Here is where we are at and what Darby's food needs to be- adjust as your child needs!-
Darby's eating is at a stage 2 in baby food... he is eating thicker food, but can't handle chunks. For his sensitivities, its better to have a thicker food than a thin sauce with chunks of noodle or chicken. So we puree everything, to death. But I try not to let it be too liquidity/stage 1 material. Also, Darby is almost 15 months!!! yikes! And while most children this age are eating table foods, he's not quite there. But we are trying to transition him as much as possible, despite his developmental difficulties. That being said, I try to season the food I am giving him, or give him stronger flavors. Its so much better for them to get a real taste of your cooking at a young age, so they won't be shocked when they are off baby food and on to table food (or so our OT tells us, and I'd have to agree). So don't be scared to give your baby bold flavors! (I've found that since Darb was little, he's always LOVED a bolder/real flavor, over a rice cereal or plain cereal bites. The kid wants some flavor!)
What you're going to need: Peeler, Crockpot, Food Processor, Ice Cube Trays ( I recommend using Kid Co.'s BPA free trays
, they have covers and stack wonderfully in the freezer. Also, I'm a fan of being BPA free). And some freezer bags!All veggies I cook with are fresh and organic, unless otherwise noted.
Here are the specific foods. After each one is cooked to theirs specified 'doneness', stick it in the processor. If you are nervous or have a smaller sized processor, try smaller batches in it. I did this with stage 1 baby food, to insure that it was really pureed. Then pour the mix into the ice cube trays, and go on to the next batch. When they are completely frozen, transfer to a freezer bag, labeled with the food and the date. They only last about 3 months frozen.
To reheat, zap in a glass bowl or BPA free plastic bowl. Around 1 min, maybe more. Depends on the amount of water the food has. The more water, the less time needed. If the food got thick and isn't breaking down, then add some fluid... water, bmilk, formula,... we add whole milk because he's allowed to have that now.
Sweet Potato- Peel it, cut it into chunks that are the same size. It doesn't matter what size, but as long as they are uniform, they'll cook better. I like to make our chunks small because I'm lazy and I want the puree time to go as well as possible! If you're food processor is small, go with smaller chunks. I cook on high, for around 5 hours, stirring occasionally, and I added about half of a small water bottle worth of water at the beginning. They are done when they can mash really easily by a fork.
Butternut Squash- You can roast it, but really, it's kind of a lot of work. So I recommend the good old fashioned, peel and dice, once again. Follow the same instructions from sweet potatoes regarding the dicing. Crock pot it, high, 5ish hours, check for mashy-ness :o) The squash has given me a little grief in reheating. Its not as watery as other veggies, so it might need a splash of milk to thin it out.
Spinach and Kale- WASH IT like crazy. Make sure its very clean. This can get steamed, no prob. Steam it in a steamer or in a pot with a little steamer rack on the bottom. Its rather shocking how my entire giant pot can be FULL of kale and spinach and then cook down to being about 2 cups of greens. The kale proved to be tricky. We had trimmed stems off the spinach and kale, by we I mean my mom :0), and then once it was pureed, it still had weird strings of fibers from the kale. She picked a lot of it out, but couldn't get it all. We froze it in cubes anyways, and I've reheated it. You can see the little fibers still, but he doesn't have a problem with them! But I do need to add to this info that there are some nitrate issues associated with spinach... it really relates more to the handling of the cooked spinach. But I think I read something about not having babies under 7 months eating it... so google it if you are interested.
Pears- Peel and crock pot. They are SOOOO watery, that you probably wont need any extra water to thin them. In fact, they might get too thin for some older babies.
Chicken- Yes. Well. This one is still in the trial phase. What I did this last week was clean up some chicken breast, trim fat or veins, and then cut it up into chunks. I then seasoned it with salt, pepper, garlic powder. I then added water to make it submerged in the crockpot. I set it to high heat for about 6 hours. When pureeing it, i had to add a bit of the cooking juices. But it really blended down well. My only problem has been reheating it. When reheating it, it comes out at a consistency that canned tuna comes out in. So I have to add a tablespoon or 2 of milk, and a good watery type veggie cube (like carrots) and I zap that and mix it really well. Darb has done a pretty good job at it so far. I'm not sure what I'll do different next time... maybe make it thinner before its frozen? We'll see.
Carrots- Peel, crockpot. Add a bit a of water, not a ton.... like a cup or 2. Stir every once in a while. Puree when tender. Carrots are nice because they have a good amount of water to them. Thats probably why you can juice them! They have a nice consistency.
I'm going to be trying my hand at peas and beans this week... I'll let you know how it goes!
