What we're eating now

An updated list of popular fruit and veg combos from E (see previous post for more ideas). To be fair, she doesn't seem to dislike much.

Pear Banana Blueberry

Sweet Potato and Apple with cinnamon

Any combination of: Pureed Soup veggies (onion, carrot, celery and sweet potato with dill and parsley), Sweet Potato, Carrot, Cauliflower and/or Potato

Peas and Potatoes

Avocado and Banana

Pear (or Apple) Mango

Current favorite flavor combinations

I haven't cooked anything of note lately, but I have been trying out different flavor combinations with what we've got in the freezer. E's favorites include:

Peach, Pear & Prune

Mango & Banana

Carrot & Apple

Sweet Potato, Apple, Mango & Prune

Banana & Apple

Banana, Pear & Prune

Squeaches

Now that E has a few foods in her repertoire, I've started mixing fruits and veggies together. My reasons are several: 1. Variety 2. She seems to be more receptive to some flavors when they're mixed with flavors she's already familiar with.

This morning we tried peaches on their own. No go. So I gave her peach and banana with rice cereal, which she was happy to eat. Tonight for dinner, she was supposed to have butternut squash with rice cereal... I think now is a good time to remind any other parents making their own baby food to LABEL EVERYTHING. Lots of purees look alike, especially the orange ones. This is, of course, my way of saying that I grabbed the peaches instead of the squash. But that's not all, folks. I grabbed the squash, too, thinking I had two containers of the same thing. And mixed them both into the rice. Only when I noticed the different colors did I realize what I'd done. Since it was already mixed together, I figured I'd see what happened. Magic, that's what happened. She LOVED her squeaches and rice.

First foods

It's been six long months, but little E has finally started solid foods! In preparation for the big day, I bought an 11-cup food processor and a bunch of freezer trays with lids. My plan was/is to make a new food as close to every night as possible. So every night I steam or bake up a new fruit or veggie, puree it and freeze it. The next day, I put the frozen food in a freezer bag, labeled with food and the date. The freezer trays get washed and I make the next batch.

So far I've made:
- Sweet Potato
- Butternut Squash
- Carrot (notice a color scheme?)
- Apple
- Pear
- Peaches

Up next:
- Peas
- Blueberries

The one thing they don't seem to tell you in any of the make-your-own-food resources I've seen is the consistency for first foods. So after a terribly failed attempt at sweet potatoes (waaaaaay too thick), I went to the store to see what jarred baby food looks like. Turns out, it's super watery. I also tried giving her rice cereal (the one thing I've not made on my own), which had a serving suggestion for baby's first meal. The ratio was 3:1 water to rice. Once I got the consistency down I started mixing one veggie or fruit with the cereal. Success!

I've also started taking notes when I see jars of baby food for flavor combination to try at home. But more on that later.