long could it take, right? Yah. Well, about 2 hours...for a bag of peas, a bag of green beans and an apple. The steaming of course is simple and I had no issues there. I started out trying to use my hand-me-down food processor. I haven't used it since the move and I'm wondering if perhaps it sustained some damage without my knowledge. Of course I had all the green beans in it before I discovered it wasn't working. Well, no big deal, I thought, I'll just use my B & D Mini Chopper Plus that I've raved about. I transferred the green beans and was thrilled to find the appliance actually turned on. But soon the beans were spinning around on the sides of the container and no pureeing was happening. Ok, it's time to bring out the big dog. So I haul out the blender which has only been used once and that was to blend a Happy Meal (you probably shouldn't ask about that) so I didn't even know if it'd work. I stick the beans in (I've now dirtied 3 appliances and there are green beans all over the counter); press puree and it starts whirring away but soon it's doing the same kinda thing as the mini chopper. So I add a little water. Not much of a difference. I'm starting to get real frustrated- one, because I'm thinking I've wasted these beans but honestly moreso because I have dirtied 3 multi-part appliances. As a last ditch effort I fill the blender up almost to the top with water and press puree. Well, what d'ya know...that did the trick. Apparently liquid is a key factor in the pureeing process. (I went back and tried the mini chopper with lots of water and of course it worked too!).

After you finally get the food pureed you just pour it into ice cube trays to freeze. After they're frozen you can put them into a ziplock bag and thaw them out as needed. If you want more info about making baby food check out this great website I found here.

Just a small portion of the mess I made.

In the end the blender worked great though!

Pureed green beans and peas ready to be frozen

Wade drinking homemade "apple juice" (aka pureed apple w/ lots of water)

Apparently he like it cause this was the face he made when I took it away to add more water!

Look ma, no hands!

P.S. Even though he turned his nose up at Gerber Green Beans, Wade LOVES the homemade ones!