I promised I would write about freezing... then forgot.

Sometimes, Baby eats what we are eating, just blended. Typically, though, it is a mix of what we are having that moment and something pre-made. For example, she may have some pea curry soup (mixed with rice) just like us, along with chicken and vegetable soup and peaches that I froze ahead of time. Babies are tiny humans, and need variety to be properly nourished. That is why feeding your baby a few jars of bananas is not a great option.

When you make baby food, make about 2 adult servings to get about 6 two ounce (or 12 one ounce) servings.

Then you can freeze portions and just thaw out a variety of cubes to make baby a diverse meal!

One ounce cubes are great for "side dishes" like fruits and veggies, mix ins (what I like to add to Baby's morning oatmeal for variety), concentrated juices, and portions for someone starting to eat solids.

Two ounce cubes are better for serving "main dishes" like soups. You can also use them for breast milk, although I liked the bags better, as milk is like gold and I cried when I lost 12 ounces to freezer burn. (That's three bottles! Rookie mistake. This actually happened with the one ounce tray.)

The #1 complaint about any food storage system is that the containers pop open, freezer burning your food. (See Rookie mistake above.) If you don't overfilled them, they won't pop open.

Once frozen, you can pop the food out and put them into a freezer bag and store them that way if you need to reuse the trays.

When you make food, I find it is best to add the minimal amount of liquid before freezing. Once you thaw the cubes, you can add milk, stock, or water to get the desired consistency.

It is that easy.


Good luck!

Family Meal

When I reflect on my years as a nanny, I am most grateful for three things: the families I worked with, the nanny friends I made, and the experience of raising children. Before I had considered having my own children, I had a hand in raising several children. Of course, it is different when it is your baby that is with you all day, every day. Still, most of what I learned is easily applicable with my biological baby. (Because my nanny babies are my babies, too.)

One of the ideas that I've transferred to my family is Family Dinner. Whether you want to save money, give your baby only the best, raise a child with a broad pallet, have specific health needs, or you want to save time, make a meal the entire family, baby included, can eat. This is nothing new or fancy, but in the land of jarred food and short order cook moms, this "old school" thinking is so far removed that it is new-fangled. And just like they did it "back then", all you need is a blender (which you can get for as low as $10 at Target, and it will do the job... As for me, I like my immersion blender) in addition to what you would use to make your own food. No fancy steamers, no odd containers, no $150 tool you will use for 4 months. (I'll discuss freezing later.)

This one-pot simple soup is fast, easy, and delicious. And did I mention one pot? Who doesn't like that? Whether your kids are 6 months or 396 months old, this makes a great meal.

Chicken Soup For All! (4-5 people...)

You will need:

8 small chicken thighs (thighs have more iron, so I like them for Baby, but you could use white meat, too), cut into bite-sized pieces
4 cups of low-sodium or home-made chicken or vegetable stock
2.5 cups of water
1 tablespoon of salt-free poultry seasoning (this is my favorite!)
4 large carrots, peeled and diced
4 stalks of celery, leaves included, diced
1 cup of lentils, rinsed and picked through for stones (they will make your teeth and blender cry)

Throw all the above into a pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover partially, simmering until the lentils are cooked, about 20-30 minutes, depending on the type of lentil (I used French green lentils) and your preference of doneness.

Modifications:

Triple lentils and omit chicken for vegetarian version.

Blend until smooth for babies 4-7 months.

Strain from broth and chop (in blender or hand chopper, like the kind for nuts) and add back to broth for babies 7-12 months.

For babies 12-18 months, make sure your ingredients are diced to a size your baby can safely handle before cooking. You know your baby best.


Tia Jessica inspired cantaloupe popsicles (ages 4 months - 400 years old)

If you don't have popsicle molds, get some. For bitty ones, get the Annabel Karmel one-ounce molds.

Put cantaloupe wedges into blender. Puree until smooth. Test the cantaloupe. If you didn't get a particularly sweet melon, add some agave syrup or white grape juice. (You could also sneak in some cucumber and sweeten slightly.). Freeze. Enjoy!

This also makes nice baby puree without the sweetener.

