Making Your Own Baby Food!

 I absolutely love making baby food for my 7 month old. I have so much fun watching her taste fruits and veggies for the very first time!

(With a little extra time, it's a fairly simple task)

We are on first step foods right now. (just pureed fruits and veggies, no combinations yet and very little seasoning if any) I started with everything green...green beans, sweet peas, leafy greens, etc...and now we are oranges and yellows! (PERFECT fall colors)

This month we are trying/have tried:

Sweet Potatoes

Butternut Squash

Acorn Squash

Pears

The first step to making baby food is Steaming. Steaming is very important! (that/s why it's in bold) You need those fruits and veggies to be EXTREMELY mushy before you puree them! Your little one has never eaten solids before and you want them to be as smooth as possible. This can be accomplished with a good steaming.

I placed a large pan on water in a 400 degree oven and placed the cut up butternut squash and acorn squash in the pan. The acorn squash was mushy after about 45 minutes and it took the butternut squash 1 1/2 hours! I didn't bother peeling either because it is Super easy to scoop the insides out of squash.

With the sweet potatoes and pears, I pealed and cubed them and placed them in separate pots of boiling water. The sweet potatoes took about 40-50 minutes and the pears just 20!

Pureeing your steamed/cooked fruits and veggies is super easy with a food processor, just make sure there are absolutely no lumps. I found using some of the steaming water helped the process along and added back some of those nutrients lost during cooking.

Pour your pureed fruits and veggies into ice cube trays and pop into the freezer!

Beautiful Fall colors.

From left to right:

Acorn Squash, Butternut Squash, Pear.

(Sweet Potatoes not pictured)

I pop my baby food out of the ice cube trays after about and hour and place them into Ziplock bags, label them and stick the bags back into the freezer! 

When your little one is ready to eat, you simply grab a cube or two, microwave for 20-30 seconds, mix and serve when cool enough for baby to eat. 

Enjoy!