Making Baby Food

Now that Girlie is delving into solid foods, I'm enjoying the preparation and cooking involved. Since each food is introduced with a three or four day waiting window, it gives me plenty of time to learn about each food. You know me, always the student! There's purchasing. Is it on the dirty dozen list requiring that I buy organic? Is it in season and available at the local farmer's market? And so on. Then there's how to prepare it so it maintains its nutrients: just mash and serve, bake, boil, steam, peel, etc. Finally, there are recipes and yummy food combinations. Plus, there's the totally exciting experience of feeding it to Girlie for the first time and watching her reaction.
We've been doing everything homemade, including the rice cereal. My rule is: If I won't eat it, I'm not feeding it to my child. I've been getting most of my information for how to prepare foods at the Wholesome Baby Foods website. It's a great resource!
So far, Girlie has had eight foods: banana, avocado, pear, sweet potato, apple, brown rice, peach, acorn squash. We're taking it slowly around here. Plus, there are tons of combinations with each food that we add! I think the sweet potato has been the biggest hit. She had the acorn squash tonight and really liked that. I loved the smell in the house as it was baking... Hello autumn!
I've been taking lots of pictures to share with you all, so here we go...

First time trying avocado

Pureeing avocado and pear in the blender

Baking apples and sweet potatoes in the toaster oven

What a cutie! This is after trying one of my combinations.

Baked apples. You can see the peel is ready to come right off.

Apples and pears... 

Make yummy apple sauce, no sugar added!

Divvying up and preparing to store in the freezer.

Look at that spread!

Another angle of all the meals I've prepared for my little one!

Making rice powder in the blender.

Baby's view of dinner time.

Mine and Reagan's breakfast: Rice cereal with pureed peaches (I get a little pat of butter and scrambled eggs too). The homemade rice cereal is good. Kind of like cream of wheat. Easy to prepare to boot!

Yum!

Acorn Squash

First time trying solid food!

Hm... What is this?

Oh! It's banana. Gimme!

The Kids Are Alright

Well, last night, we had a great night as a family. It was almost as if we all came together with the decision that we had each other, and, by George, we were going to have a good time as a family.
My MaryJanesFarm magazine came in the mail yesterday. Robert happily came upstairs to hand it to me knowing he would hear that happy surprise noise that I make. I think he also knew that it would be a great distraction and tension reliever for me. Sure enough, I finished up the laundry, and Jak and I sat down to enjoy a good read.

 Then, it was dinner time. Jak helped Robert make his mac and cheese.

Benny and Jak both thought it wise to supervise as Robert finished up his cooking and I warmed up some chili leftovers from the big pot I made last week. They know that when I cook, I often drop, and they often get treats. Of course, they see it as their job to help keep the kitchen clean. :)

Last night was the BCS National Championship Game between two SEC teams: Alabama and LSU. Since both Robert and I follow SEC teams (I am, of course, proud to be a Florida Gator while Robert follows that team up in east Tennessee) and are college football fans (me more so, he spends too much time on pro-football, in my professional, yet humble football fan opinion), we wanted to watch this game. Robert fed Benny and Jak before the game began, and he and I ate our meals at the start of the game. I very much enjoyed my meal.

After Robert and I had both finished eating, the four of us piled on the couch, snuggled together, and watched the rest of the game. Girlie even made several appearances-literally my whole stomach would lurch. It was definitely a happy family night that was worth the late bedtime. :)