January 17, 2008

• First foray into making baby food

  Last night, after making dinner (veal marsala), I turned my kitchen into a baby food factory.

  I've long been excited to make food for Jack, and now that he's been on oatmeal for a week, I've gotten the OK to begin introducing one vegetable at a time. After much thought, I decided to start him on green beans -- it's not as sweet as the other first vegetable contenders I was considering (butternut squash, sweet potatoes), which some experts say will help ensure that Jack won't reject green vegetables later on. Personally, I am doubtful about this theory, but since I like green beans, I decided to give it a whirl.

  During my lunch break yesterday, I went to buy fresh green beans. All day long I kept thinking about this project. A long time ago, I had bought ice cube trays with lids to hold my necklaces in (each necklace went into a separate cube). I had some extra trays, which would be perfect for freezing baby food. I had already laid out Ziploc freezer bags and Sharpies with which to label the contents of the bag. My thought was that once I'd emptied the ice cube trays of green bean puree, I could move on to do some other veggies and freeze those. Anyway, the point is, my mind was totally on baby food. So imagine my excitement when I got home and discovered that June had sent me these Baby Cubes as a surprise!

  

  Now, I know some of you will scoff, but I'm a sucker for organizational gadgets. Yes, I do plan to use the ice-cube-into-baggies method, but these cubes come in various sizes (June got me the two-ounce size), the snap-on lids are attached, you can write on the white tray in dry-erase pen (so you know what the food is), and best of all, you can store, freeze, defrost, microwave and serve the food to your baby in one container! That may not sound like much, but it does save a few precious seconds! I don't have to take the lump of frozen food out of the baggie and put it into a separate container to defrost in the fridge. I can just take my Baby Cube and stick it in the fridge, or in my diaper bag! I am so excited. I called June to thank her, and she told me a baby food recipe book was on its way!!! I am so glad that my sister is as big a dork as I am.

  OK, so on to baby food making. I eagerly steamed my green beans to perfection, then I whipped out the Magic Bullet (the blender/processor ... I'm aware there is a vibrator called the Magic Bullet out there!) and pureed the green beans. Let me tell you, I am a fan of the Magic Bullet. I know that practically everyone else has one already, and that I'm a very late adopter of it, but boy, did it puree quickly -- even better than my Cuisinart. And, it takes up so little room. The puree was a very attractive bright green, and it was pretty tasty! At least, it tasted like green beans. Let's hope Jack is a fan! I'll be giving it to him this Saturday. (It's silly, but I want to be the one to give him a new food, so I'll have to wait until the weekend.)

  I took a picture of my new Baby Cubes filled with green bean puree that I'll have to post later. The tray is so cute, sitting next to my container that stores bags of frozen breast milk in a very flat, compact way. So now I have a whole shelf in my fridge for Jack's food/milk needs. It continues to amaze me how the gear and supplies for one little person can take up so much room! Anyway, this is lots of fun. I can't wait to roast butternut squash and sweet potatoes, make the purees out of that. I'm going to take advantage of the novelty while it lasts, because I'm sure that in no time, I will be breaking out the jarred foods!

  • 1:01 pm
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