Homemade Baby Food

As our youngest is really getting into solid foods, it is very convenient to open that jar of baby food and spoon it into that chubby, smiley little face. When I have time though (which isn’t very often) I like to make his food myself. I’ll try and do a few foods in bulk. It’s as simple as throwing that bag of frozen organic peas into my steamer or pot with just a little water and cooking for around 10 minutes. The only caveat to the pot is to make sure you aren’t using a nonstick pot. Some studies say the coating on those has been linked to very bad things for your health. I have a set of stainless steal pots that I LOVE. They steam out the top when the food temperature reaches 180 degrees. This is supposed to be the point of optimal cooking where you still keep all of the precious vitamins and minerals, but kill anything bad that may be on the food. OK…back to making the food. You cook your peas until they are that beautiful bright green color. If they look a little brown it’s been too long in the heat and the vitamins and minerals are breaking down. You can really tell the difference between peas and sweet potatoes you make yourself and store bought. They are just so much brighter and richer in color. Once your peas are cooked just put them in a little food processor with some water and voila you are now a 4 star chef for your baby. I am big into recycling so I re-use the old baby food jars. I pull off the label, run them through the dishwasher, and they are as good as new. I label them with masking tape and a sharpie and they stack nicely in our freezer. It’s like a little rainbow of frozen jars. The food should keep for 3 months frozen or 3 days in the fridge. Once you have mastered single foods like peas or blueberries (my son’s recent fav), then you can move onto more complicated recipes. I try to mimic what he is currently eating in the jars and have a few choice recipes as well. I’ll post those another time with a list of my favorite books on baby food.

Composting Update

OK. I put in my first batch of compost last month. It wasn’t quite as broken down into tiny particles as I had wanted, but it looked mostly just like the bagged soil we all buy. I had Jon till it into our garden bed and I have not smelled anything but fresh soil in our garden. I can’t wait to see how it makes our plants grow. We will be planting our shipment of fruits and veggies this weekend. Maybe we’ll have something delicious to eat by the end of summer. Yippeee!

Now….let me give you the lowdown on the first time composting experience. Despite my best efforts in adding way more “browns” vs “greens” there was still some smell in our composter when you lifted the lid. The composter itself did not smell nor did the area around the composter. This is good since it is right next to our back deck. BUT when you lift the lid….let’s just say I didn’t smell roses.

Also, I left the lid open a few times so the rain would wet down the compost for me instead of me adding water to it. I suggest NOT doing this since I had flies of all sorts chowing down on my kitchen scraps.

You are supposed to keep the compost moist so it will break down faster. This gives you the compost tea that collects in the bottom of the container. It’s supposed to be super liquid fertilizer. I read you’re supposed to dilute the tea to 1:10 parts water and your plants will love you for it. I wasn’t counting on the tea draining as I turned the bin. If you have too much water in your compost, then it drains out and gets all over the bin and your hands while you turn it.

These are just a few things to think about. I will definitely continue to compost our scraps. I think this bin is the best option we have so far. I did spy a new composter that blows mine out of the water. It’s electric and you keep it in your kitchen cabinet. It’s by NatureMill. It’s the coolest and gets rid of all of the negative experiences I had with composting. I totally want one! I hope we will carry these in our store soon, but for now go check it out. http://www.naturemill.com/ I feel I am now an experienced composter and I can’t wait to reap the rewards soon. I can almost taste those yummy tomatoes and fresh blueberries from our garden.