Adventures in Baby Food Making, Take Two

I have a couple posts coming at you this week. I missed Insta-Friday and I'm not sure I'll keep doing that. Unless you guys enjoy it? I just feel so redundant. But the reason I missed it? We were in Boston! Another travel post to come on that in the next couple days. And that would be the reason I run ads on my blog. Because, y'all. We like to travel and travel isn't cheap! Hah.

But for now, I'll discuss baby food. Because I currently live in the land of messy baby is eating real food and pooping something cray-cray. And it's my excuse to cram another food post on this here blog.

Here are the photos I have going on of the little person's food supply:

spinach

cubed up

cherries!

cubed up

sweet potato

I've been really slacking on the photo-taking of the food making, but so far I've blended up the following items for freezer storage in ice cube amounts: carrots, yellow squash, cherries, blueberries, oatmeal, pears, sweet potatoes, bananas, spinach, apples. There are so many other items B will be exposed to, but I just haven't bought those up yet. I've also cheated and purchased the Ella's Organic, HappyBaby, Plum Organics & Gerber Organics squeeze pouches for travel and occasional convenience. They are pretty tasty as we've been known to finish them off when he's had his fill. Hah. He's also eaten some of those HappyBaby banana puffs that, for the record, don't taste anything like banana. We know. We both tried them out. And since I might hear the riot act from someone about the size in his wee baby throat... we literally break them up into about 6 pieces to serve him. And watch him like a hawk when eating. It's pretty much the only way to get through a 2.5 hour flight with this kid without breaking out every shiny object in the world to entertain.

So a few topics of conversation about baby food making in general. I still use my blender and love it to pieces. I've also used a hand baby food maker (like the magic bullet) for smaller amounts like cherries that is currently on lend to a friend for her son's food making. He was actually born 18 hours before B, but is obviously much older gestationally. And... they will be in the same grade at the same elementary school. Crazy.

Back to food talk. I happened to buy too many cherries we couldn't possibly consume fast enough and decided to blend them up. I only had about 20 cherries, however, and that amount is simply too few to place in the Blendtec. You need a smaller processor for that if not mixing with a more substantial amount. So for the cherries, I used the hand bullet blender thing. I don't know the brand. It came in a baby food maker pack, but it doesn't appear to be printed anywhere and it was here way before Andrew, so my mind shut all of that information out. No brand plugging there, sorry.

The oatmeal cooking and freezing turned out to be completely unnecessary. From my last post, I could've just saved the oat flour (which I did some), add water, and microwaved for literally seconds to achieve cooked oatmeal at that fine of a consistency. So no need to boil a huge batch of it again unless I want to eat it myself. I plan to make more oat powder soon because I want to eat some and because B likes it.

On the oatmeal talk. I did break down and buy B some fortified organic oatmeal at the grocery store because his new Ped was explaining the importance of vitamins. He is already receiving Poly-Vi-Sol with Iron a couple times a week and I am still breastfeeding regularly, eating well, and taking prenatals... so I'm not convinced he needs the fortified oatmeal, but it's really not much harm. It's still better than the rice cereal to me. I feed him some of our steel cut oatmeal and some fortified on a mixed basis. No real order for that.

Bananas aren't necessary to blend and freeze. I usually just take a too-ripe banana and cut them in thirds and freeze them for smoothies for myself. Now I serve B bananas that aren't frozen or if we're out, I take a third out of the freezer in my smoothie stash to feed him by adding to his oatmeal usually. And a bonus to serving warm oatmeal and a frozen banana is that I just plop the frozen piece of banana into the just heated (hot!) oatmeal and it cools it down instantly and the banana is smashable in mere seconds. A certain baby isn't so patient, so seconds are way better than sticking hot oatmeal in the freezer to cool off.

I've been adding cinnamon to almost everything he eats (if it's a fruit/oatmeal blend. I even added to carrots last night!). I'll be working on exposing him to spices. Not spicy, but spice blends so he hopefully develops a more sophisticated flavor palate early on. I happen to love a plethora of spices and cook often with them. It would be oh-so-lovely if B liked my cooking.

