"baby food"

In Case You Didn't Know

You learn so much when you have a baby.  For example, you learn about true love, breastpumps, children's TV, and the real meaning of tired.  You also learn just how much crap comes with a kid.  And I'm not referring to the swings, baskets, tubs, soaps, carriers, diapers, and assorted paraphernalia.  No, I am referring to the blankets, stuffed animals, photo albums, and infinite teeny tiny shoes that people buy you.  Essentially, all the cute but useless stuff.

I've had no less than three friends or family members have their first babies in the last few months.  Every single one of them has phoned me and said the same thing: "I never realized how crappy the presents I gave to new parents were until now."  They fell victim to the pastel coloured treats in the department stores and gift shops.  Now, as parents, they were suffocating under the gifts people brought over. And now, as new parents, they were realizing that the best presents were the edible kind. Screw the teddy bears, give me muffins!

We too went through this realization.  After The Monster was born I started to get especially bitter at people who would come to meet the baby and maybe drop off "a little something" when that little something didn't come as food.  New parents are exhausted and overwhelmed by their new state and that little creature who has joined the family.  The last thing they need is a visitor who only wants to hold the baby while you get them tea.  

I'm not telling you to not buy the cute little somethings, but don't you dare show up to visit without a frozen meal, some fresh muffins, or even some crackers and cheese from the grocery store.  Don't you dare do it.  If you want to be truly appreciated by your friends/family then make a few meals to freeze, cut up a fruit salad, and bake some muffins.  If you can't cook, then hit a make and take meal place or somewhere with a nice ready-made meal counter.

Here are some more ideas to take to new parents:
- Fruit and Veggies  - don't give them a whole pineapple, cut it up.
- Muffins, cookies, scones, quick breads - homemade or bakery purchased these are always appreciated by the constantly hungry new mom 
- Trail mix or nuts
- Fresh bread or cinnamon buns
- Cheese
- Ready-made meals - fresh or frozen - purchased from a place like Fresh Kitchen or Mise En Place
- Dips like hummus or a white bean with pita
- Frozen meals that you make - try mac & cheese, chili, meatballs, lasagne, enchiladas, meat pies

New parents have no time to cook, a breastfeeding mom is always hungry, and quite often no one has ten minutes or two hands to eat, let alone prepare food.  Keep all this in mind when choosing your gifts.  All this applies in the first three months.  Yes, I said three months, not three weeks.

The Monster has some lucky aunties.  They've been the thankful recipients of her constant baking in the past few months.  With two new nephews we've been baking a lot in order to keep my sister and sister-in-law in muffins and cookies.  So now, when we go over to cuddle those babies and drink tea I can at least feed the mom. Oh, and pass on the drawing The Monster made, the photo album I found, and maybe the onesie I couldn't resist getting for that cute little guy.

Make Your Own Baby Food - Part 2

Take a deep breath and ignore the upcoming mess.  The Smilosaurus refuses to eat baby food anymore.  This, of course, comes only days after I filled a few ice cube trays with pork, beans, broccoli, carrots, peppers, and squash.  It must have been the peas.  Now she insists on feeding herself.  The only exceptions are yoghurt and cottage cheese, and those can't be shovelled in fast enough.

There comes a point when all babies should refuse baby food.  It's often a hard adjustment for us parents.  Will they get enough to eat?  Have I chopped those beans small enough?  Does she have to be so messy?  Many a friend will keep trying to feed the purees and mashes to make sure that the kid is getting enough to eat.  But remember this, by the time they insist on finger foods they usually don't need to eat as much.  And they do get more in their mouth than you think they do.  That is, until they learn to feed the dogs hovering below the high chair.

What started it all for The Smilosaurus was a roasted carrot. I roasted a chicken for the rest of us. Because I love the carrots roasted with meat I threw a bunch in the pan. It seems she loves them too. Soon it became more about what she could get her hands on, literally, and what we were eating. You should have seen her with medium rare steak tonight. I swear she ate half of mine.

It is rather tempting at this point to let them survive on bananas and peas.  This phase of baby food can be more time consuming than the purees.  Only because of the incessant chopping required.  You are your baby's sous chef, dicing and prepping every day.  The one saving grace is that this is also the time when you can start introducing spices, oil, butter, and other condiments.  Knowing that can make your life a lot easier.

At this point you have two choices: reserve a bit of what you are making to steam and chop for your little one.  This only takes a few extra minutes of prep, and maybe another pan/dish if you want to cook it separately.  Or, you can simply take what you've cooked - prior to salting it - and cut it into small pieces.  Okay, you can do it after seasoning it too... but I am notorious for undersalting, according to Hubby.

No recipe, no technique.  This is about the transition from purees to people food.  You've been getting rougher textures already, right?  You've been offering things like bananas, peas, and blueberries to encourage her pincer grasp, right? No? Then start with these.  In fact, I start with these within a month or two of starting solids.  The longer you stay on smooth purees, the harder it will be to move to finger foods.

