Apple and the Blender

I had purchased a number of potential foods, but figured we'd move onto apple next.  For the first night, I didn't have time to figure out how to cook it, so I just peeled it and gave her a few slices of Gala Apple, knowing she'd really just get a new flavor/texture.  She had fun with the apple slices, really seemed to like the sweet flavor.  By the end she had sucked on them so much that they were slimy and she couldn't really pick them up, and was frustrated, so I held onto a slice so she could just gnaw on it at will :)

On the second day, I baked a bunch of peeled apples with some nutmeg, cinnamon and water.  I had used my apple peeler/slicer/corer, so they were thin slices, but I basically left them as peeled half apples. I put them in a square glass dish and baked them at 375 for 45 minutes (until very soft).  I threw these into a blender and made a very smooth applesauce out of them.



While I was doing that, I decided to try and roast some apple slices for her to try for that night. They seemed to come out soft, but had this weird rubbery texture, so I put them in the microwave with some water for 15 seconds a side.  They seemed to soften a bit, but I wasnt real sure.  Sure enough, they werent quite soft enough.  She would try to gum them and ended up getting a big chunk once that freaked me out so I stuck my finger in to get it and ended up scaring her so she cried for a bit.  I stuck the apple in one of those feeder things and let her munch it to death that way.

We also took our first shot at pureed foods with the applesauce.  She LOVED it!! As per the BLW instructions, we were supposed to let her do it at her will.  Since she was getting good with foods, just putting the spoon near her, she reached out to grab it and shoved it in her mouth.  It took some maneuvering for her to get anything off the spoon, but she managed, and we probably got a tablespoon of applesauce :)

The next day I jumped online and read and read and read some more.  I found someone who mentioned steaming the apple slices with the skin on, and decided to try that.  WOW what a difference! It was perfect!  The skin gave her something to hold, and the apple meat was soft enough for her to gum off of the skin.  Amazingly enough she knew exactly what to do with the skin!

Also since we passed the 6 month mark, we gave her her first shot at the sippy cup with a little bit of formula in it.  She took to it right away, maybe because it was sort of a soft nipple like the bottle, or perhaps just because she is way too smart for us! lol.

Recommendation:
Apple: Steam slices with skin on!  Steam for 5-7 minutes, remove from pot and cool.
Applesauce: Peel and bake 3 apples (cored and halved) covered in foil with 3/4cup water, and maybe a half teaspoon of nutmeg and teaspoon of cinnamon.  Cool and process in a blender until smooth (or desired consistency)