Broccoli & Carrots Take 2

Have you ever smelled what it smells like to burn water?? Ok what do I mean burn water, doesn't it just evaporate? Well apparently not when it is steaming water! Oops! I was as usual in the middle of prepping dinner and doing a million things.  I had already steamed up some broccoli and decided to steam up some carrot sticks and forgot about them.  I soon smelled what it smelled like if your pie overflowed in the oven and was burning on the bottom... It was a weird sweet burning smell.  And then I realized the carrots were out of water.  I quickly pulled out the steamer basket and drenched the pot in water, I dont think it was the first time as this is my oldest hardworking pot! Fortunately the carrots just had a slight smokey flavor, but didnt taste burnt. I figured Id see if our daughter would eat them.

So I hadnt given her broccoli since she really learned to chew/swallow.  This time she gagged a bunch on it.  It didnt seem to bother her much, but it had me back to watching her like a hawk.  She swallowed some and seemed to like chewing them apart, but between the mess it makes and the gagging Broccoli is not on my "foods to start with list" anymore.

We've been trying to give her a bunch of options, as we dont have a ton of new veggies to try, and dont want her to just have single fruits anymore.  Plus its time to start mixing up some of the purees and other things, so it was time to make the meals more exciting I guess!

Apricotz

I found some nice ripe apricots at Whole Foods, and Im not even sure if I have had a ripe apricot plain by itself.  But I figured they seemed soft and small and with the plum success, I figured it was worth a shot.  I just sliced them in half and gave them to her raw (RAWRRRRR she said...)

Totally easy and she loved them, as usual she nommed away using her gums and saliva to melt the flesh, and spit out the skin.  I am still amazed at how they figure out how to do that.  I guess instinct or its just hardwired into our little brains :)

I didnt end up making a puree right away, but I did use a spoon to swipe up some of the mashed leftovers on her tray/bib/face to mix in with some veggie puree we fed her afterward!

Recommendation:
Apricot: Wash, slice in half, and hand one half to your baby!

Yo-Yo-Yo-Yooogurt

Since we figured parsnips weren't likely to be much of an allergen, we decided to introduce yogurt offset by a day.  Well ok I cheated, I was supposed to meet a friend for ice cream, and while that friend wasnt able to make it, I decided to share some of my yogurt from JP licks with her!  It was such a hit that she was slurping it out of the little taster cup and off of my spoon, and was making such a racket about it, that some people asked if they could take our picture for us!! lol.  Unfortunately I think I blinked or something weird because I look totally crazy... so instead I will share the "selfie" that I took of her :)  And apparently she was cute enough to attract a mom and her three girls to come and sit closer to us to say hi to the baby!!

Onto the real stuff.  Our pediatrician had recommended the yo-baby yogurt, and I had a BJs coupon, so I decided to just buy a bunch (worst case I could eat it right??).  So we started with the simple vanilla stuff, and decided to start for breakfast.  It got her typical "what is this" weird face for the first bite or two, but then she was lunging for the spoon, and finished off a half of a container no problem!!  The ensuing mess was plenty of lip smacking fun!  I guess yogurt will be on our best of list!

Sorry - no I am not brave enough to make my own yogurt for baby!!  Maybe when she's older :)

Parsnipities

For our next trick, we decided to try parsnips.  Figured they might be softer than carrots and maybe would go over well.  I had a few left in the fridge from when I did the huge baby food ice cube tray day, and figured I could just peel those up and steam them.  So I peeled them, cut the skinny end off, and then cut the thick end into four sticks (like carrot sticks), and stuck them in the steamer.  Steamed them for about 10 minutes, and then let cool in the steamer.

I thawed one of the ice cubes from before by sticking it in a glass dish and microwaving it for 15 seconds.

Well the first batch went over better than I expected.  She explored them like usual, and then proceeded to munch on them to the point where she would get all of the meat off of the parsnip, and leave the stringier inside center of the parsnip, just like she had done with the skin.  The puree also went over reasonably well.  I don't think she ate a ton this time, so we gave her a quarter of a plum to finish up with!

However, the second day of parsnip was a bit less successful.  She had loved the other ones so much that I didnt have enough left for the next two days, so I went and bought some fresh ones from the store and steamed those.  I believe I steamed them exactly the same, but I think with them being new they became a lot more mushy.  She would grab the parsnip and just squish the whole thing through her hand.  She would get a little in, but mostly it ended up like a pile of mashed potatoes on her tray.  Im not sure if it was taste or texture, but the third night was the same.  I gave her a couple of the old ones and those seemed to occupy her for longer, so maybe I just need to cook the fresher ones a bit less, or not let them cool in the steamer.

For the second and third night, I mixed some applesauce in with the parsnip puree and that seemed to be a major hit.  We also gave her a quarter plum again on the second night.  Third night she ate a ton of the puree so we skipped the plum.

Recommendation
Parsnips: Cut into stick shapes, Steam 8-10 minutes, remove from steamer immediately and allow to cool on the counter or in the fridge.  Older parsnips will be tougher, but may be easier for babies that have been eating for a bit.

