Julie wrote:
>
> I've been having some fun making baby food for my almost-8-month-old
> daughter. Although there are some great organic baby foods on the market
> now, they're also on the expensive side. Even Gerber's has entered the
> organic baby food market. But at between 50 and 70 cents a little jar, it
> can get expensive.
Not to mention that babies who have been given home-made stuff are likely to
turn their noses up at jarred food. My little guy started off with home-made
and never touched the contents of a jar.
>
> I've had great success so far cooking various squashes, sweet potatoes,
> carrots, prunes, peaches and pears and pureeing them. I save the jars
> from purchased baby food, then fill them with my own mixtures and freeze
> them. Last night I did 3 yams, 1 spaghetti squash, 1 butternut squash, 4
> pears, 1 cup blueberries, a handful of prunes, and filled 47 jars!
My goodness, you have been busy. Let me warn you, though, that when your
daughter reaches the ripe old age of 1, or possibly earlier, she will probably
turn into a picky eater and turn her nose up at most of what you have so
lovingly prepared. That's what my baby did, and he's still a very picky eater.
Most toddlers are; it is one of the few areas of their lives in which they can
exercise control, and they do.
>
> I would love to hear from any of you about how you feed your babies. I'm
> wondering about starting beans, but am not sure how to begin and if some
> beans are better to use than others.
>
Try green beans first.
> I'm also interested in canning information. I have a small
> over-the-refrigerator freezer section and it fills up really fast. I'm
> tempted to try canning in the baby food jars, but don't want to poison my
> baby by doing it wrong. Anyone out there with canning experience who
> could help? The baby food jars have sort of a rubber seal that looks like
> it would work.
I didn't freeze in jars or can, as I didn't have any jars. What I did was to
put the baby food in ice cube trays, freeze it in there, and then empty the
trays into Ziploc bags. Worked like a charm (until he stopped eating it 8-().
When she starts finger foods, you might want to consider making the Tofu balls
from Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. They are a big hit in my
house. Another big success (and the only problem is to keep Daddy from eating
them all!) is the various kinds of muffins from the McDougall cookbooks. If
your child will eat cheese, you will be in good shape.
>
> Julie in San Jose
> Raising a healthy vegetarian baby from a vegetarian pregnancy!
Good luck! So am I, so far ... the only thing I worry about is his calcium
intake as he doesn't drink cow's milk. D*mn the dairy lobby!
Be well, Hadass
--
Dr. Hadass Eviatar (XX) mailto:eviatar@xxxxxxxxxx
National Research Council of Canada Phone: (204) 984 - 4535
Institute for Biodiagnostics Fax: (204) 984 - 5472
435 Ellice Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3B 1Y6 http://www.ibd.nrc.ca/~eviatar
"Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be!"
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