Baby Steps

As I'm sitting here writing this, my little man is chilling in his highchair throwing cheerios to the ground, and I'm thinking to myself, man, am I glad we have a dog. That thought, and about how damn cute he is!

My kiddo has been loving food, thankfully, and I have been making my own baby food since he could eat. It takes about as much effort as driving to the grocery store for jarred baby food, but it's so much healthier. It's great for him, and it's really so easy. I love the baby bullet. I mash up whatever he's eating (pictured here is the sweet potatoes) and then throw it in an ice cube tray to freeze. Once it's frozen, I pop them out into Ziploc bags** and grab a few when he's ready for his num-num time. It's also really easy to mix and match, and serve him an plethora of varieties. It seems to me that the nastier they look, the more he likes it. Picture mashed eggplant mixed with mashed peas and carrots. I bet you've got the idea.

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**My ONLY frustration with the ice cube tray method is that a standard, sandwich Ziploc bag fits 11 out of the 12 ice cubes. It's Murphy's Law or karma or just plain bad luck. Anyways, it pisses me off, but I get over it. Usually, it just means I feed him right then and there.

I like to keep it to a batch of about that size so that I can keep the food fresher and it doesn't overtake the freezer.

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Just an list of some food ideas that you could try out in your baby's feedings:
These have been super successful for me.

Sweet Potato
Yams
Asparagus
(oddly, my kids fave)
Eggplant
Spinach
Broccoli
Carrots
Peas
Zucchini
Squash

Avocado
Peach
Apple
Nectarine
Banana
Pear
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Plums

DISCLAIMER: Obviously, consult your doctor or nutritionist before feeding your kid anything because that's just what they say to do, and I don't want your kid to have some crazy allergic reaction to something and then for you to blame me because I made a list. Thanks!    

Now that the dude is getting older, he still appreciates the mashed food, but he's digging the real deal now. So I figured I'd make him some bran muffins. Nothing wrong with that consistency, if you get what I'm saying... I found a standard bran muffin recipe, but I pretty much took it and used a replacement for every single thing I figured wasn't the epitome of healthiness. So here is is:

1-1/2 cups bran flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup yoghurt (I used vanilla to cut down on the sugar, but to add sweetness, plain would be great too)
2/3 cup apple sauce
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar (Go ahead, judge me. I guess you could use honey if the baby is old enough.)

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes. Easy enough, and he loves them. I may have had one or three, and they were pretty wonderful.

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So with all these baby food delicacies, you'd think he'd be happy, but of course, he's all about the dog food. I think we have a long way to go with this, but hey. It's all about progress, right? 








Next on the menu? Baby cookies. Shaped like dog bones. I can compromise! I can also hear the other mothers already.... 

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