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Homemade Baby Food (Apples)

I made Ada's first fruit today. Gala Apples. Since I had done this before I found this batch went much faster. It took me about an hour (that includes 30 minutes of cooking time) to make this batch of baby food. It is enough for about 1 month.

The six apples cost just under $7. The same amount of jarred organic apples would have cost $18.05 at the same grocery store.

A quick note about apples from Wholesome Baby Food.

Buy Organic Apples Whenever Possible.

Apple are on the EWG's "Dirty Dozen" List.

This list contains fruits and veggies that are

most likely to accumulate pesticides; most

accumulation occurs in the skin.

Start with 6 organic apples. (Try Macintosh, Gala, or Braeburn)

Cut in half and remove the core. I just used my knife and cut in at an angle to remove the core.

Place in a baking dish cut side down with about 2 inches of water. (You can peel, dice, and boil these also. But baking retains nutrients and flavor.) I did one apple at a time so I could get them in the water and keep them from browning.

Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes (I only did 30 min but will up it next time because I think it will help the skins separate more easily) When they are finished the skins will look a little darker and puckered. Use a fork to see if they are tender.

Remove from the pan and let cool. I actually ran them under cold water to speed this up, that also helps with separating the skins. Save the cooking water for making your puree!

Use some of the cooking water to make your puree. Smell the water! It smells AMAZING!!

Remove the skins from the apples (this part was kind of a pain at first but I eventually got the hang of it and it went much faster). Add the peeled apples to the blender and puree.

Spoon into freezer trays, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit overnight.

Fill the sink with a few inches of HOT water. Dip the trays into the hot water for about 10 seconds and the cubes will pop right out! Place into a Ziploc bag labeled with the food name and date.

For more information, see my other post: Homemade Baby Food (Sweet Potatoes & Butternut Squash)

Look what I can do!

Sitting up all by herself for the first time!

November 13, 2009

5 months 2 weeks 2 days old

Ada tries solids!

If you are on SK, Facebook, and read my blog then you've seen these pictures twice already. Sorry about that! I have some family who follow my blog but aren't on Facebook so I post pictures on here for them too :)

Ada tried solids for the first time. She had sweet potatoes. I froze the sweet potatoes in 1 tablespoon each cubes. The first time she only actually got a tiny amount in her belly but this time she ate almost the entire serving. She is doing even better now. I am going to finally make some apples this weekend, I think she'll really like those.

Ada's 1st Halloween

I just realized that I never posted any of Ada's 1st Halloween pictures on here. About 10 minutes before trick or treating was set to begin I dropped my camera on the kitchen floor and basically destroyed the lens! It will take a picture but most of them have a white haze in the middle and the zoom wheel is stuck, I've decided not to get the lens fixed because I was about ready to upgrade it anyway, it's just the kit lens that came with the camera. I ordered my new lens today so I should be back in business soon!!

Here's our little loaf of bread on her very first Halloween...

One thing the neighborhood association does that is really neat is Halloween night hayrides. There are about 5 or 6 wagons that haul kids and their families around the neighborhood all evening. Here's a pic of one of the little ones. The bigger ones had lights and music on them, very cool! It's a lot of fun, and you get a constant stream of trick or treaters this way. Maybe next year little Ady bug can take a ride :)

Walking over to the neighbor's house to say hello

Going to ring the neighbor's bell and "trick or treat" (not really, but we pretended)

Snuggling with Daddy and having dinner while watching all of the kids run by

Back in the house and getting ready for bed after a fun evening!

Major Milestone!

Tonight we discovered that Ada had reached a major milestone. The funny thing is that she reached it without us even knowing. While Russel was playing and "chatting" with Ada tonight he noticed a little white dot on her bottom gums. He put his finger in her mouth and felt a little hard bump. I came over to further investigate and found that one tiny little tooth has just barely poked through!!

A TOOTH!!! How can my itsy bitsy baby have a tooth!?

Russel and I just looked at each other with our mouths open. Our little girl is growing up. It makes Mommy & Daddy so happy (and so sad). ♥

Homemade Baby Food

This post is probably going to be pretty boring to anyone reading my blog who isn't interested in making baby food at home. I decided a few months ago that I would do this for Ada, I've gotten lots of questions from other moms who are thinking of doing the same. I hope this post answers those questions. If not, please ask away :)

I was extremely intimidated by making baby food at home. I have waited until the last minute for two reasons. First of all, as I said, I was very intimidated and worried that it would be a disaster and I'd want to give up. Secondly, although baby food *can* be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months it is ideally only stored for 1 month so I wanted to wait until I was about a month away from actually feeding her. I know that I won't be able to make the one month cut off for all of this food but at least I will for some. I should also say that I will have no problem feeding her the food that has been in there for 2-3 months so I wouldn't worry if you want to start a little earlier than I did

I plan to give Ada her first baby food at the end of this month. She will be 6 months old on November 28th, so sometime just after that. I decided to skip rice cereal and go straight to fruits and veggies. One of the concerns that some have about skipping cereal is that commercially made rice cereals are fortified with iron and skipping this step may lead to a deficiency for the baby. I have been giving Ada a daily multi vitamin with iron since she was 2 weeks old (as instructed by her pediatrician) so skipping the cereal won't be a problem for us.

