Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Baby Food!

At Parker’s four month pedi appointment we spoke with Dr. Mavani about food for Parker. We didn’t start her on solids until about six months but wanted a little insight on the matter beforehand from our fab doctor. She said that jarred baby food was one of the worst things and suggested that we make all of Parker’s food from scratch. I was actually happy to hear this because I planned on making Parker’s food all along.

While I was happy that our doctor was so supportive of homemade baby food, that’s not to say that I wasn’t concerned with throwing something else on my already full plate (pun intended). Kris and I don’t eat many pre-packaged/jarred/canned/processed foods. Most of what we eat is fresh and homemade—well with the exception of our weekly pizza outing, but if you live in Michigan you know how addictive Jets can be! If we’re eating mostly fresh food, I couldn’t see why we wouldn’t do the same for Parker.

Though if I didn’t have my Beaba Babyfood Cooker I’m not sure if I would still be making baby food. I couldn’t deal with using one pot/steamer to steam the fruits/veggies and a blender/food processor to mix it up. That’s way too many dishes to wash! All I need to do is put the food into the Beaba, pour water in it, turn it on, wait for it to be steamed, then flip the switch to puree it. Viola! I really like that you only need a little bit of water to steam the fruits and veggies, so if/when you want to make the puree less lumpy you can use the steamed water and won’t waste all the nutrients that are lost in the steaming process.

Making Parker’s food has made Kris and I healthier in the process. When I buy a bunch of bananas Parker is not even going to eat a whole one before they go bad, so we (and by we I mean Kris) have to eat the rest of them. Same thing with everything else—pears, carrots, yogurt, etc.—what Parker doesn’t eat either needs to be thrown in the trash or eaten by me and Kris. And I don’t make late night grocery trips to Whole Foods for the fun of it so I’d rather not let food go to waste!

I’ve learned a lot about food myself during this process. Sweet potatoes are rather big and can probably feed a baby for days. So it may be a good idea to make sweet potatoes fries for yourself. However, you must be sure that you like sweet potatoes fries because if not, you will be stuck eating only roasted chicken for dinner like Kris and I did a few weeks ago. Plain whole milk yogurt is gross. I Googled around to find out how to make it tastier and I ended up on a Weight Watches forum where posters suggested adding brown sugar and maple syrup to it. I thought it was silly that the advice from a weight loss forum was to add more sugar to it, but I tried it. Still gross. But, if you add a ton of granola it’s somewhat edible! I’ve learned how to pick the best avocado in the bunch by trial and error—you get one home that’s too mushy and you’re right back in the car to Whole Foods to pick up another organic avocado. Either that or you feed your baby a brown avocado instead of a green one. Not cool.

It’s been a lot of fun feeding Parker. So far she has had avocado, bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, pears, yogurt, homemade brown rice cereal, and peas. Up soon is tofu, green beans, and squash. There’s hasn’t been a food yet that Parker hasn’t liked! I have to wonder if these eating habits will follow her into toddler hood. I’m hoping that they do!

Here's Parker enjoying some pears and (not so) yummy sweet potatoes!


























































































































































































All of my baby food making tips and trips come from Super Baby Food. Dr. Mavani suggested it and I would be lost without it. The author, Ruth Yaron, tells you exactly what foods to introduce when and how to prepare and store them. She also offers a lot of money saving tips. Some are odd--like bending a wire hanger and using it has a bottle drying rack --but some are cool--like using olive oil instead of diaper cream. It's a must have it you're making food for your little one!

No comments:

Post a Comment