Chicken, Apple & Sweet Potato

This was our first attempt and meats. It seemed to go well.

1 Boneless skinless chicken breast
1 Peeled & cubed apple
1 Peeled & cubed sweet potato
2 Cup water

Put all ingredients in a pot & bring to a boil. Allow to simmer until chicken is cooked & veggies are soft. Cool completely & puree. Use cooking water to thin.

I needed to use all of the cooking water plus about 2-3oz of plain water to get it to the right consistency. It also took a good 3-5 minutes of the processor running to get it smooth enough.

It still had a good bit of texture to it but she handled it well.

(Recipe from Wholesome Baby Food)

Roasted Carrots (Stage One)

I liked this much better than boiled carrots. It seemed to add a bit of extra sweetness.

Peel whole carrots
Drizzle a bit of olive oil in a glass baking dish and lay carrots in a single layer.
Bake at 400 degrees until fork tender.
Allow to cool & purée. Adding water for formula to thin.

It took mine about 45 minutes because I kept the big part of the carrot whole. Next time I will probably split them because the bottom tips were done well before the tops. I also flipped about half way through.

Blueberries (Stage One)

NOT BEFORE 6 MONTHS (per my pedi, yours may have a different recommendation)

You can use fresh or frozen. We used fresh

Bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil & add blueberries, simmered for 10 min or so. Using the food processor to puree was overkill. Next time I will probably just push them through a mesh strainer. I added a good bit of the cooking water to thin.

Because of blueberry seeds I definitely suggest pushing through the strainer. The puree is very thin but they are pretty tart so we will be mixing with a sweeter fruit like apples or mango and cereal.

Banana (Stage One)

By far the easiest baby food in the world to make. My little monkey face thinks they are just the greatest things in the entire world!

I sliced one bushel (7) of bananas into my food processor and wizzed away.

Bananas get pretty liquid when pureed so I added about a cup of Gerber Oatmeal, which helped thicken it up. I add about 2tbls to 3oz when serving as well.

They will turn brown very shortly after pureeing. There is nothing wrong with that. You can add a drop of lemon juice to prevent this. I opted not TP because my pediatrician said no citrus. The drop or two should not cause a reaction but we opted to skip this step.

Baked Apples (Stage One)

There are many ways to cook apples but we decided to bake them. If your pediatrician approves you can add a bit of cinnamon to your apples.

I used 7 Gala Apples

Directions:
1. Half & core apples (leave skin on for baking)
2. Place cut side down in baking dish with 1 inch of water
3. Bake 30 minutes at 400 degrees
4. Remove the apples from the water and allow to cool.
5. Scoop meat out of skins and puree

I did not require any additional liquid to thin.

7 medium size Galas gave me 18 one ounce servings.

Butternut Squash (Stage One)

I personally have never eaten or cooked squash so I had no idea what to expect. We opted for butternut for no particular reason. I was most familiar with the look of it so it made sense.

Directions:
1. Cut squash in half (I actually needed Paul to do this because it was too hard for me)
2. Scoop out all of the seeds
3. Place halves cut side down in a dish & add an inch or so of water
4. Bake 40-60 minutes at 400 degrees.
5. Remove from pan, let cool and scrape meat off of the skins.
6. Puree
7. Add cooking water to thin.

I needed to add about 6oz of formula to thin out the puree and even then it was still a bit on the thick side. I left it alone for storing and will add more liquid when time to serve.

I butternut gave me 30 one ounce servings.

Green Beans (Stage One)

You can use frozen or fresh green beans. If using frozen check the ingredients for salt as some add it as a preservative.

I opted for frozen, which you cook according to package directions. If using fresh, you should clean and snap the beans then steam them until tender. Cooking for more than 15 minutes can change the bean color, which is ok but not visually pleasing.

Directions:
1. Cook beans
2. Puree
3. Add water or formula as necessary.

Beans can be very difficult to get a smooth puree. I used almost 7 oz of formula and ran the food processor for about 10 minutes to get it where I wanted it. You can also push them through a mesh strainer to get a finer texture.

Peaches (Stage One)

We will be introducing fruit in about a week or two and decided to start with peaches! Mostly because we have them.

I have honestly found that the most amazing peaches in our area can be found at Sams Club. We have yet to get a bad peach.

You might consider buying organic when it comes to peaches. Peaches are one of the Dirty Dozen, which is a list compiled by EGW of the foods most commonly found to contain pesticide residue.

DIRECTIONS
Scrub fruit well and cut an "X" into one side
Place fruit in sauce pan with 1 inch of water
Bring to a boil and steam until tender (a knife slid in and out easily)
Allow to cool, peel, pit & slice
Place in food processor and puree until smooth. Use the left over cooking water to thin if needed

I did not need to use any type of liquid to thin further. The peaches pureed very well without it.

2 peaches gave me 14 one ounce cubes.

Peas (Stage One)

Peas please!

We used frozen peas for this one, which is just fine. If you opt for frozen be sure to check the ingredients it should just be peas. Many have salt added, you aren't going to want to give baby that extra sodium.

Method:

1. Cook peas according to package. I let ours cook a few extra minutes to make sure they were super tender



2. Allow to cool



3. Transfer into food processor and blend until you get the consistency you want



4. Push through a mesh strainer to remove any left behind shells

Use formula/breast milk to thin our to your desired consistency.

One bag of peas got me 21 one ounce cubes!

I noticed that the shells are very difficult to puree, which is why you might want to push them through a strainer. Especially a good idea if baby hasn't really had much texture yet. One website suggests plunging the peas in ice water immediately after cooking to help smooth the puree. Another suggests that a blender will do a better job as well.

Next time we are going to try the blender.

She has not taken a liking to them yet but we are working on it!

Sweet Potatoes (Stage One)

I made Riley some of her first foods this week. I have to say it was super easy and I had fun doing it!

We started with sweet potatoes.

Do you know that Nutrition Action rated sweet potatoes as the best veggie? It has a whopping 582 points (based on 6 main nutrients). The lowly carrot came in second with 434 points.

When choosing you SP's you want to make sure you find ones that do not have any brown or soft spots.

I opted to bake ours instead of steaming or microwaving. The only reason being that how I make sweet potatoes!

Cooking:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees



2. Wash/scrub potatoes. Use a fork to poke wholes all over & wrap each in foil.



3. Bake about 50 min. (my medium SP took 50)



4. Unwrap, cut in half and let cool



5. Once cooled, scoop out the meat and puree



6. 6. Add breast milk or formula to get the desired smoothness. (I needed about 4-5 oz to get it where I wanted it)

It was our first food so we made it relatively thin.

2 medium potatoes gave me 21 1oz cubes & we do 2 cubes per meal.