Baby Food 101

What's the thing I like most about making my own baby food? It tastes good! If you have dared to taste any of the jarred baby food meat combos you know what I'm talking about. It kind of tastes like Campbell's soup pureed. Tastes like they mixed a little chicken with a little carrot and A LOT of salt. I don't even know if they put salt in it but they have to put something scary in it in order for it to have the shelf life that it does.

Here are a few of my favourite recipes right now:

FYI... I save myself time and effort by buying one of those pre-cooked rotisserie chickens at the grocery store. Obviously I throw the skin out and only use the best meat but for $8.99 you get a lot of great meat!

Chicken Stew (YUMMO - seriously, I would eat this myself)
2 cups rotisserie chicken (or boiled chicken breast/legs whatever you want to use)
3/4 cup diced, peeled carrot
1 small onion, diced
1 small white potato, diced
1 cup low sodium chicken stock
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp vegetable oil

In medium saucepan, bring water to boil. Add carrots, onion and potato. Cook for 20 mins or until soft. Drain.
In food processor or blender, combine your boiled veggies, chicken, parsley, oil, and maybe half of your chicken stock. I never measure the liquids so honestly, you may need more or less than 1 cup of stock depending on the consistency you are going for. I start with a little and keep adding until I get a good consistency (right now Jane's transitioning to chunkier foods so I don't puree as much).
This recipe made two ice cube trays full. It's awesome. Jane eats 2 cubes almost every day for lunch.

Fruit-n-Veggies
2 cups diced, peeled carrots
2 cups sliced, pitted fresh apricots (or 16ish dried apricots)
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries (I used frozen - they are way cheaper)

In medium saucepan, boil your carrots until they are soft (15 minutes or so). Drain, reserving some of your boiling water to use when processing.
In separate bowl, pour boiled water over your dried apricots and let sit for 30 mins to reconstitute. If you are using fresh apricots, boil them in a saucepan for 5 minutes or so, until soft.
In food processor or blender, combine your cooked carrots, apricots and raspberries (thawed if you are using frozen). Use some of your reserved boiling water from your carrots to puree - adding a little at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
This recipe makes about 2 ice cube trays. I usually give Jane 2 cubes with lunch or dinner. It's tasty and sweet - good treat for "dessert".

Another tip for when you are first starting out making your own food...
Cook and freeze everything separately (e.g. carrots, sweet potato, chicken, pork, fruits, etc.). Then mix your cubes at mealtime. This provides a lot of variety in flavour and nutrients.

Here are some of my favourite combos:
2 cubes carrots with 1 cube of apples or apricot
2 cubes pork tenderloin with 1 cube prunes, apricot or apple
1 cube turkey with 1 cube apricot
1 cube carrots with 1 cube of sweet potato
1 cube of carrots, 1 cube butternut squash and 1 cube of apple

You can basically mix everything. This makes it easy for meats to mix them with different veggies.

Have fun!