Anyone experienced with making baby food?

[IA_Seth]

My 8 month old daughter has given me my fondest wish in spades.. she takes after me as opposed to her mama when it comes to food.. so much so though that she refuses to eat any prepared baby food unless I add a dash of garlic, pepper, onion powder, or SOMEthing to get it from bland to borderline palatable. Even then, she only eats very small portions.

I've purchased a hand mixer thingamabob and have been pureeing all sorts of things for her, and that is going well (so long as its something flavorful).. but I don't always eat the healthiest myself.

So...

Does anyone have any killer recipes that would hold up well to being pureeed and then frozen/reconstituted? I'd like to make batches of things and freeze them so that I can pop a cube out and warm it up in a pinch.

Ive read around the web and have some ideas, but first hand experience can't be beat!

Thanks ahead of time.

[The empressof all]

1. I just pretty much pureed what we ate

Soups and stews were very popular as was pureed salmon (pick out all the bones). You may need to add some liquid to adjust the texture. My kid loved Hummus and BabaGanoush too so you might want to try those for your little garlic lover.

If your kid is on dairy don't forget pureed fruit with yougurt or cottage cheese.

[IA_Seth]

2. Thanks!

That's been my strategy for the most part up to this point - just give her what I have. I just don't always eat the greatest, although now is prob as good a time as any to change that, before she learns from me!

Oh yes, and she loves mango and yogurt, its the only fruit I've tried (aside from the jarred babyfood). But I have peaches, mandarin oranges (the canned ones), and some pears to try on her sometime this week.

I also bought a couple of sweet potatoes to bake and mash/pureee.. I usually eat mine with cinnamon/sugar, but I should prob hold back the sugar for her?!

Sorry, new dad checking in!

[displacedtexan]

3. I learned something great from Gordon Ramsay.

Don't just puree.

Steam or boil items (veggies) and while you're pureeing them,
add some of the liquid (water, chicken broth, etc.) you steamed/boiled them in.

This adds back some of the flavor and nutrients.

[IA_Seth]

4. Great tip!

That is one of my big concerns (that the food i give her won't provide enough nutrients), so that is a reassuring step, however little difference it may make.

thanks!

[hippywife]

5. Whatever you do...

don't let the HFCS addiction gain traction. She's still young enough that if you feed her whole foods without all the additives that create obesity and early onset of diabetes, you can teach her to eat right for life. Most kids unfortunately won't have that advantage. It's gonna be really scary really soon.

[The empressof all]

7. I always believed that to be true...

However, I never gave my kid highly processed foods and she didn't have sugar in any form (other than fruit) until she was two. She's 17 now and her favorite food is Ramen followed closely by brownies and ice cream. I remember her sitting in her high chair eating her sticks and trees (asparagus and brocolli) Now I can't get her near fresh veggies out of a salad.

Go Figure.

[hippywife]

9. Give her some time.

And the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma."

[MagickMuffin]

6. If she is under a year old DO NOT give her honey

I really don't know why that is, but they're now putting it on the labels.

Can't help with the wee one, although you seem to have gotten some good advice so far.

[hippywife]

8. I think that's because

it isn't pasteurized, IIRC.

[IA_Seth]

10. Right..

Botulism is the reason I've been given.

But thanks everyone for the help!

[Dora]

11. Sweet potatoes worked great for us.

In our freezer, I would keep a supply of mashed sweet potatoes, pureed prunes, applesauce, whirled peas. Our son also loved fresh mango and avocado, but wasn't so fond of banana until he was a little older.

I didn't have any "entree" type foods - it was really just a few months of pureed foods until he transitioned to table foods, so I never got too creative. He was also getting most of his nutrition at that point from nursing, and I viewed the soft foods as practice.

[IA_Seth]

12. Thanks for the reply..

I appreciate it!

So with the prunes, how did you buy those? I guess I've never really purchased prunes myself (I've had them, and actually dont mind them, but I dont recall ever buying them). Aren't they dried? Do you steam them, or poach/boil them first?

Don't laugh, I am tryin! Ha ha.

[Dora]

13. Dried, pitted prunes

I would buy them dried and pitted (without pits) from the bulk section. I think some stores also sell them bagged as "dried plums." I cooked them in a little bit of water until they were plump and soft, then pureed them in my miniblender with the cooking liquid.

