Being Baby's Personal Chef

Eating has always been important to me. My grandma would be the first to tell you that and then she would comment about the video they have of me from Thanksgiving after I turned one. Supposedly, I really made up for weighting just over three pounds when I was born. Luckily I have a mother who is very health conscious (Until I had siblings I thought an ice cream cone was just that an ice cream cone, no ice cream!), so instead of falling in love with oreos and potato chips I have a great appreciation for the taste of fresh produce, seafood, whole grains, AND of course the occasional homemade chocolate chip cookie or two.

Now with my own family it is important for me to instill healthy eating habits and a healthy appreciation for good food from the beginning. When Phinn started eating solids, I was determined to prepare all of his food. I made apples, peaches, pears, avocado, bananas, mango, blueberries, yams, squash, cauliflower, carrots, peas, eggplant, cucumber and I am sure there are a few I missed. As he is getting a little older and the list of approved foods is getting bigger, I am getting to have more fun making things for him.

The best part of making baby food is that it is really pretty simple. You just need a little bit of time for food prep and a food processor. Most of the beginner, stage 1 solids just require some peeling, dicing, steaming or roasting to soften, and then you toss it in the food processor and voila! you have meals for your baby. I found that fresh fruit is great to mix with cereal in the morning and after the four day "introduction" phase mixing a "like" and "dislike" is an easy way to get a clean plate.

Now that Phinn has moved on to eating more finger foods, I make him a little fruit salad, sliced veggies, whole wheat noodles, hummus, and have even made him apple bran muffins and banana buckwheat pancakes.

I try to make everything as organic as possible. I at least stick to the "Dirty Dozen" list. Whole Foods, our local farmers markets, and even our local Kroger have great produce selections. You may worry about the cost of organic food, but really when you are making your own baby food you usually come out ahead or at least break even.

If you are interested in making baby food, here are some great websites:

Wholesome Baby Food

Homemade Baby Food

Here are some yummy recipes that I have been baby tested and approved:

Avocado-Banana Mash-Up (Thanks to Laura Saros!)

1 ripe avocado
1 banana (Great recipe for using up those rapidly aging bananas in the kitchen!)

Peel and remove the pit of one avocado. Peel and slice one banana. Add ingredients to a food processor or if they are very ripe you can just use a fork and mash. Add a little water or milk if you want a creamy consistency.

Apple Bran Muffins (Based on Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook recipe)

2 1/4 cups wheat bran
2 cups organic milk (I used 1% because that's what we have.)
2 tablespoons plain nonfat yogurt (I used Greek yogurt because it's just better in my humble opinion!)
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (plus an additional teaspoon for the muffin topping)
2 large eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 small, sweet apples (such as Gala or Golden Delicious), peeled, cored, and diced
1/3 cup granulated sugar (for the muffin topping)

Preheat over to 350.

Place the wheat bran, milk, and yogurt in a large bowl and stir to combine. Let the bran mixture sit at room temperature until the bran softens (about 30 minutes).

Place the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon in a large bowl and whisk well to combine.

Add the bran mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in apples. Do not overmix the batter or the muffins will be tough.

Spoon the batter into muffin cups. Combine remaining cinnamon and granulated sugar and sprinkle over the top of each muffin.

Bake muffins until they are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean - approximately 20-30 minutes.

WARNING: These can be awfully messy finger foods so they are great to have right before a bath ;)


Banana Buckwheat Pancakes

Buckwheat Pancake Mix
1 or 2 ripe bananas (another great recipe to use up those bananas! I don't know about you but my bananas seem to go from perfectly ripe to past the point of no return awfully fast!)

I follow the recipe for the pancakes. You can just use egg yolk too if you want to avoid egg whites. Then I mash the bananas and add them to the batter. I'll also add a dash of cinnamon for a little added flavor. Then prepare as you would any other pancakes. Store additional pancakes in the refrigerator and you'll have breakfast for your baby for a week!

What's on the menu this week?

Jeweled Yams: Diced and ready to be cooked

Cooked yams and chickpeas ready to be processed into a gourmet baby meal!

Sweet Potato and Chickpea Puree, Creamy Sweet Pepper and Eggplant Puree, and we are going to start introducing some cheese.