As for his feeding schedule... it's changed a bit. I imagine I'll be changing it frequently until he's on solids for each meal. Currently he's being breastfed about every 3-5 hours, depending on his needs. He usually gives me cues when he wants to be fed (whines incessantly, pulls himself toward my chest, starts sucking on his/my/Ray's arm or something). He has only breastmilk until about lunchtime when he is fed some small finger foods usually in his high chair. We're hoping to incorporate some of the baby led weaning techniques and get him used to texture. He has two teeth now, so we're thrilled that he'll be on the train to chomping down or gumming soft foods in small amounts. Lunch foods might include chunks of banana, small bits of pasta, quinoa, steamed veggies, some of whatever I'm having, etc. Dinner for B has been served at the beginning of his bedtime routine (dinner, bath, nurse, bed). It's usually oatmeal + 1 cube of something. It varies, but he obviously loves the sweeter items like oatmeal-banana and especially loves oatmeal-apple with cinnamon.

Our hope is to get him eating at the dinner table with us soon enough. I can't wait for family mealtime where we're all eating. Come on pincer grasp! I've already started blending things a bit chunkier because I know he has a strong ability to gum foods now.

We haven't tried spinach yet. I'm scared. Though I'm not sure why, considering he has liked everything we've served him (including pickles!) to date, except a really sour batch of blueberries which I will now be adding to my own smoothies instead. The joys of serving your kids "baby" food you'll also eat!

Speaking of the spinach... I actually made it (5 cups loose spinach + 1/4 water = 1 ice cube tray) only because we always seem to have an excess around our house and I didn't want it to go bad before consumption. So... I blended, cubed, and froze.

We're having a lot of fun with the feeding stage, but notsomuch fun enjoying the diapers that come along with it or the dirty clothes! It's nearly impossible to get the simplest of food stains (banana? who knew?) out of light clothing. I feel like I need to advocate for a no white clothes on babies act soon or something. Because heavens, people. Mom be doing way too much laundry. Do not fear... I realize my grammar was poor there.

No joke about those diapers, though. While fewer blowouts because of the sheer (somehow that seems like a poor choice of words here) thickness of them and less propulsion abilities, they are indeed something special. So much that we had to literally exit a T train in Boston to change his diaper and hop back on a few trains later to reach our destination. It was that stinky.

He doesn't seem too embarrassed about it, though.

Adventures in Baby Food Making, Blendtec Style

I've confessed my obsession and love for our blender, and here's more love.

We're reaching the time period where I'll be starting B on some solids soon and I wanted to test out the blender on its amazing abilities. We own the Blendtec Home and love it. I've now made smoothies, soups, bread, sauces, and now baby food. I think I'll attempt almond butter next. Just because it sounds good. And you know what? The blender won't break. Because it's made of steel. Literally. The parts that are normally plastic at the bottom that connects to the base unit are steel. Solid steel. We had a $200 Breville before and it was no different than the $20 blenders you can buy at Target. Plastic parts. I digress.

I wanted to try my hand at making some oat flour which would then turn into the consistency of rice cereal, but a whole lot healthier and not at all processed. Plus, I love steel cut oats and had a whole tin of this delicious stuff to grind up. Well after B is over the pureed phase, I may just create my own pureed cereal for the winter for us all to eat. Because, nom nom. So yummy.

Started with this. Oats + well seasoned blender I heart, heart, heart.

 Fat, fiber, protein, calcium, iron. Yeah, I'm aware this might stop up some pipes... but luckily we've had no issue with food up until this point, so that's at least on our side. That, and the 3-4 dirt-ay diapers a day.

 100% grain oats. Yes please.

Delish, but far too large for the B-meister. Also, the original instructions call for it taking lots of time to soak, then cook. Scratch that. This mama doesn't have time for that.

So glad I picked this up at the store in the winter. I usually buy Trader Joe's, but I'm definitely a fan of this can of goodness.

 Insert blender + 1 cup oats.

 Turn on and grind until a fine powder.

 Doing its job like no big thang.

 Vroom, Vroom. A little peek of the action.

 Just about doneski. Took about a minute.

Pull out your small saucepan, add 1/2 cup of that oat flour (it makes approx. 1 1/2 cups) & 2 cups of water. Boil, and stir with a whisk until desired consistency is reached. Less than 5 minutes.

Bust out those unused ice cube trays and a spoon. That 1/2 cup of oat flour + water will make exactly one ice cub tray with 18 spaces. Doing the math... that one cup of oats makes three full ice cub trays.

 Yes, I know... so easy.

Take the rest of that oat flour and save it for later (or make and freeze it all... get down with your bad self!). This is packaged for travel since we have places to go and people to see coming up soon here.

Pop the oatmeal cubes out once frozen and Ziploc them up for later. Readily available 1 oz. (ish) cubes for a quick meal. Oats + banana. Oats + apple. Oats + {insert fruit or veggie}. Or just plain oats. If they don't pop out of the ice cube tray easily, just fill your sink with a bit of water to cover the bottom and they'll loosen up in no time. Just be conscious, otherwise it will thaw them out completely!

