Guest Post: OMG… I’m a Mom!

I am featuring a few guest bloggers over the week as I vacation in Jordan with family & friends. Today I feature Mandy of OMG…I’m a Mom! with a post about making your own baby food. Mandy’s blog is pretty awesome for moms and non-moms alike. She shares stories about life with her daughter that are both informative and hilarious. Go and check out her blog now– if you are anything like me you will stay up all night to read all posts! Thanks again for guest posting Mandy!

I Am Domestic.

Me. Domestic. Even I am shocked. This is going to sound far-fetched, especially for someone with a strict “no cook” policy, but I have learned how to make my own baby food.

Yes, baby food. Pick your jaw up off the floor.

Ok, let me back track a few days and explain so you aren’t all confused.

I think it started while watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. Have you seen that? Those kids are HECKA LUCKY to get french fries as a vegetable! We had to make do with mystery coleslaw and fried okra in my day, but then again that was Alabama….But yeah, I was watching that show and I couldn’t believe all of the excuses the school board gave as to why they couldn’t serve Jamie’s chicken & 7 veggie stir fry instead of pizza. I’m sure it was much easier to just heat up some frozen fries and chicken fingers, and probably cheaper, but at what/who’s expense? The overweight teenager’s? Think of how many preservatives must be in her school lunch that she just paid $2 for. Is it still $2? It was $1.10 when I was in HS….12 years ago. The show was mildly entertaining (I love a Brit!), but it did make me think about the kinds of foods I was/will be feeding Mia.

And then there was that sale on pears at Costco, which pretty much sealed the deal.

So far, Mia has been on formula and starter baby food. In the beginning, we used Gerber 1st & 2nd Foods. Most of them were fine, but a few of the vegetables had an extra ingredient…

We also used (and still use) Happy Baby Organic frozen cubes. Read about them here.

And when we are on-the-go, we use Sprout, by Tyler Florence.

I know this all sounds fancy and you’re thinking “oohh organic…she must have really done some research!” but you would be wrong. Still, to this day, the only kind of kid research I’ve done was on the stroller (which we ended up hating as of last month) and on whether or not you can paint your infant’s toenails (you shouldn’t). I happened to be at Whole Foods getting a salad and realized I didn’t bring any baby food with me to feed to Mia. I walked the aisle and found the Sprout pouches, grabbed one, then remembered that Miriam said her kid was eating the Happy Baby stuff (and her kid is, like, a smart, man-baby) and grabbed some of that too. I like to taste everything Mia puts in her mouth- yes, breastmilk- and I really preferred the texture of the Sprout over the texture of Gerber or Earth’s Best. I assure you it had nothing to do with being organic or fancy.

Both Sprout and Happy Baby are a little on the pricey side, so eating them for every meal just wasn’t in our budget. Then came the Costco trip with the sale pears…and I decided to make it myself. You know I’m a bit of a ditz and the opposite of a Sally Homemaker (‘cept I do have my Danny Tanner moments), so I hope you realize how awesome I think I am for not screwing this up.

This is SO EASY. I think I spent a total of $4 on fruit & rice that made 10 meals. If I had relied on Gerber or the fancy stuff from whole foods, I would have spent $30. To prove to you how easy it is, I’m going to show you step-by-step how to make it.

First, you need a machine. You could totally get the coveted Beaba BabyCook, but you really don’t need to spend $150 on something you will use for a few months (they only eat puree stuff for a couple months, then they want to use their teeth). I’ve got a mini food chopper from the 1980’s that works great! If you want something similar for about $20, try this one from Black & Decker.

Here’s mine:

You also need something to put your puree in. I use the Beaba food trays, but you could use a regular ice cube tray from Target for $1.

You will need a saucepan to cook your fruit/vegetables. I like to use this one because it has a pour spout on the side.

Chop your fruit or vegetables into 1 inch pieces, put in your saucepan and cover. Cook until tender.

When I’m cooking a fruit puree, I like to boil the fruit in apple juice, but you can always use water. Also, I have found that frozen chunks of fruit work just as well as fresh fruit. Frozen fruit is also a bit cheaper!

Once tender, place in your food processor.

Pour in a tiny bit of liquid. You can always add more later if you think the consistency is too thick.
Puree!

It should look like applesauce when you’re done, but you can always make it thicker/chunkier.

Pour into the tray.

Cover.

Put in freezer.

When you’re ready to take it out and serve to baby, pop out a cube (the Beaba brand is great because they literally just pop right out), and put in the microwave for about 20 seconds.

This is too easy. Really. If I can do it, you can definitely do it.

Good luck.

Oh- need the recipes? Try Annabel Karmel’s website, or you can buy her book. Once you get a couple of recipes down, its easy to make up your own. Do what I do- just throw a bunch of fruit in the pan and puree together. Apples, pears and mangoes are a great base!

I know it seems like a ton of work, but I do this start to finish in 15 minutes, including clean-up.