Home-Made Baby Food 101

Now some of you savvy-in-the-kitchen moms out there are wondering why on earth I would post about something so simple like how to make baby food.  But I know there are others moms out there who are awful not as comfortable in the kitchen - just like me - and who have no idea how to take carrots from the raw form to the pureed form.  I know.  I can't believe I didn't know that.  But I didn't. 

Hey, I'm the woman who managed to ruin cream of mushroom soup.  From a can, people. 

So here you go, all of you kitchen novices!  This is just for you. 

Step 1:  Buy fresh fruit and veggies.  Today we're making sweet potatoes, melon, peaches, butternut squash, and carrots.  These are some of Danny's favorites. 

Oh, the Frosted Mini Wheats?  Well, I have to snack on something while I do the easiest cooking on earth slave away in the kitchen. 

Step 2:  Make sure you have a cute cooking partner nearby to cheer you on. 

Step 3:  Peel everything. 

Step 4:  Chop everything. 

Step 5:  Cook the veggies so they are soft.  I prefer to steam the carrots, squash and sweet potatoes.  Then I leave some of the water used to steam in with the veggies as I dump it into the blender for pureeing.  Peaches can be steamed, but it's not necessary.  Peaches do need a little bit of water added to puree, but definitely not as much as I have in the picture.  Definitely do not cook the melon or add water to it to blend. 

Step 6:  Blend the you-know-what out of everything until it's as pureed as you want it!  For babies newer to solids, you'll want to puree it until it is very smooth.  If you are moving your little one towards solids, leave it a little lumpy.   

Some foods will need water, like carrots, squash, peaches and sweet potatoes.  Others will not, like the melon. 

Make sure to have the pusher-downer-thingy close by so that all of the food is evenly pureed. 

Step 7:  Store it all!  Store enough for the next 24-48 hours in the refrigerator.  The rest...  pour into ice trays. 

Several hours later, dump the frozen cubes out and store them in labeled Ziploc sandwich bags... 

...and toss them into the freezer. 

When it comes meal time, defrost the desired number of cubes.  The great thing about the frozen baby food cubes is that each one is approximately an ounce, so it's easy to know how much food your baby is taking in! 

A couple other tips:  The melon will probably need to be thickened up with rice-cereal or other cereal since it's so watery. Also, I usually do not make this much baby food at once.  Usually I do one or two veggies or fruit per night as I cook our family's dinner.  I only end up cooking baby food about twice a week, and since I multi-task and do dinner at the same time, it really doesn't take me much more time at all, and it saves us a ton of money. 

There you go!  You're done!  Happy Baby!

Sheer Genius

I just discovered that I've had a gold mine sitting under my kitchen counter now for over six years. Now I realize that I may be a tad bit SLOW to realize the genius of the slow cooker, but have grace with me because I have seen the error of my ways and corrected it.

Today, I made Chicken Spinach Soup, which I found through Michelle's Menu Plan Monday, and let's just say it was a BIG HIT.

Thursday is my night to make dinner but since I was hangin' out with MckMama and a whole host of other cool gals and guys, I wasn't gonna make it home before my Mary Kay guest event. So I needed a way to cook dinner early. Hence, the crock-pot solution.

Alejandro texted me this: "No words to describe dinner! It's amazing, thanks a lot." And anything that evokes that kind of response is bound to be repeated.

So thank you Michelle and...

...I have a happy household tonight!

Sheer Brilliance

In our house, we have a brilliant system.

The idea really came from my parents, so actually they're the brilliant ones. (Mom, Dad, bask in the glory! This is the reward for all of the rebellious teenage attitudes. You are now the smartest two people on the planet!)

This sytem involves something called "Mom's Night OFF."

Here's how our week day schedule goes:
Monday night - Dad's night off.
Tuesday night - My Mary Kay night, so Danny and Dad hang out, while Mom is out with the girls making mula.
Wednesday night - Date night.
Thursday night - Mom's night off!! (Do you hear the angels singing?)
Friday night - Family night.

(Ok, I should put Dad's Night Off in bold and underline and highlight as well. But WHOSE blog is this, anyway?)

On Mom's Night Off, I get an evening to do, well... Anything I want. No work. No diaper changes. No cooking dinner. (In fact, it's cooked for me.) No crying baby. No baby at all if I need a break. But if I want to cuddle him to my heart's content, I can! Alejandro is totally in charge. He brings Danny to me when he needs to eat and then I am free again. He does the burping, the putting to bed, the getting him up, and all! It's fabulous.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my little boy, and I totally love spending my time with him. But I am a much better mom when I get a night off.

This I learned, because when I was a little girl, my parents had a similar rule. After 8 p.m., Mom was off duty and Dad put us to bed. It made for great Daddy-bonding time. He made a total game out of putting us to bed, and some of my favorite childhood memories were of bedtimes with Dad. It also made for a sane, happy, more rested Mom. And it also made for a household that was equally parented.

Dad's night off is equally as fabulous for him. He gets to do nothing but hole up in the garage and do, um... guy stuff - whatever that is - for a night, if he wants. So he gets his much-needed cave-time.

And the cool thing is that if we want to spend our night off with each other, we can. And often, we do. But if we don't want to, it's totally ok. In fact, often times, Alejandro will say, "Are you sure you want to do ______? Don't you want to just relax and get together with a girlfriend?" I love that my husband says this to me!

Now girls, if ya'll decide to implement this brilliant little system in your own homes, there is a catch to it. And that is that the nights that you're off and Dad's on duty and in charge, you have to let him be in charge. I found it difficult at first not to tell him that the diaper was on wrong and would surely leak. (After all, what do I care? He's the one who had to clean it up anyway. He learned just like I did.) ...and it was tough not to tell him exactly how Danny likes to be put to bed. (He figured that out too. And by the way, now Danny can be put to bed by more than just me! And in more than one way.) And when Danny cried, it was hard not to tell him why he was crying (because usually I did know) and let him figure it out. (And he did figure it out, and now knows Danny's cries and coos and noises just about as well as I do.) ...But if you can let go, I promise, it is totally worth it.

So anyway, last night, being my night off, went like this:

I made some phone calls I wanted to make and felt productive, in my pajamas. Alejandro brought Danny to me and I nursed him, in my pajamas. Then we had a delicious Costa Rican dinner, cooked by Alejandro - I was still in my pajamas. Then I blogged to my heart's content. You guessed it - in my pajamas. And finally, early to bed to cuddle with Alejandro, and have a glass of wine.

See how great this is people!?

I'm telling you. You have to try it in your house. I insist.