Yesterday I made sweet potatoes and butternut squash. I also bought carrots, I'll make those today. Before the end of the month I will also make some fruits. Maybe apples, papaya, and avocados.

I had heard that making your own baby food is not only of nutritional benefit to your baby but also saves lots of money. I didn't know how true that was until last night. I was curious so I did the math.

I made 4 trays of butternut squash. Even though each cube will hold about 1 ounce, I didn't fill to the top. I did my math assuming that each cube is about 75% full.

I made 48 oz (64 food cubes) of organic butternut squash for $2.20. The same amount of the same food would have cost $12.32 at the grocery store.

I came to the decision to make baby food at home because of an article I read online while I was pregnant. I added an excerpt from that article at the bottom of this post. I asked our pediatrician about jarred baby food and he said that in his office they don't call the big name brand baby food company by it's real name, they call it "Garbage Baby Food". So those two things sort of made the decision for me.

If making the food myself cost twice as much I'd still do it, but saving money at the same time is a definite bonus.

Before I get to the "recipes" I want to add (as if I needed to find a way to lengthen this post!) that I really hope that any parents who have used jarred baby foods aren't offended by any of this. I am in no way judging any one's decision to feed jarred foods. Plenty of babies (including me) have been fed jarred food for decades and all turned out just fine. Making food at home is not the right fit for every family just as feeding jarred food isn't.

Butternut Squash

Start with one organic butternut squash

Cut in half and remove seeds and pulp

Place in a deep oven safe dish and add about 1 inch of water, I had to cut mine in order to make it fit

Place in the oven, middle rack, 400 degrees, 40 minutes. Keep on eye on the water level.

Scoop the "meat" out of the squash

Put some of the cooking water into the blender (don't use cooking water when making carrots, see link regarding Nitrates at the bottom of this post)

Add the squash and puree, you can add more water if needed to make a very thin puree.

Scoop into ice cube trays, each cube will be about 1 ounce. You could use a product designed just for this, but they are extremely expensive compared to these 3 for $1 trays that I got at Walmart. Just make sure to wash and sanitize the tray before using.

Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer overnight

This morning I got out the trays and started trying to remove the food cubes. It was impossible. They would NOT budge. I filled the kitchen sink with hot water and dipped just the very bottom of the tray in for maybe 10 seconds. Then I dried the bottom off with a towel so water wouldn't drip onto the food cubes and cause them to freeze together. I popped them out into a bowl. Dipping them in hot water did the trick, they all popped right out!

Put the cubes into labeled freezer bags and you're done!

When it comes time to feed Ada I will probably try and avoid microwaving the cubes in order to defrost. I don't know why, I eat microwaved food but it seems like it's taking something away from the "realness" of the baby food if I microwave it. Don't take that as advice because I have absolutely no reason to feel that way or any evidence that microwaving is bad in any way. I will probably heat on the stovetop. Not sure yet, I guess I need to research that a little more.

Sweet Potatoes

Start with 3 large organic sweet potatoes

I won't go into all the mind numbing detail with this one. Very similar and very simple. Peel, dice, put into a pot with just enough water to cover, steam (boil) until tender, add cooking liquid to blender, puree.

Here's the article I mentioned:

-Benefits of Homemade-

More nutritious

Homemade food is more nutritious than commercially prepared baby foods because it retains more of the nutrients, especially vitamin A and B. This is because the food is less processed. The jarring process necessitates the use of very high heat under pressure. Much more than you can generate when cooking at home. Unfortunately, many vitamins are destroyed by heat.

Some of the baby food on the market has additives and thickening agents including cornstarch, flour, chemically modified starches or tapioca(corn syrup, starch). This means your baby is getting less fruit and vegetables and more filler. Consumers are also getting less nutrition and value for your money.

More Control

By making your own food, you'll know exactly what your child is eating. You can monitor their diet, and know which vitamins and nutrients are lacking. A study by the San Francisco Chronicle in 2002, reported that over 40% of children's calories come from fast and processed foods. Spend your time making your own food, rather than reading and de-coding labels on processed foods.

