Homemade Baby Food

With parenting comes tremendous responsibility, and the emotion that takes precedence over all other thoughts is 'I want the best for my baby'. And who can argue that? There should be no other way, anyway. So when it comes to buying food for your baby, I can understand why you would be a little (or a lot) skeptical about whether to go in for it.

Hundreds of doubts ranging from 'what exactly are the ingredients in it', to 'are there any colors or preservatives added', and many other similar thoughts will cross your mind. All of which are of course justified. The best solution to do away with all these niggling doubts is to prepare homemade baby food by yourself. This will allow you to control and monitor what your baby eats and you can make different varieties of the same, depending on his taste and preferences. And if you're worried about how to make this baby food - it isn't that difficult, trust me. Doesn't that sound just perfect? Well, then let's not waste any more time and get to dishing out some recipes.

Homemade Recipes

OK...has the baby been fed, burped, and asleep? Perfect. Now get out a pad and make a note of all these recipes. Make sure that you baby is ready to eat solid foods when you start introducing the varied recipes into his diet.

Purees

Apple - Take an apple and peel it, then dice it into small pieces and steam the pieces. Use very little water for steaming if you want the puree to be thick, if not you can always add more water later. Then take the steamed pieces and mash them. The puree will be ready.

Banana - Peel a banana and cut into small pieces. Then mash these pieces. Add a little milk and powdered sugar to it if necessary. One can make purees of many other vegetables and fruits like carrot, sweet potato, pears etc. simply steam/ boil them until soft and mash them then add milk and sugar for taste if necessary. Or feed it plain. Isn't it a great way to start off with homemade baby food?

Soups

Sweet Potato and Plantain - Take a finely chopped onion (small) a and add to it a clove of crushed garlic. Then sauté in olive oil until tender. Now add a peeled and sliced plantain and cook till it is browned. Then add 2 cups of chicken stock and a bay leaf to it and let it boil. Now add 1 peeled and sliced sweet potato to it. Then reduce the flame and let simmer for about 30 minutes. This will allow the vegetables to become tender. Then blend the mixture till it is creamy. Then put it in a pan, add ½ cup of milk and let simmer for 10 minutes. The soup is now ready.

Carrot and Lentil - Take a large saucepan and sauté a small, finely chopped onion until soft. Then add 1 cup of rinsed and dried lentils, 1 cup peeled and diced carrots and 4 ½ cups of water and let it boil. After it begins to boil, reduce the heat, cover the saucepan and let it simmer for 1 ½ hours. The lentils will become soft after this. Add water for desired consistency.

Dinners/Lunches

Cheese and Vegetable - Mix ½ cup cottage cheese, ¼ cup cheddar (mildly grated), 5 tsp milk, ⅓ cup cream cheese and mix well until they are perfectly blended. Then take 1 tbsp of chopped carrots and ¼ cup peas and cook them. Once these are ready, mix the cheese mixture and stir. Add a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese to top it off.

Pumpkin and Barley - Heat 2 tsp of olive oil in a pan and add ½ a cup of finely chopped pumpkin and ½ of a small onion in it. Then stir fry till they turn a golden brown color. Then add ½ clove of crushed garlic, 2 sage leaves, a little thyme and stir until all the ingredients are a dark brown. Then add 1 ½ cups of vegetable stock (prepared like any other stock.) and the drained barley (pre-soak for an hour beforehand), then boil. Lowering the heat, cover the vessel and let the mixture simmer for 20-30 minutes. When all the ingredients are nice and moist, the meal is ready.

Snacks

Sweet Potato Fries
Peel one sweet potato and cut into the shape of fries(1/4 inches thick and 4 inches long). Then add very little oil to these strips. Then sprinkle 2 tsp of cinnamon and toss it together to mix well. Line a baking sheet with foil paper. Now place all the fries on it in a single layer. Then bake at 180 degrees C, 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

Storing the Food

Once you've made the dishes, they need to be stored for future use, especially if you are preparing them in large quantities and cannot keep doing so over and over again. Use any one of these methods to store the food.

Ice Cube - Freeze Bags
Make sure that the ice boxes are properly rinsed and sanitized before doing this. Pour the baby food in the ice cubes and cover with a plastic wrap. When they're frozen, simply transfer the solidified cubes into plastic bags and label them.

Wax Paper
Place small amounts of homemade baby food onto cookie sheets that are covered with wax paper and freeze. Then store in a separate container.

Certain Glass Bottles
Certain glass bottles which specifically say that it is OK to freeze foods in them, can be used to freeze and store the baby food. If there is no such instruction, then steer clear of glass bottles as they expand in the cold and can collect small shards of glass in the food item which can be potentially dangerous.

Aren't all these homemade baby food recipes easy to make? And imagine the satisfaction you'll get by making them on your own. So try making some of them today and see your baby as he gurgles and coos while enjoying these new dishes!