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.