[MORE] Homemade Baby Food

My baby boy loves to eat.  Whoa, does he love to eat!  Luckily, he's not even picky!  In fact, I'm not sure if there has ever been anything he has turned down. (Lucky Momma!)  That really does make my job so much easier!

Jarred baby food is great.  GREAT, people. Not only is it healthy and nutritious but it's just so darn convenient!  Unfortunately, my little man would end up eating me out of house and home if I tried to feed him only jarred food.  That stuff adds up!  So, whenever I can, I like to make big batches of baby food to be able to freeze.  My guy is almost one... so I'm thinking this should be my last batch I'll have to make!

This time around, I made some interesting combinations just to keep things interesting for both him, and I!  Here is the list of what I came up with this time around:

• Mango, Banana, & Summer Squash
• Spinach & Strawberries
• Strawberry & Banana
• Strawberry, Banana, & Pears
• Zucchini, Apples, & Peas
• Carrots & Blueberries
• Sweet Potato & Apple
• Pumpkin & Banana
• Kale & Pears
• Avocado & Banana
• Butternut Squash & Peaches
• Sweet Potato & Peas

Since I was making so much baby food all in one night, I decided to get out my large and in charge food processor.  Don't tell my little man, but I rarely even rinsed out the ingredients between batches.  He has been very exposed to all of these fruits and veggies for a long time without any instances of food allergies so I was not worried about "cross contamination".  If you are just introducing solids, it is usually recommended that you wait 3 to 4 days after introducing a new food to be sure no allergies will arise.

Ah, the background images always give away my secrets... Poor kid, zucchini for him... Twizzler's for me.

Wilting the Spinach 

Softening the Apples 

Okay! Here is my favorite part!  I scoop the food into any and all of my muffin trays, ice cube trays, and even this square tray that basically only gets used for baby food now.  Then I toss them into the freezer over night. 

The toughest part of this whole process is getting the little nuggets out of the trays.  I just pop them out with a butter knife or a spoon.  This was the first time I used ice cube trays to freeze the baby food and I'm surprised to report that it was SOOO nice!  All I had to do was "crack" the tray and they all popped out!  I'm going to have to be on the look out for cheap ice cube trays before I have to start making baby food again!

When it's time for a meal, I just open a rubbermaid container, take either one large muffin shaped food disk or two mini muffin/ice cube shaped food blocks and microwave them for 45 seconds.  Couldn't be easier!  He has already tried each flavor and loves them all equally!  I'm not really surprised.

-Janice