Making Mush, er I mean Baby Food

Before Caroline was born, I hadn't really given much thought to the route I would take when it came time to start her on real food. I guess I was really just more focused on surving those first few weeks and wondering what on earth I was going to do with a baby. But, about a month before it was time to start introducing veggies to Caroline, I decided that I would take a stab at making her food myself. Now don't worry friends, I'm not turning into a tree-hugging granola mom. But here's how I see it: Steven and I eat pretty much nothing but fresh, home cooked meals and avoid boxed/previously prepared food like the plague, so why wouldn't I serve the same to Caroline??? Also, so far, it has been quite a bit cheaper than buying baby food, and heaven knows there is nothing my husband loves more than saving money (Ok, who am I kidding... I practically get high just from using a really good coupon or finding an awesome sale).

When I first started trying to figure out how exactly I was going to go about making said baby food, I got pretty intimidated. I don't exactly know why, but I thought that there was some sort of "magic" involved to make the perfect food which would provide nourishment for my beautiful little angel. I actually found myself thinking that I needed one of those fancy-dancy French baby food makers to make my magical baby food ala The Beaba:

This puppy will run ya about 150 bones. Now I'll admit, the convenience of having one thing do every step involved would be nice. But, suddenly, I had an epiphany: Isn't baby food just basically mush???? And I'm going to spend $150 to make that mush??? I don't think so. I am just way too practical for that sort of thing.

So, here is my method for making that magical baby food:

First, I chop everything up. On this particular day, I was making carrots.

Then I steam whatever it is for about 7-10 minutes, depending on the vegetable

And while I am busy, this is what Caroline does :)


So, after it is steamed, I just pop in in the good ol' magic bullet (I told you there was magic involved). Depending on the vegetable, I usually have to add some of the water that the veggies were steamed in to make the consistency more like a puree.

After I mush-ify it, I divide it up into these silicon, food safe, BPA and every other known toxin under the sun free ice cube trays. I pop it in the freezer, and usually leave it over night so that it gets good and solid. The next morning, I pop the little cubes out and store them in freezer bags. When I need it, I just pull out what I need. Caroline is eating 2 cubes for lunch and dinner, so it actually works out great. I can pull out 2 cubes of the same thing, or I can pull out 1 cube of green beans and 1 cube of squash.

And after all of that, this is what happens next:

Yum!