Jamie Oliver

is amazing.

Sweet Potatoes and Avocados

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you. And I did actually make some baby food since my last post. I had some personal stuff that needed tending to, but now I should be back to at least once a week posting.

Well, my little guy has progressed quite a bit since we first started with the solid food. I think the “beginner” food was just too runny for him. He had a lot of problems keeping it in his mouth. The second he would close his mouth, all of the food came out. I started thickening the cereal quite a bit and noticed that it was easier for him to eat, so he ate a lot more than the runny stuff.

I introduced avocados which he LOVES. I think that they may be his favorite. I just bought a couple organic ones, chopped them up and then popped them into a plastic freezer storage bag in the freezer. Now when I feed him, I just take out one of the chunks and in a couple of minutes it is soft enough to smash and feed. He really loves it. I usually give him that alone, but mix the sweet potatoes with the cereal (not in the bowl, but on the same spoon).

I found some HUGE organic sweet potatoes at a health food store, so since it was out of town, I stocked up and bought four. Here they are with the avocados.

To prepare the sweet potatoes, I used the recipe in my last post. I baked the sweet potatoes at 410 degrees for over an hour (somewhere between 1 hour 15 minutes and 1 hour 30 minutes). I don’t think they would normally need to bake that long, but these were humongous. When they were finished baking, I set them on the counter to cool and once they got to room temperature, I put them in the refrigerator. We had plans that day, so I couldn’t get back to them until the next day. Once I started making the food, I just peeled off the skins, which was super easy because the potatoes had baked for so long. I chopped up the potato and put it in the Magic Bullet* with some formula. After blending a couple of seconds, we had sweet potato baby food!

I used a smaller spoon to spoon the food into the trays.Once the trays were filled, I covered them with plastic wrap (mostly to make sure that no debris could get into them in the freezer) and stuck in the freezer.

Again, due to work and some commitments, I didn’t get back to the cubes for a couple of days. By then they were definitely frozen and kind of difficult to remove from the trays. I set them on the counter to thaw for about 30 minutes, which made them much easier to remove. Then I put them in a plastic freezer storage bag, dated, and put back in the freezer.

I did try some of this food, although I was nervous because I know how awful the formula tastes. It really wasn’t that bad and the sweet potatoes really overpowered the formula, which is good. I finally got through the jar of organic sweet potatoes, so I am going to give him the homemade stuff tonight. Of course with some avocado!

I know that this was my first try, but so far it really is super easy. Besides the baking (which I don’t count because you don’t need to be there for it), the entire process (including clean up, but we do have a dishwasher) took around 30 minutes. And I have a ton of food. I think that I got about 57 ounces out of the four potatoes. And I only spent $4 and some change on the potatoes. Of course we always have formula around, and I would say that I used about 15-20 ounces of it. The teeny, tiny 2.5 ounce jar of food cost about 59¢ (on sale). So, I can see how this can save money and it really wasn’t difficult and didn’t take up very much time. Of course, I also have the advantage of totally knowing what I am putting into my son’s body.

Next up, either green beans or bananas. I am still unsure, but I am leaning towards green beans.

*Hint on the Magic Bullet – always use the smaller bullet cup for baby food. The larger bullet cup was too big and would not blend the food on the top. The larger is pictured, but I learned my lesson.

The baby food begins

As planned, we started the little guy on organic rice cereal Sunday. He is a much better eater than I expected. Not that he is eating very much, but he knows to open his mouth and is really excited about the bib and high chair. Actually, I think that he likes the bib more than the cereal. He does get excited to put the cereal in his mouth, but usually makes a disgusted face once he tastes it.

For the first two days, he was only eating the cereal once every evening. I planned to introduce sweet potatoes next, but when I went to the grocery store there weren’t any organic sweet potatoes. I was forced to buy the jarred food (all organic, though). He started eating the sweet potatoes Tuesday night. He seems to like them a bit better than the cereal, but overall he seems unimpressed with solid foods. He does get excited about the bib and high chair every time.

I did find organic avocados that I hope will be ripe by the weekend. Also, this weekend I am traveling out of town anyway, so I am going to try to find organic sweet potatoes. If I can find them, I may just stock up.

If I do find the sweet potatoes, this is the recipe that I am going to use to make the baby food:

Sweet Potatoes
(age 6 months +)

1. Preheat oven to 410 degrees

 2. Wash and poke holes in sweet potato with a fork. Run under water again and then wrap in tin foil (do not peel potato)

3. Place on lower rack and bake for 30 – 60 minutes (until soft)

4. Remove skins (cut lengthwise and scoop out the “meat”)

5. When cool puree (or thin) with your choice of liquid (I am using formula)

And this is how I am going to prepare the avocados:

Avocados
age 6 months +)
No need to preparation. Mash and serve with applesauce, peaches, pears, or bananas.

To freeze, cut into slices and freeze as a slice (mashing before freezing tends to turn the avocado browner).

I am not going to introduce any fruits yet, but when I do I will mix those mentioned above with the avocados. Very simple, easy recipes. The sweet potatoes should freeze nicely in the cubes (I plan to make it in bulk).

I read very mixed ideas about what ages certain foods should be introduced. Most of these only vary by a month or so, but I still don’t want to give my son a food that his stomach is not prepared to digest, so I always go with the highest age. In most cases Super Baby Food has the highest ages, so I use that as my primary resource.

These are the foods that (in my opinion) are safe to introduce at 6 months:

Sweet potato, Avocado (raw), Organic rice cereal, Homemade whole grain cereal, Apricots, Banana (raw), Mango (raw), Nectarine, Papaya (raw), Peaches, Pears (either), Plums, Prunes, Whole milk yogurt, Winter squash

All of the fruits and vegetables need to be cooked, strained, and pureed into a smooth, consistency free of lumps. Fruits that are safe to serve raw are indicated.

I have read a few different methods to introduce food and have also asked a few people for advice. The general consensus is to feed vegetables before fruits because after tasting the sweetness of the fruit, the vegetable isn’t nearly as appealing. So, I am a little bummed that there aren’t more vegetables in this list. Also, we know that my son has some difficulty with milk, so I am going to postpone the yogurt for a while.

I’m not sure which food I will try after the avocados. Right now, I would guess bananas because they are easy to find and prepare. I am going to check around this weekend to see what is out there and maybe I can get some of the other fruits, especially those that will be difficult to find in my town.

It looks like 7 months is when the fun will really begin. There are a lot more vegetable options and he will have eaten enough of the 6 month food that I can start getting creative with combinations. There are already a couple of recipes that I want to try.

Also, everything that I read suggested that when introducing a food to offer it four days in a row before introducing another food. This can help to identify any food allergies. I didn’t do this with the cereal because we had tried cereal before, but I plan to do this with other foods.