I would usually just mix a spoonful of prunes into the sweet potatoes or his oatmeal cereal. They add a nice flavor to other things - sweet, and a little tart. Eaten by themselves, I think they'd make your wee one a little too "productive."

[IA_Seth]

14. Lol.

Yeah, but there are times when a little "produce" wouldn't be a bad thing for her, actually! It be nice to have something natural to ease her along.

Thanks a lot for the advice, I appreciate it. I'll give them a try as a sweetener/new flavor for sure!

[Kali]

15. I never even put food in the blender - just mushed up whatever we were

having with a fork or the back of a spoon, the oldest will try anything and loves exotic foods the younger is a meat, and potato kid (well he loves beans and most Mexican cooking too)

[Mind_your_head]

16. Yeah, I used to make a lot of our own baby food

We lived overseas and jars of 'gerber' just weren't readily available. I bought a mini-chopper (holds about 1-2 cups) and THAT was wonderful! I pretty much pureed whatever we were having in that mini-chopper for our babies ~ unless, of course, it was something overly spiceyor there was some other reason it wasn't an appropriate choice to offer a baby (honey inside, etc.)

I remember mushing together ripe/over-ripe bananas and avocado (not in the chopper, but with a fork)....one of my children LOVED it, the other one didn't.

A BIG favorite was 'Chicken Parisienne':

3-4 chicken breasts (skin removed)
1 can Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can Mushrooms
1/2 cup Milk
Paprika

Place clean & rinsed chicken breasts in a pyrex casserole dish with lid. Add Mushroom soup, mushrooms, and milk. Generously sprinkle paprika on top. Set oven to 400 degrees farenheit and bake with lid on for 1 hour ~ stir it all around at the half hour for even cooking and no boil-over. Serve over white rice.

I would cut up the chicken meat and puree with the resulting mushroom sauce and rice in the mini-chopper. It was sooooo bland (by our standards, but for those tender taste buds that children have)- it was PERFECT.

---------

One word of advice, if I may, as your child get's older, NEVER tell them that you don't like a particular food (they follow your lead and are watching you more than you may know). If you don't like something, simply say, "it's not one of my favorites" or "I don't have a taste for that right now".

Let THEM decide what they like and don't like on their own.

Now that I think about it:
Heckmaybe that's not a good thing afterall, when my ten year old has a craving for raw fish (sashimi) ;-)

Wishing you many happy adventures (food & otherwise) with your child.

[grasswire]

17. canned fruits have very little nutrition

So you might want to keep those mandarin oranges for someone else in the family. I know they seem like a good idea, but they're really low in everything good. Actually, that goes for most canned items. They either have corn syrup or a lot of sodium. Frozen fruits or veggies are better to mush up. Blueberries are a high nutrition food, and go great in oatmeal or yogurt. Homemade chicken rice or barley soup is good, with carrots and celery and green beans in it.

It won't be very long before finger foods will be the big deal! Cheerios, hooray!

[wildeyed]

18. My kids liked tofu, either the soft kind whirled up in the food processor

or chunks of the firm when they were ready for finger food. Soy can be an allergen, so watch carefully at first, but my kids always liked it and did fine.

I would spring for all organic produce (and milk and meat products) if I had it to do over. Studies have shown that the pesticides, etc. concentrate in small children's bodies at a much higher rate than in adults, so even if your whole family isn't eating organic, it might be worthwhile for your daughter.

I think babies taste buds are not always developed at a young age. I have a distinct memory of my daughter sucking on a lemon slice at a restaurant at around 6 or 8 months with no issues, then a few months later doing the same thing and the lemon made her face scrunch up because she began to taste the sour.

But keep putting spices in her food. If kids taste a spice regularly, they won't reject it when they get older and pickier. I put a little red pepper in nearly everything I cook, and my kids eat it without question. I only use curry occasionally and there is always some resistance to that spice because it is not as familiar.

[fight4my3sons]

19. my guys used to like avocado

mashed up

and YoBaby yogurt with the cereal on the bottom when they were that age

we also just kind of mashed up whatever we were eating

now they eat everything they are 3 1/2- our 5 yr old is very picky!