The next thing to help with the transition is to make sure you are sitting down to eat with your baby.  Too often we feed the baby first, make our dinner, then feed ourselves.  Sure, your dinner will get a little cold or it will feel like you are eating ungodly early, but it is important to sit down as a family and eat.  Your baby will see you eating your food and their natural curiosity will draw them to your food.  Not to mention the extra benefits your family gains when sitting down together.

Don't let a lack of teeth stop you from introducing chewy and rough textures.  My little one has her two bottom front teeth, and that's it.  And tonight she ate about 4 ounces of medium rare steak.  And raw peppers, chopped a little smaller, some steamed green beans, sweet potato, and watermelon chunks.  That was just dinner.

So grab a good knife and chop away.  Some foods will require cooking - like beans, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, and even zucchini.  But you can get away with raw peppers, peas, and most fruits.  I would steer clear of hard apples or most raw veg at this point.  Meats and beans are fine, but cut them a bit smaller than you do the soft foods.   Most importantly, don't leave your baby alone when you eat.  This isn't the time to grab a shower or put in a load of laundry.  Finally, here is some good advice in the unlikely but horrible event that you do encounter choking.

Hubby loves this photo of our little one.  He says it reminds him of a combination of The Incredible Hulk and Shrek- if they ate maple baked beans and avocados.

The Princess and the Pea Mama

Growing up I never ate lima beans, lamb, or lobster.  I never ate peppers, raw tomatoes, liver, broccoli tops, cauliflower, and peas either.   In the case of the latter, it was because I thought they were disgusting.  I never ate the former items because my mom didn't like them.  If she didn't like them we didn't eat them.  I'm with her on the lima beans, but I sure missed out of lamb and lobster.  Hmm, maybe she just hated food that started with the letter "L"?

I'm doing my damnedest to not do that to the girls.  Of all the foods I hated as I child I now eat almost all of them, except peas.  Peas are seriously the most vile things on the planet.  They stink and they taste like mud.  Eating a pea is akin to popping a bubble filled with mushy sewage.  

Hubby likens me to The Princess and the Pea, except that I can tell that there is one pea in an entire dish of shepherd's pie.  Or that the samosas do indeed come with peas without even opening one.  Okay, the last one is generally a given.  But the foul odour of peas is distinct and I can pick it up despite pastry or potato coverings.

As I said, though, I am trying not to pass on that dislike to the girls.  I plug my nose when I defrost the frozen peas, scrub my hands with smelly soaps when we go pea picking, and make Hubby feed Smilosaurus dinner if peas are on the menu.  So far I've been successful, both girls love peas.  The Monster will eat them fresh or frozen, raw or cooked.  And Smilosaurus practices her pincer grasp at least once a week with a bowl full of peas.  Good for them.  

But they better not ask me to make split pea soup, ever.

Make Your Own Baby Food

One of the nice things about vacationing in Baja when your little one is just starting solids is that she begins her foodie career early.  Aside from a few weeks of cereal at home as her tummy was getting used to solid food, she hadn't tried much else before we went on our trip.  But after two weeks there she was eating avocado, beans, zucchini, papaya, chayote, banana, and mango. It must have been a downgrade for her when we came home and she was forced to eat things like carrots, parsnips, and pears.

I am going to try and not turn this into a lecture about making your own baby food.  I will only ask this: why wouldn't you?  Sure, it takes a bit of time and a bit of freezer room.  But other than a blender, food mill, food processor, or a strong arm and a fork there is no special equipment required.  For me, convenience of a jar does not outweigh knowing what is going into my kids mouth.  Let me, then, explain our philosophy.  Philosophy?  Maybe it would be better to simply say this is our approach and why we do it, it seems less pretentious that way.

First, we make all our baby food.  Okay, I do concede to buying rice/barley/oat cereal until she is old enough to eat oatmeal.

Second, we try to do absolutely everything organic.  I've been accused to being snobby with this insistence.  Maybe, but my thought is that organic food generally tastes better and my biggest concern, aside from nutrition, is developing her palate.  If an organic pear has a better taste than a supermarket one, then that's the one that will teach her what a pear should taste like.  There is also the environmental benefit, of course.

Third, we generally cook in season for ourselves and so we do for her.  That means she is eating a lot of root vegetables that we get locally from storage.  It also means a splurge on the so not local fruits like oranges, mango, and papaya, but they are in season in the Southern Hemisphere.  As her capacity to chew develops and she ages she can then enjoy strawberries for the first time right out of the garden, the first rhubarb, and sweet peas right out of the pod.  it also means I am cooking for all of us, and not just her.

Fourth, what I can't get fresh I buy frozen and still make.  Peas are a perfect example, as frozen are as close to fresh you can get.  I also have fruit from last summer which I froze whole -like peaches and raspberries - that I can easily puree for her.

Finally, I am still breastfeeding.  That means meal time is about exploring new tastes and textures, as well as sitting down together as a family.  She is getting a lot of her nutrients from me, and supplemented by the veggies, fruits, fish, and meats she is trying out.  I must admit, though, that one of the main reasons I am breastfeeding is that I am too lazy for bottles.  My plan is to get her to take a cup so that when it comes time to wean in a few months she will be on a cup and I can avoid bottles all together.