Ziploced and labeled and ready for a special little nugget to chow down!

Don't have a baby, make it for you! It's seriously the best darn cream-of-wheat oats you've ever had. And, it is ready way faster than the traditional cooking method. YES.

*I'm sure breastmilk or formula can be substituted or even added in once thawed out to warm it up, but since B is still being EBF, I will be feeding him breastmilk anyway in addition to any solids we introduce. There are no rules-- just trying to keep it healthy and nutritious for the little mister. And if you really want to start on rice cereal, you can grind your own brown rice in the blender and serve that up for rice cereal credit. 

Anyone else making baby food out there? What did you start your kids on and what was your favorite recipe to make?

Food, Family & Travel

It's usually one of those things. And this one is once again devoted to grub. So get those virtual forks ready. {My gosh, I'm such a dork.}

On the way to my cousin's wedding in Michigan, we stopped off at a local grease shack. Well, at least that's what I expected it to be. Redamak's Tavern is located in New Buffalo and gets rave reviews from the folks here in the Midwest. It's one of those love it or hate it places. Judging from the reviews on Yelp and the insane following this place has, we put it on the list.

Honestly, wasn't greasy enough to me. I just expected worse. So when I was able to order a grilled vegetable pita with swiss cheese, I was no longer assuming this was quite the grease-hole people talk about. Needless to say, we liked it enough to put it on the list for future visits up the Michigan coast. It was B's first time of many, I'm assuming. A new tradition. Now we just have to remember to take photos every time we go.

Please go away, mamarazzi.

Our friends threw a Memorial Day party and I brought Margarita Cupcakes I pinned on Pinterest. I'm no stranger to lime cupcakes, as I made a batch of key lime ones for a baby shower (back when I hosted, threw, and attended them). These required about a 1/4 cup of tequila but obviously it cooks off and leaves no flavor behind. What a waste of tequila, I say. One of my friends said these weren't as good as the key lime ones I made a couple years ago. So yeah, off the pinterest board because I found them to be just okay. And for all that work, they needed to be better than okay.

Even the frosting turned out crappier than usual. It was too smooth to pipe, so I just slathered it on. In hindsight, that was so much easier than the piping. Also, something I added caused the cupcakes to pull away from the paper. Weird, huh?

Sticking with our green theme, I finally made another pinned recipe, Avocado Mac 'n' Cheese. And yes, it was just as decadent as it sounds. If it weren't for fat grams that cause behinds and thighs to grow and inhibit proper-sized jean wearing, I'd eat this everyday. But yeah... this was definitely a full day's worth of caloric intake and then some. Either avo or cheese, but not both next time. Or maybe cheese with a few avo chunks on top. It had an avo flavor, but I guess I like my avo straight up and I felt like it was too muted. And considering they're both high in calories, I would rather enjoy them separate.

I did like how creamy the recipe turned out (I know, with two avo and 7 slices of cheese, it better be, right?!) and would definitely use the roux/cheese recipe for a future plain mac 'n' cheese. I used pre-sliced cheese and I think it was just as easy as using shredded cheese. I just added one slice at a time, stirred until melted, then added another slice. I even took B on a walk to the grocery store just for cilantro to make this. I <3 cilantro. For taste, 5/5 stars. For over the fat intake one should have in a day, 6/5. Hah.

I made two bread recipes (I know, shutup woman. That's why I put them last.). I've stuck to my guns and haven't purchased a loaf of bread in two weeks. So for Ray's daily PBJ, he has had homemade bread. And can I say that homemade bread makes the best toast ever? The first comes to you from my Blendtec Blender. That's right. I made bread in my blender. No hand kneading at all.

If you blend a lot (or even if you don't but want a blender that actually works and will be around longer than you will), this is seriously the machine for you. I tell people all the time that it's absolutely the most valuable appliance in my kitchen. Also, it's literally the most costly appliance I own. It has permanent counter space. I will definitely be making blender bread again. It was easy and awesome.

Proofing the yeast -- something I've learned recently that's very important, in addition to the temp of the water.

 Blended dough (pressed pulse a few times to "knead" the dough).

 After allowing the dough to rise.

 Honey Wheat Bread

I'm working on forming my loaves and achieving the sandwich bread shape with the muffin top like I want. I'm almost there. No photos from this week's bread (the best yet and it's half gone!), but it's from this recipe and is definitely the best shape of any bread to date. Mine is slightly shorter, but still really great.