Oh baby, baby

It should come as no surprise that my daughter voraciously devours all we put in front of her. I can only hope this lasts, as she is a healthier eater than I. Up until now, we have been fairly unadventurous. I would smash, puree, and mill one type of food at a time, and test it out to see if she would accept it. She would have two or even three types of food at a meal, but not often mixed, and certainly nothing fancy. Then we went to the beach. On our drive down to the beach, Baby's fruit purees melted and mingled. I decided the best fix to this was to add prune juice and freeze them as Popsicles. Whether it was the popsicle format or the blends, I do not know, but she enjoyed every bite that made it into her mouth. I had been holding myself back ("She's not old enough!"), but as we rapidly approach 6 months (how?!) I've become more adventuresome. Tonight we feast.

Baby's First Foods


Berry Smash (1 cup of berries makes about 8 one ounce servings)

Berries are a labor of love, and my baby loves berries, so I make enough to fill an ice cube tray every time.

You will need: equal amounts of blueberries and raspberries.

Rinse berries well. Put in a microwave safe bowl, adding water in a 4:1 ratio of berries to water. (1 cup of berries would need 1/4 cup of water.)

Cover berries and microwave for 1 minute, keeping an eye on them in case they boil over (choose a high-sided bowl).

Run berries and water through a fine-mesh sieve or cheese cloth and strain by squeezing the skins.

Freeze into cubes or mix with (sugar-free, organic) apple juice for Popsicles. When I use the cubes, I either mix them with banana, oatmeal, or rice. They will be very watery. You can also run one through the food processor with an entire frozen banana for some easy sorbet!



Summer Fruit Puree (12 one ounce servings)

You will need: 2 peaches and 2 apricots

Cut an X into the bottom of each piece of fruit. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add fruit. Boil for 2 minutes. Remove fruit and immediately place into ice water. The skins should slip right off. (This is also how you peel tomatoes.). Remove fruit meat from the pit and put into the food processor. Puree. Freeze.

This can also be frozen as a Popsicle (with the berries! You could even layer them if you want to get fancy!) or served with oatmeal. I also give this to Baby as dessert, and when she gets just a little older, I will put it into her yogurt.


Cici Beans, Tomato, and Carrot Puree

I love cici beans (garbanzos) and was jazzed when I found out that I could give them to my baby.
I used an entire can of beans, which made 12 portions. In the future, I will do as follows:

Peel and slice 2 medium carrots. In a small sauce pan, bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil and add carrots. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add 1/2 a medium tomato, diced, to the pan. Simmer for another minute before adding about 7 ounces (1/2 can) of cici beans. Simmer until tender.

Strain, reserving liquid.

I love my little Cuisinart food processor, but running this through there would not remove skins, and this puree is entirely toothpick to press through a sieve like the berries. Enter the baby food mill! As it turns out, when you use the food mill with things like beans, corn, and tomatoes, all the innards get milled and the skins stay behind! If your baby is ready for lumpier foods, you can just crush the dish at this point. Add puree back to reserved liquid.

Babies can also have seasonings (except salt, sugar, and anything too spicy) so adding a small pinch of basil, thyme, or your favorite seasoning is fine. You can also add a small pinch of aged, pasteurized parmesan cheese once cooked.

Feeding Baby is my new favorite thing (besides looking at baby and playing with baby).

Accidentally delicious stir-fry sauce

We are back in Boston. This has two impacts on this blog: I no longer have my (work) laptop, and am typing this on my iPad (slightly infuriating) and that my mother-in-law is kind enough to share her (drool-worthy) kitchen (and the rest of her house) with us while we find a home.

Seeing as my wok pan was a horrid piece of metal from Ikea, I hadn't made stir fry in quite some time. I had no trouble picking out the ingredients (as you can put nearly anything into stir fry), but the sauce had me stymied. My mother-in-law has an astounding array of spices, seasonings, and sauces.

This is what we came up with.
(And it was delicious.)

Our stir fry was cooked using toasted sesame seed oil. Once all the components of your stir fry are cooked, add this sauce:

(makes enough for 4 servings of stir fry)

Dissolve 1.5 TBS of white miso in 5 oz of water. Add 1TBS soy sauce (we used mushroom soy sauce), 1 TBS rice wine vinegar, and 1/4 tsp powdered ginger. Add to wok and toss until ingredients are coated.

Enjoy!

PS: we used chicken, green pepper, onion, carrots, snap peas, and broccoli in our stir fry, and served over white rice. We intended to add asparagus and water chestnuts, but forgot both.