Homemade babyfood the Nellie way

I've been making my own babyfood for my daughter and it's so easy and incredibly less expensive than all those little jars. Plus I know exactly what's in it and can add my little "remedies."

Some friends and I were talking last night and I thought it might be helpful to share exactly what I do so others can get ideas.

Sweet potatoes are the base of every meal because they are filling and packed with nutrition. And easy to make a huge batch of! Mostly, they have been one of my daughter's favs, and that was super important when I thought I might have a picky baby (but now she likes hummus, salmon, tuna, and basically anything off Mommy's plate!). I get a bag of organic sweet potatoes from Trader Joe's, peel, cube, steam, and blend them in the filtered water I used to steam them in, where all the vitamins have jumped-ship into during the steaming process.

Butternut squash is probably her all-time favorite. It's so easy to buy TJ's organic already-peeled-and-cubed containers of it for $2.29 each (I do two in one batch) and steam/blend with the steam water. I thought they would only have it available in the Fall, but there it is, still on the shelves (but not since the Fall!).

So for all of these I steam and blend with the filtered "steam water" and add more water if necessary. Then I spoon or pour into ice cube trays, and when frozen store in gallon freezer bags labeled with the contents and date.

Peas: bag of organic peas from TJ's. These are harder to get a perfectly smooth puree of; one website suggested soaking in cold water immediate after cooking, which oddly enough seemed to help.

Carrots: peel, chop, and steam raw carrots...so good for babycakes!

Green beans: bag of organic (I think) green beans from TJ's. I would find an occasional fibrous string in her food after thawing these, but other than that they pureed well enough for my baby (after being cooked to death), which is saying alot (her gag reflex has required the ultra puree).

Spinach: I think frozen spinach may be pre-cooked, but I cooked it a little myself in some water and then blended. It doesn't need much water since spinach is so watery already.

Broccoli: fresh or frozen organic broccoli florets, also watery when cooked/frozen/thawed

Pears: to keep her going! At first I was cooking these and then remembered that the ped said to eat them raw for best keep-'er-going effect. So I've done both and they both seem to work. However, when pureed raw, they get brown, and I wonder if some of the vitamins have oxidized, so I think I will cook them lightly next time.

Lentils are apparently very good for you, so I cooked up some with water in the crockpot and pureed.

Chicken/broth: I read that dark meat is best for babies, so I buy a pack of organic drumsticks from TJ, cook them in water to make a nice broth as well, debone and puree the chicken with some broth, and freeze the broth in cubes as well. I've started adding some sea salt and minced garlic, for flavor and nutrition, to the chicken/broth when it's cooking and then strain the garlic out later.

So we have all these colorful squares of frozen food in our freezer and every night (when I remember), I combine them for the next day in little Libby glass bowls with lids so they can start thawing in the fridge (I like to microwave them as little as possible).

For the first few months that my daughter was eating solids, I would give her one food at a time (straight sweet potatoes, straight squash), mostly because she would spitup if I mixed things it seemed. Once she got older, she was able to tolerate a "casserole"! For example, in the morning I give her one square each of sweet potatoes, squash, and pears. After putting it in the microwave for about 30 seconds on 50 percent power, I add whole milk plain yogurt (which I add to almost everything!), Earth's Best baby oatmeal (thickens it up), and whatever "remedies" I choose. For lunch I give her sweet potatoes, lentils, pears, some chicken, and then make it more palatable with a few squirts of organic butternut squash soup from Costco, which "takes over"the casserole and gives it mostly its own (the soup's) taste. Then I add the oatmeal or rice cereal to thicken it up.

When she finishes the "main course," she can have some TJ's organic unsweetened applesauce (sometimes with some mashed banana) with more plain yogurt in it than applesauce. Well, she doesn't like things very sweet anyway.

My "remedies" are designed to boost my daughter's health and immune system. They include coconut oil, baby vitamins, little dustings from one of my probiotic capsules, little dustings from one of my Juice Plus capsules, and this Chinese herb tincture I got from my compounding pharmacist. It's so easy just to add these things to her food, and she's been sick only 3 times in 13 months!

Now that she's able to tolerate more finger foods, we are doing grated cheese (her fav!), Puffs of course (mostly on the go), freeze-dried and now fresh strawberries, puffed brown rice, avocado, peas, or bread spread with almond butter or hummus or tuna salad (yup, she's picky no more, thank God!).

When we moved to cow's milk from mama's, I started her on non-homogenized organic whole milk from a local dairy, which I can get from David's health food store down the street. I feel so good giving this to her, and will continue to as long as we can afford it. It's $6/gallon, which is actually the same price as TJ's organic, which is homogenized. Homogenization is when they force the milk through tiny holes so that it doesn't separate (fat/nonfat) but it changes the molecular structure and your body has to work harder to digest it. It's bad enough that they've killed the vitamins through pasteurization and have to add them back in.

Few things give me more deep satisfaction as a mother than giving my child the best food I can!