Adventures in baby food

I think I’m obsessed.

Adam has been eating like a chow hound all week and waking up at 5 am for a bottle.  He typically sleeps about 13 hours a night, so waking up at 10 or 11 is far from a tragedy, it’s just unusual (and oh yes, I know how lucky and blessed I am on this one!).  He clearly is ready for the step three “thicker” foods, yet I can’t stand the thought of paying that much  money for a jar of something I could make myself.

My first attempt failed miserably.

This week, I have three recipes that have met with some success.  I browsed enough sites to get a few ideas and then adapted them to what we typically have on hand.

Last night, while making our own dinner I saved parts of it for Adam.

Chicken, Rice and Veggies

• 1 chicken breast, baked
• brown rice
• frozen peas, thawed
• a small amount of frozen spinach
• diluted baby formula to get a decent consistency

I ran this through my blender until I thought it would blow up.  The result was a light, green sweet smelling concoction that needed a surprising amount of liquid to turn from solid to semi-solid.  I had to add a jar of sweet potatoes to it to make it not soooo green and therefore acceptable to Adam’s fine palate.

I resisted the urge to add the “extras” that we love so much: Watkins Onion and Garlic Pepper, and of course, fresh onion and garlic.  I thought that maybe his little digestive system wouldn’t be ready for all that goodness and I didn’t want a gassy baby to deal with.

Oatmeal and Bananas

• one banana
• baby oatmeal
• formula

I used my beloved food processor (seriously, is there a better kitchen appliance?) to liquify the banana. I added a fairly large quantity of cereal and formula to get the thicker consistency that I wanted.  Adam ate half this morning and I froze the other half for tomorrow.

Banana and Avocado

• one banana
• one avocado

Scoop the fruits into the food processor and, well, process.  I didn’t have to add any formula to this.

While he really enjoyed this, part of the reason to make my own food is to save money.  Avocados are an expensive treat around here, so he’ll get this about once a week.

I knew I these efforts were successful when Ismael tried to feed Adam jar food and he refused it.  I gave him the food I made and he ate it up!  Success!  And cheap!

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