Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Major Baby Food Batch

I had planned for a major baby food recipe session the other day and thought I had made enough food for 2 weeks.....well my Bambino decided otherwise and is likely bouncing through a growth spurt. He is eating and accepting so many new foods (which is exciting) but I NEED to step up my game with his meal planning. That being said, this batch would likely make enough purees for a baby not in the throws of a growth spurt for a week to 2 weeks depending on the appetite. This whole batch took 1 hour! I'll write up a separate post for tips and tricks with making large amounts of foods in short periods of time.

Side note: Apologies for my varying storage container sizes! I ran out of my little snack zip top bags so I was a little all over the place tonight!
Ingredients for success :-)

Ingredients:
1 cup frozen broccoli
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup frozen pineapple chunks
1 cup frozen mango slices
5-6 large frozen strawberries
1 small, fresh zucchini, ends cut off
1 avocado,


pitted
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 small banana, peeled
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
21 raisins
baby oatmeal - I love Beechnut brand, see here for more info.
baby rice cereal
1 cup quick cook barley - uncooked
12oz breast milk or prepared formula

Also used: cauliflower, spinach, white bean and butternut squash purees I had made already a few weeks back. Make sure they are refrigerator thawed before using.

Tools

Baby Bullet - milling blade, blending blade, small blending container (3), small steaming baskets (2)
Baby Bullet Turbo Steamer
spatula

1. Fill the Turbo steamer with 1 cup of water.
2. Add broccoli to one steaming basket and corn to the second basket.
3. Set steamer to 4 and begin steam cycle, allow to run the full cycle
4. Pour the quick cook barley into the blending container with the milling blade. Mill for 90 seconds or until smooth. Add to an airtight container for future baby food. Wash out the blending container and set aside to dry.
5. Once the broccoli and corn are completed steaming, add each vegetable to its own blending container with the 4 prong blending blade. Add 2oz breast milk or formula to each container. Blend for about 30 seconds or until smooth. Wash out steam baskets.
6. Add blueberries and banana to their own steam basket, set to 2 and allow to run through the whole cycle.
7. Add white beans, 1/2 corn, 1/2 banana to one of the used containers with 1-2 oz of breast milk or formula. Blend until smooth. Add to storage container of your choice, I go with zip top bags, label with mix and date. Set aside.
8. Add 1/2 broccoli, cauliflower and 1/2 banana to a different container with 1-2 oz breast milk or formula. Blend until smooth. Add to a zip top bag, label with mix and date. Set aside. Wash out steam baskets.
Avocado Broccoli Strawberry 
9. Add avocado and strawberries to their own steam basket. Set to 2 and run through whole cycle. Check the water level to see if it needs to be refilled.
10. Add remaining broccoli, 1/2 avocado and 3 strawberries to a blending container, blend 30 seconds or until smooth. Transfer to  a zip top bag, label with mix and date. Set aside. Wash out steam baskets.
11. Add mango and pineapple to their own steam baskets. Set to 4. Allow to run through the entire cycle.
12. Mango and pineapple are new foods so I want Bambino to try them on their own first. Add each fruit to its own blending container with the 4 prong blending blade. Add 2oz breast milk or formula to each container. Blend for about 30 seconds or until smooth. Wash out steam baskets. Add each puree to its own individual zip top bag and label with fruit name and date. Set aside.
13. Add raisins and chopped zucchini to their own steam baskets. Set to 4. Allow to run through the entire cycle.
14. Add raisins to blending container with the milling blade and 2oz breast milk or prepared formula and blend for 60 seconds or until smooth. Add 3 tbsp baby oatmeal, 2 tbsp applesauce and 1 tsp cinnamon with an additional 2oz breast milk. Blend until smooth. Add to a zip top bag, label with mix and date. Set aside.
15. Add zucchini to a blending container with remaining avocado and strawberries + 2oz breast milk or prepared formula. Blend until smooth. Add to a zip top bag, label with mix and date. Set aside.
16. Add spinach, remaining strawberries, blueberries and 1 tbsp rice cereal to a container with 1 oz breast milk or prepared formula. Blend until smooth. Add to a zip top bag, label with mix and date. Set aside.
17. Blend remaining white beans, butternut squash and 2 tbsp applesauce.

After all of these steps you should have to following baby food purees:
Mango
Pineapple
White Bean, Butternut Squash, Applesauce,
Spinach Blueberry Strawberry Rice
Zucchini Avocado Strawberry
Apple Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal
Broccoli Avocado Strawberry
Broccoli Cauliflower Banana
White Bean Corn Banana
milled barley for hot cereal

Whew! That was a lot to whip up but it's all wholesome, balanced, homemade, pureed goodness!
If you try one of these, please let me know if your baby likes them!

Have a delicious day!

Monday, January 2, 2017

Peaches and Quinoa Baby Food Blend

The look of baby food SUCCESS!
The world of baby food has me working with a lot of unusual combinations but my little man LOVES some of them! Tonight I decided to pair one of my favorite grains (quinoa) with peaches. This recipe makes a very smooth baby food with little to no clumps. If your child can take more chunky foods, skip step 6 and just combine your quinoa and peach mixtures.

Before getting started on any baby food recipe, I stick my little dude in his high chair and give him something to play with. I think it's important for him to see mommy cooking healthy goodies for him. Tonight his toy was actually an appetizer! I placed a frozen peach into the Boon Pulp Silicone Feeder and he went to town!

Tools

Baby Bullet - milling blade, blending blade, small container (2)
Baby Bullet Turbo Steamer
spatula
bowl
baby spoon - I love the NUK Gerber Graduate Rest Easy Spoons


Ingredients
1/2 cup frozen peach slices
1/4 cup dry quinoa - I used red quinoa
3-4 oz pumped breast milk or mixed formula

1. Fill the base of the Baby Bullet Turbo steamer with 1 cup of water. Place one of the slotted steam trays onto the steamer. Drop your peach slices into the 2 steam trays and place on top of the slotted steam tray. Cover with the vent lid and set to 3. Let the steamer run for the entire 3 cycle.

 2.While the peaches steam, start on your quinoa. Add the quinoa to a one of the small Baby Bullet containers and attach the milling blade.

3. Mill the quinoa for 20 seconds, check to see if it is smooth, if not pulse for an additional 5-10 seconds

4. Take 2 tablespoons of the milled quinoa and mix with 1-2oz of breast milk or formula (more or less based on how thick you want the quinoa to be). Place in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 15 seconds. Stir until completely mixed. Set aside.

5. Take the second small container and add the steamed peaches and remaining breast milk or formula. Close tightly with blending blade. Blend for 20 seconds or until the peaches are completely smooth (see spoon photo).
 

6. Pour out the peaches into an airtight storage container leaving about 2-3 tablespoons in the blending container. Add the cooked quinoa mixture to the peaches and blend for 10 seconds.

7. Serve warm (from the blender) or chilled!
Looks like mustard, taste like peach sorbet!

It's been a while....

So, where do I begin? My last blog post was on January 19, 2015 (714 days to be exact) and since then, quite a bit has changed in my life! I am still a Registered Dietitian but I now work in pediatrics (yay!). I also became a mommy!!! My little man is amazing and is just about 7 months old at this point. My life's focus has totally changed but my roots still remain in healthy living and fitness (working on that a bit.....). My son has been eating baby food since he was about 5 months old and so far has no allergies! I make almost all of his baby food, so I decided a good way to get back into blogging is to journal what I do for him and myself; let's see where this takes us! Check out my labels for baby food to find everything I'll post until I makeover the page.

Have a delicious day!

Angel