Asper-Asper-grass-grass-grass

Sung to the tune of Amsterdam... :)
My dad was coming up to cook us some salmon he caught on a fishing trip, and I was going to make asparagus for us.  I was trying to decide if I would give it to our daughter, and ended up just getting "lazy" so instead of planning something for her, I figured I would just give her Asparagus too.  Worst case, she didnt like it.  I did think it would be too stringy the way we normally make it - grilled, so I decided to steam them.  I cut off the woody ends, broke the stalks in half, and put them in the steamer.  I steamed them for probably close to 10 minutes to make sure they were softened, and left them in the steamer once I turned the stove off.  I ended up pureeing the bottom halves, and saved the softer top halves to give to her.  In making the puree, I added some water, but the magic bullet had a hard time with how little was in there, so I think if I were to do it in the future, I'd make a lot more, just so it was easier to puree.

So we gave it a shot.  She seemed to like them, as per her pattern, the first night was very investigatory and somewhat uncertain, but she moved through them.  The second night she was actively reaching for them, and by the third night she was really reaching for them and nearly whining when we didnt get the spoon to her fast enough.

Because the asparagus was pretty stringy, I'm not sure she digested much besides what we pureed for her. She seemed to chew through the stringy-ness, and like the fruit skin, she just spit out the stringy parts and didnt really bother with them. It was certainly fun, but probably not a baby staple food in regular form.  We gave her some apple and plum to offset it.

Recommendation:
Asparagus: Steam tender stalks for 10 minutes.  Give top halves of stalk to baby.
Asparagus Puree: Steam stalks for 10 minutes, puree with some water, remove any super stringy parts.

Violet... you are turning PLUM!

Onto our next adventure! I bought two different kinds of plums at Whole Foods - White and Black I think.  I was still nervous that they might be a little firm, and was planning on making some into a puree, so I steamed them.  The recipe I had said 4-6 minutes.  I cut the 4 plums in half, and put 2 of each half on the bottom of the steamer, and sliced up half of each and put it on top of the other ones.  I think I ended up steaming them for 6 minutes because of the bigger ones on the bottom. I decided to leave the skins on since I was making a thick puree, and then just tossed them in the magic bullet with 3 tablespoons of water.

So the first night we gave her the slices and some puree.  Spoiler Alert - She LOVED plums.  I was a little hesitant because everything I read said to leave the skin on so they could grab it... but I figured we'd be chasing the skin out of her mouth.  I was completely wrong!! Somehow babies seem to know not to eat the skin and just pull it out once they have sucked all the flesh off of it.  It was AMAZING!! :)  And as you might expect, the black plums were pretty messy, so I'd just do the white ones in the future!  She made her typical
"hmm, not sure about this" face to start, but eventually was chowing down pretty good on them, and was definitely reaching for the spoon to get more and more!

Day two of plums went about the same, she was getting more used to how to eat them and mowed them down pretty quick.   We also mixed some of the puree into her morning oatmeal.  She liked them so much, I ran out of the ones I had steamed, so I picked up some more for Day three.  On Day three, we decided to be a little adventurous.  I had seen posts of people giving their kids half a fruit... half a plum, apple, whatever... I didn't really believe it, but I figured with us watching carefully we could try.  So we handed her half a plum! At first it was a challenge to pick up, but she soon figured it out and off she went!

And away went the plum!! She once again figured out the whole skin thing and just demolished the plum.  We were in awe!!  But our little girl had become a violet!!

Recommendations:
Plum: Wash plum and cut into 6ths or halves depending on baby's dexterity with food.  If plums are very firm, steam for 4-6min.  If they are soft, just give raw to baby!
Plum Puree: Cut plums in half, steam for 4-6minutes, puree with a few tablespoons of water.

Freezer Stash & Doing the Math

So as I bagged up some of my latest freezer stash (see the squash and sweet potato night) this morning, it got me thinking.  At first I started wondering how much of this I would need, and how I should manage ramping her up to eating 3 meals a day.

And then I figured, well while I was taking pictures of today's stash, I should run downstairs and take a picture of all of the baby food I had made.  But as I started setting up to do that, I realized I felt like I was doing a fast product shoot.  Product shoot led me to wondering if there was any sort of business model I was stumbling on.  Even before I lost my job, I had been into the opportunity cost of my time.  Was it worth my time to do X when I could pay someone else to do it much faster?  For example, we now have people that mow our lawn, and a woman who cleans our house - why?  Because I'd rather spend my time with my daughter, cooking, or doing a million other things.  I don't enjoy cleaning and my husband doesn't enjoy mowing the lawn.  Both things take time away from us as a family, so why not just have someone else do them?

Well, onto the business model... Making all of this food didn't really take me long, but I enjoy cooking.  For working families who want to give their babies fresh home made food, what is their time worth to them? So it got me wondering... is there a business here?  Hmm... I guess its time to do the math and some research to see if I have an option if finding a job takes too long... :-D

It got me thinking about the form I could set up - stage of baby food needed (1,2,3), delivery size (1oz cubes or 4oz baggies), and of course the fun part - choosing the ingredients, mixes, etc!   And hmm, do I deliver like peapod? or have people stop by my house?? Hmmmmmm.....