Baby Food Roll Call

At nine and a half months old, Iris is enjoying a varied diet. We started a few months ago with apples, sweet potatoes and peas, and now she’s enjoying Swiss chard, tofu, quinoa, avocado and so much more.

Of course, summer squash and zucchini still have to be hidden within the carrots and whole wheat pasta.

Don’t worry – I let her have a little fun too. Over the weekend she got her first taste of pizza, and several small bites of our friend’s homemade mango-peach sorbet.

It’s been an adventure, making baby food. I’ve used the heck out of our giant pasta pot (works great as a double steamer) and am learning a lot about how well white mashed potatoes hold up to freezing temperatures (they turn into sponges).

Iris doesn’t seem too picky for the most part. She even likes prune juice. If she continues to accept plain Greek yogurt in her breakfast fruit and brown rice in her vegetable stew we should be fine. We have yet to try seafood of any sort, but that success will be a milestone for the newest addition to our pescetarian family.

Things I’ve learned:

• The Baby Bullet comes with awesome storage. Everything is BPA free, and the freezing trays are flexible for easy food removal. The individual storage containers have a date dial and little smiley faces to cheer up your fridge.
• Milling and cooking four cups of brown rice makes far more than any baby can eat in a month or three.
• Carrots, if not cooked to a mush, are harder to puree than one might think.
• Too much sweet potato will back your baby up – digestively.
• Freezing pureed fruit sometimes makes it gelatinous.
• Homemade baby food is far superior to the processed varieties. It has better taste, more texture, vivider color and a higher nutrient content. Once you get a handle on it, the process is clean, simple and waaaaaay cheaper.

Not that I’ve never given in and fed Iris Gerber or Meijer food. In fact, at the moment, all of her oatmeal is flakes out of the box. But in general it’s up to us to cook the food, mash and store it and use it to create new and exciting dishes.

And it’s great. Though I admit I look forward to the day when all I have to do is make a little more of whatever we’re eating to keep the wee one well fed.

Look what a pretty picture chard and tofu over rice and quinoa, veggie stew and peach-blueberry puree makes in this vintage hot water dish (which belonged to Iris’ grandma when she was a tot) —–>

So far, so good.