Momma Jones-Top Chef

So I chose to make all my own baby food, and its been way easier than expected!  I feel like I make a better baby food than even Gerber, and I should know because I've tasted it all!  I won't serve my son anything that I wouldn't eat myself, and I wouldn't touch some of the store bought foods.  I do have to admit, we used them traveling over the Christmas holiday.  I just couldn't pack anything more into our car!

So here are the steps in making homemade (with love) baby food!

1. Pick a single fruit, vegetable or a combination (remember to follow the 4 day rule with introducing new foods). 

2. Boil, steam or bake the selected items.  If boiling reserve the water for later and use a small amount to prevent too many nutrients from leaching into the water.  I prefer to bake sweet potatoes, and squash but I've also had luck with using the microwave for pumpkin. Who would have thought you could microwave a pumpkin! 
3.  Get out your blender and blend away!  I prefer the blender over the food processor.  I used the Magic Bullet blender to start and then realized it had BPA in it.  Also, it didn't get the food to the right consistency.  I found chunks in some vegetables that I processed the heck out of!  Use a mesh strainer to strain large particles to get a nectar thick puree.  Adjust as baby becomes better with solid foods and more textures. 
4.  Let the puree cool and pour into ice cube trays.  There are all types of fancy baby food making devices and storage containers, but I found that my dollar store ice cube trays worked just as well.  Each cube is ~1oz.  This also saves on waste when you can get out just one cube at a time until baby is full. 
5.   Wrap trays with cellophane wrap and label.  I would make multiple combinations at once and you'd be surprised at how close chicken/sweet potatoes and peach/pear look alike. 
6. Freeze overnight, remove from trays, and store in a labeled freezer back with the contents and date clearly written on the bag.  I try to use the purees within 1mo of making. 

This website was extremely thorough and had lots of great recipes for homemade baby foods!

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Some of our favorites were:
Pumpkin peach
Squash and sweet potatoes

Blueberry banana (although the acidity really did a number on Micah's bottom.  No more berries for this lil guy!)

Peach, squash and cinnamon

Apple cinnamon

Chicken and apples
Carrots and apples

Micah's almost done with the purees.  He does a fairly decent job with eating a variety of finger foods.  He's really turned his nose up to the spoon and I feel he is telling me that he's done with the mush and ready for the real stuff.  Some of his favorite finger foods include bananas, pears, stewed apples, peaches, peas (hated the green purees though), green beans, cheese, wheat bread, cheerios, and graham crackers.  He still hasn't really liked many meats and wont eat anything solid from a spoon regardless of what it is.  I can feed him a pea on a spoon and he spits it out.  I put it in his mouth with my finger and he gobbles it right up.  What a silly boy!