I wanted to go in to a little more detail with the baby food making process. (per Meagan’s request) It has worked great for us and I want to make it an easy process for y’all if you’re interested in making your babe’s food. And seriously this is so against my personality. But with the baby came this intense desire to be semi crunchy and I’m rolling with it!
When we can afford it I try to buy organic. Anything with a thick peel or skin I don’t worry about. If you’re going to peel it, then I don’t see the need to be neurotic about buying organic. I try to get organic carrots and peas and things that aren’t peeled. Please note that the hubs quite possibly finds this obnoxious. Whatever.
I thought I would list some popular baby foods and tell you how I prepared them.
Sweet Potato: I find it easiest to boil the sweet potato. I’ve boiled it whole with the skin on – it’s easier to peel once it’s boiled. If you’re trying to save time you can peel the potato and cube it then boil. I would say boil for 30 minutes or until tender. You can also bake the potato for 1 – 1.5 hours.
Apple: I have steamed apples and boiled them. Either way works fine. Peeling the apple first seems to be easier. You can go ahead and cut up the apple to make things faster.
Carrot: Carrots take FOREVER to cook. I like to boil them until they’re tender. When you’re pureeing it takes a lot of added water to make a smooth puree.
Peas: I buy frozen organic sweet peas. The best way to prepare these is to steam them. I use a steamer insert in a boiler on the stove. You can buy the microwave steamer bags but we are a little anti-microwave at our house. Peas don’t take long to steam. You’ll need to add some water to get your puree smooth.
Squash & Zucchini: Boiled is the easiest way to prepare veggies like this. Just boil until tender. These veggies hold a lot of water so the puree can be watery. You can also cut it up and steam it.
Pear: Steam your pear until tender.
Blueberries: Frozen or fresh blueberries can be covered with water and boiled for about 5 minutes. TM loves her some blueberries.
Butternut Squash: This cooks best in the oven. Cut squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Put the squash cut side down in a Pyrex dish. Fill the pan with a half inch of water and bake at 350* for 45 minutes to an hour. This makes a great puree.
Peaches: I steamed both fresh peaches and frozen peaches and both worked great.
Prunes: I bought dried prunes and pureed them with some water. TM loves prunes. The puree is pretty thick so I would wait until your babe is ready for stage 2 foods.
The secret to making baby food is finding what works best for you. It can be time consuming but it saves money and you can control what your baby eats. Just make sure whatever you’re cooking is tender and you’ll be fine. If you have any questions just leave me a comment or send me an e-mail and I’ll be happy to help you out.
