I have recently been making and freezing a lot of baby food. This weekend, we decided to really encourage our first-born to use the potty. You may be asking yourself, "So what do baby food and potty training have in common?" They both require lots of time at home, of course!
Some people buy baby food.
Some people make baby food combinations to reheat.
I prepare several different vegetables and fruits and warm up my own mixtures daily. Why? Because I like variety (I have a tendency to be a bit indecisive and like to make things difficult for myself).
Here was my baby food goal list for today:
- 1 mango
- 2 pears
- 10 figs
- 2 apples
- 1/2 bag of frozen peas
- 1 butternut squash
I try to buy all organic foods for my babies but I know there are lists that tell you which foods you don't necessarily need to purchase organic.
For the pears and figs, I tried to pick the riper ones so that I could simply peel and puree them without cooking them.
For the apples and frozen peas, I first steamed them (I peeled the apples before steaming) to soften them up before pureeing.
For the butternut squash, I cut the entire squash (peel still on) into approximately 2-3 inch pieces and steamed them.
- The bowl of seeds is for me. I always like to save the seeds so that I can wash them, dry them, and then throw them out a few days later because I failed to make this recipe again! Someday... someday I will have this tasty snack!
Once the butternut squash was steamed, I waited for them to cool before I took a spoon and just scooped out the flesh from the peel. Kind of like what you would do with a mango or an avocado. (Side note: My mother-in-law got this steamer for us when my husband and I got married and, at the time, I thought, "When will I ever use this?" Now I know. Oh, the wisdom!)
After pureeing each fruit or vegetable, I poured the contents into separate freezer bags.
Be sure to fold the sides of the freezer bags out so you don't get food all over the ziplocking... ziplocing... part of the bag.
I don't think I scraped enough.
Once the food was poured out, I took all the air out of the bags and flattened the contents. (This also works for leftover rice you want to put in the freezer. The flatter you make it, the faster it reheats.)
I took some clear tape and wrote what each bag contained with a sharpie. A word of advice: try really hard not to write on the countertop with your sharpie. But if you do, don't worry... it comes off. Well, most of it, anyway. (It helps if you have a countertop that has lots of black marks on it already.)
Then I just piled up the bags and placed them in the freezer for tomorrow and beyond.
Hmm... what should we eat tomorrow? Mango and pear with yogurt? Butternut squash with figs, egg yolk and a splash of breastmilk? The possibilities are endless!