Homemaking // Homemade Organic Babyfood

I must admit that I don't much care for Winter. I do love about a week of snow, and I love it all leading up to the holidays...but after that, Winter feels long, cold, dark, and wet. Hence, my quest for projects to keep me busy until Spring decides to, um, spring. :)

For Christmas, I got a wonderful Williams-Sonoma cookbook, Cooking for Baby. I have had my eye on that book for quite some time (thanks, Santa!) as it includes recipes for baby from first food purees, to toddler foods that will please the parental palette as well (ie. edamame & yogurt puree, chicken & mango quesadillas, buckwheat crepes, pumpkin pancakes, etc.) I was so excited yesterday to give some of the recipes a whirl!

Purees, of course, are quite simple. I started with a variety of organic fruits and veggies, and did some chopping, peeling, roasting, boiling, and steaming.

Then, wah-la! The puree. There was only one thing I didn't puree, which was the blueberry sauce. Oh-my-oh-my-goodness! What a treat for little tastebuds!

It is amazing how different fresh babyfood looks. Even when I buy the organic babyfood, it just doesn't compare to the bright, fresh colors, textures, and flavors of homemade food. Not to mention, the price! Here is an example:

Generally a 2.5 oz jar of Earth's Best Babyfood costs about $1.05 at the market. Well, 2 bags of organic carrots at Trader Joe's cost $2.78 and made the equivalent of 22 jars, which means it ended up costing about .12 cents per jar. Or, you could say if I bought 22 jars it would have cost me about $23 dollars, instead of under $3. Pretty sweet deal, eh? Well, of course I should factor in the time it took. It took the better part of the day to do all the food. FUN, should also be factored in, though. I had a great time listening to music, dancing with Sawyer in-between steaming and pureeing, and felt so satisfied and happy with what I had done at the end of the day.

After the puree was done, I put the food in ice-cube trays and let it freeze. Later, I transferred the ice-cubed food to a labeled freezer bag (it is good for 3 months frozen, or 3 days fresh in the refrigerator). I am stocked up for at least a month!

I also saved some of the containers I had from store-bought food to reuse. I froze some food in the containers to take with us if we're on the go or out and about. They say to feed your baby the "colors of the rainbow" and certainly, this food is colorful!

Best of all, was when I sat down to feed Sawyer his "dinner". He had organic carrot puree, and organic brown rice cereal with a swish of blueberry sauce mixed in. For a moment I thought "what if he doesn't like it?" But right away, I could see that even he could tell the difference between fresh, homemade, organic food and food from the store. What a delightful meal, he opened his mouth for every single bite and make happy sounds as he ate his meal. I couldn't have been happier!

We are so glad to finally be feeling a bit better. Sawyer still has a bit of a cough and a tough time sleeping well with such a stuffy nose, but all in all, we are feeling much better! Sawyer is such a good crawler, too! I can't believe how fast he is already! He crawls around and gets into EVERYTHING! He is so busy, he even works up a sweat! It's so fun to watch him explore, and so sweet when he crawls right into our laps for snuggles.

Next winter project: Babyproofing!