Healthier Baby Food, Made By Mom

Baby E is almost 5 months now! Hard to believe, but true. Out of curiosity I tried to feed her a little of the freshly pureed squash I had just finished before freezing it. She was cranky and hungry and I thought to myself that it might not be the right time to try solids. Baby E made it clear right away how wrong I was! She loved the squash!!! She devoured the squash! What a thrill to watch your baby eat for the first time!

My plan had been to start feeding her in a month, but now I am thinking, based on her reaction, she's ready for solids now. Lucky girl, I just finished preparing two trays of pureed baby food from scratch. I decided to start making my own baby food this time around after reading about exposing babies to processed food early in their lives and how that process flavor helps develop their pallet ...or lack thereof.  Many people in the know stress the importance of allowing our babies pallets to develop with food as fresh and natural as possible with the hopes that they will be more inclined to make life long choices for healthier, fresher foods instead of process foods.

All this aside, it just makes me feel better to make my baby's food. I know exactly what went into it; there is no question as to preservatives, over processing...yada, yada, yada. I know this isn't for everyone. Let's face it, it does take a little time to do. But if you can spare 30-60 minutes every week, you can easily make your baby's food too. It's super easy!!!

I started with freshly picked apples I got from a farm that does not use pesticides. I peeled, cored and chopped these and placed them into a pot with a steamer tray, and a little water. I steamed them for about 20-25 minutes, then placed them into my food processor finely pureed them with some breast milk and some of the fluid from the pot I just steamed them in. Cooled and poured into my food storage tray and placed it in the freezer. That's it! Done!

This process was so easy I decided to go ahead and process an Acorn squash I had as well. I peeled the squash, cut it into quarters and removed all the seeds and pulp from the center. I baked the squash for about 55 minutes at 350 degrees in the oven. At this point I still was not happy with the softness of the squash and chose to take an additional step and chop and steam the squash for about 10 - 15 minutes longer.. Perfect! I then pureed this, added some breast milk, powdered formula, and liquid from the steaming pot. Oh, sweet perfection!!

So that was it...the squash was done, cooled and ready to go in the freezer and my little Baby E started to fuss. I crossed my fingers and spooned a little of the heavenly orange concoction into her sweet little mouth. To my, and her delight, she LOVED it! She ate way more than I thought she would and filled that empty little belly of hers! Best of all, I feel so good about what went into her little body! All natural and healthy! Yeah!

Doesn't that look yummy? It is...yes, I tried it! Can't feed it to the baby unless I know it taste good first! I plan on coming up with new recipes as time goes on, so stay tuned!! :-)