Don't waste your money on fancy kits or cookbooks. Even if you aren't much of a cook, this is easy to do. Really easy to do. Just do one food at a time. As they develop and you feel confident you can try mixing flavours. I always go for things I would generally eat myself - squash with apples and maybe some chicken, beets and oranges, beef and broccoli.  And a kit?  Just fancy ice cube trays and a special DVD.  Read below and email me and I'll get you going.

All that being said, how do I get a load of baby food made and in the freezer with a toddler on hand and a busy schedule?

One thing that has definitely helped has been teaching the toddler how to peel veggies.  To be honest, I'm a little afraid that she'll slice herself with the peeler.  But I held it with her the first few times and now she is a pro.  She asks for help on the end bits, knowing that she could hurt herself.  She's tough, but not stupid.  While the little one naps The Monster and I will stand and peel veggies.  It's a great a activity for both of us.  And the pride she has when she sees her sister eating the food she made is enough to make a Mama Foodie cry.

Smilosaurus (aka Little Miss Sunshine) has now tried most veggies and fruits available to us.  That means we can make big batches now.  When I first introduced a new food I only made one or two servings.  That way I wasn't stuck with a huge batch of cauliflower if she wasn't going to eat it (although you can easily throw it in a cream of veggie soup or macaroni and cheese for yourself).  I would simply put a few florets or tablespoons aside from whatever I was making for the rest of us.


Baby Food Making Supplies

Vegetable peeler
Sharp knife
Pot with tight fitting lid/ Steamer
Water
Fork
Food processor/blender/food mill
Ice Cube Trays
Plastic Bags or plastic containers

Wash and peel any vegetables like carrots, parsnips, beets, squash, sweet potatoes.  Trim the ends of beans and zucchini.  Peel all fruit (except berries).

Chop the veggies into uniform pieces and place them in a small pot with a fitted lid (what I do) or a steamer.  Add about a half cup or so of water, not to cover, only to fill the bottom of the pot.  Set it on the stove, with a burner turned to high.  Don't walk away and watch TV, otherwise you will boil away all the water and burn your veggies (trust me).  Steam the veggies until a fork will go through them easily, adding more water if necessary.

All veggies, barring cucumber, should be cooked.  I also cook my pears and apples, essentially making an applesauce.  But I do not cook berries, mango, papaya, or bananas.

When veggies/fruit are done, drain them of any water.  Reserve the cooking liquids.  Put your veggies in your blender/food processor/food mill.  You may need to add water to get the desired consistency.  To start with you may want quite smooth purees.  Unless it is a veggie like a sweet potato or cauliflower you might have to add water to do this.  If you run out of cooking water I usually take what's left in the kettle after boiling my water for tea that day.  Some veggies have a lot of water in them and you won't need to add any, like zucchini.  To be honest, we never went the smooth puree route.  From the experience of friends it seems that babies who stay too long on smooth purees have a hard time with different textures - even by a year old.  That, and my food processor tends to have a rougher chop unless I add a lot of water.

Do not feel like you are diluting your food if you add water.  I'm not a nutritionist, so don't quote me if I say it's okay.  But I do know that babies bowels have a hard time with new foods and the little bit of extra water generally helps if they are constipated.  It's not like I'm serving her soup!

Once you've reached the desired consistency, pour your puree into clean ice cube trays and freeze.  Once frozen you can store in plastic bags or plastic containers.  Each cube is essentially one serving.  At each meal the Smilosaurus will eat anywhere from 1-5 cubes of food.  You can defrost the cubes in the microwave or leave a few in the fridge each morning to defrost.  They are easy to transport and you can still feed your kid your homemade love when you are out and about.

I want to make a special note about meat here.  Generally I will poach the chicken, or keep a tiny piece of red meat or fish aside for her.  No seasonings, but broil it or bake it as I do the rest for the family.  You need a good blender to really get small pieces, and I generally have to add water (the poaching liquid).  When you are feeding the little one, I find it easier to mix it right in with the veggies, you get a better consistency for them.  With fish I don't even bother blending it.  You can flake it into small enough pieces that are easy for a babe to eat.



When all is said and done, an hour of work once every week or two will get you loads of food.  The next step is encouraging your child to eat and explore food.  A few mantras we use around here:

Let them get messy.  It sure isn't pretty and it's hard on cloth bibs and clothes.  But I'm thankful we have dogs that have learned that the floor is pretty tasty after the girls eat.  And I highly recommend bibs that cover the shoulders to save yourself some laundry headaches.

Let them decided how much they are going to eat.  We should all eat like babies - they get loads of colour in their mostly plant based diet and they stop when they are hungry.

Let them try new things, even if they didn't like it the first time.  I saw some guy on TV once (how's that for a source?) who said kids need to be exposed to something about 10 times before they can truly establish a like or dislike for it.  Keep offering it.  I still can't get her to eat applesauce, but I keep trying.

One final note.  Please listen to your public health nurse or health care provider on the recommended way to introduce food.  Certain foods should be avoided in the first year, strawberries and egg whites, for example.  I'm only a mom, not a nutrition or health care expert.  If in doubt, here is a good resource for additional advice and guidance on feeding your baby solids.