Simple Puréed Squash (in Cuisinart) and Sweet Potato (in bowl)I make homemade baby food. I'm not a snob about it, I just enjoy doing it. When I was pregnant with my first little girl, Lilianna, I was walking through Costco with my mom and saw Annabel Karmel's book Top 100 Baby Purées and picked it up. I never had any intention of making my own baby food (Gerber has been doing it for decades, who am I to think I could do a better job?) but I was drawn in by the bright colourful pictures and the idea of being that kind of mom, so I bought it.
Flash forward to when Lily was 4 months old. I was a happy mommy, everything she did was amazing to me and I worshipped her. My husband and I started talking about getting her on solids so we could get more sleep (she was a hungry little girl) so I got out the recipe book and started reading. I loved Annabel's views on cooking for babies and agreed with a lot of her principles. Like flavouring baby food makes the transition to eating the family meals a lot easier, which I totally found to be true (Lily is a garlic fiend). Lilianna loved everything I made for her from that book.
So ever since then I've made my own baby food. It's cheaper, you know exactly what's in it, you control the quality and you can customize it to what your baby likes. Our second baby, Emily, never liked puréed foods, she wanted what everyone else was having (her first food was french fries... sigh) right from the get-go. But this one particular recipe she wolfs down. I'm going to share it with you and encourage you to get Annabel Karmel's book and give making your own baby food a try. It's not as hard as you'd think!
Chicken with Sweet Potato and AppleSuitable for 6 months +
Cooking time = 20 minutes
Great for freezing.
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
4 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1/2 an apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 c. chicken stock
Instructions:
1. Heat the butter in a saucepan, add the onions and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the chicken and sauté for a coupelof minutes until it turns opaque.
3. Add the sweet potatoe and apple and pour in the stock.
4. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potato is soft.
5. Purée to the desired consistency.
Tip: I spoon purées into ice cube trays and cover and freeze. When frozen, I pop them out and put them into labeled freezer bags. Perfect portion sizes!
Emily enjoying her lunchenjoy,
Amanda
This is such a great post, we definitely don't see enough baby food posts in the food blog world! It actually sounds really tasty too :). I couldn't find your email, but wanted to ask if we could feature you on next weeks Tips and Tricks post? I'm sure many of our readers would love to read about making baby food at home! :)
ReplyDeleteI can't find an email for you either! lol, Sure you can, you can reach me at thebestmomontheblock@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteAmanda
I am falling in love with your blog!! I have a 3YO and a 13 mos old so I feel like our lives are somewhat parallel! My 13MO was the same way - skipped purees and was much happier eating what the rest of us had on our plates. Oh, and fries were one of her first foods too - it's just potato, right:)
ReplyDelete