No Chemicals or Preservatives

Your food will not have anything added, that you didn't put there. You're not trying to preserve shelf life or disguise any of the ingredients in your food. Preservatives include partially hydrogenated oils or trans-fats, which are linked to diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

Taste

While sometimes convenient, a big drawback of commercial baby food is that it bears little relation to the real food. Fresh, seasonal food just tastes better. You probably haven't eaten baby food since you were a baby because you don't want or have to. If feeding homemade baby food, your child will appreciate real foods from their first bite. These will be the flavors and food items that they will continue to enjoy as they grow. Jarred baby food is not available in every fruit and vegetable, nor is it seasonal. You may miss the opportunity to introduce fruit and vegetable options, which you want your baby to eat later with the rest of the family. Some children get used to bland, smooth, jarred foods and have difficulty being reintroduced to the same real foods and textures later.

Less Waste

Making food gives you control over quantity, taste, texture and expense. You will not have to throw away partially eaten jars of food. Instead you can cook what you know your baby will eat, prolong the life of your homemade food in the freezer, or eat your child's food yourself.

Create variety from a single, whole food item. When making baked sweet potatoes you can chose to puree some, cut pieces into soft chunks, and leave the rest whole. Because your homemade purees are made with whole foods, the leftovers can be made into soups, side dishes and sauces for the rest of the family. You may doubt that because you've never considered making a delicious soup from a jar of baby food. However many favorite cream soups get their start from humble, fresh purees.

Less Cost

The cost for making your own baby food is often less than buying commercially prepared baby foods, if you shop smart and cook in larger quantities. For instance a four ounce jar of baby food ranges in price from .60 - $1.20 each, depending on brand and place purchased. However when making your own baby food, and following our tips for creating convenience and buying in-season whole foods you can save on the price. I purchased enough apples for an apple puree for $2 at the farmer's market, and my recipe yielded 16 ounces, thus my cost is $.50 per four ounce serving.

-Useful links-

Tips & Important Info on Freezing Homemade Baby Food

Stage 1 (6-8 months) Homemade Baby Food Recipes

Stage 2 (8-10 months) Homemade Baby Food Recipes

Nitrate Poisoning from Homemade Baby Food??

I've caught it!

I have always liked taking pictures but I think I've officially caught the photography bug!

I started shooting in full manual mode about 2 weeks ago. My first attempt was a total disaster! I took 86 pictures and got two pictures that I don't totally hate. One is actually pretty good and the other has major issues but looks alright. If it weren't for the totally gorgeous girl in all of the pictures they would have been a total loss :)

Here are the two pretty good ones I got. I am having a lot of issues because I don't have an external flash. And apparently shooting with your on board flash is a big no no in professional photography so I'm trying to learn how to adjust my ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture in accordance with the natural light I have and get good enough exposure to get a decent picture. It's hard and I still just *barely* have an understanding of it all. I have LOTS to learn!

Funny story about that shoot- I decided to invest in a background stand and a roll of seamless background paper, neither are cheap but I thought they'd give me a nice "quiet" background to work with. So after taking 86 pictures and being fairly sure that each one of them turned out awful I decided to give up and take down my stand. It's 10 feet tall and about 7 feet wide. So huge. Russel was changing Ada's diaper. I knocked the stand over and it crashed into the TV, then it hit the floor knocking over the dogs' water bowl and spilled water ALL OVER my background, I yelled for Russel to come help. He heard all of the crashing sounds and came running. He slipped in a puddle of the water and then stepped on the screws that hold the background stand together, he hurt his foot and could barely walk for an hour! What a disaster! Hopefully one day we'll look back and laugh. I must say that I have found the humor in Russel slipping across the floor. Poor guy, I know life with me is a circus :)

So after sitting in the living room crying for a while I decided not to throw my photography equipment in the river and stick with it. I have this little problem. If I am not immediately perfect at something I lose all patience for it. I really need to get over that because photography is one of those things where "perfection" is impossible.

Anyway, so my Aunt Jackie and cousin Caroline were willing to be models for my second attempt. I'm happy to report that no one was injured during this shoot.

I am pretty pleased with my improvement. There are still LOTS of problems with these photos, I had a lot of lighting issues and that caused some graininess in my indoor shots. These pictures do look considerably better in person. I had to shrink the file sizes way down in order to post them quicker so that caused me to lose some quality. Thanks to Jackie & Caroline for a great day! It was a great learning experience. I was lucky to have such beautiful subjects!

The big 3-0

Today was quite a milestone for me. I turned 30 years old.

It's weird. I don't mind getting older but it is such an odd feeling to not be "twenty-something" anymore.

My birthday was an ordinary day. But I must say that my typical day is spent with the most loving husband and the most beautiful, happy baby girl so I'm pretty lucky that my "ordinary" day is still so amazing. ♥

As far as gifts, I feel like I've sort of been celebrating my birthday for 2 weeks. I've gotten a new Macbook computer, a photography background and stand, and then the night before my birthday I ordered photoshop. Every time I've gotten something Russel says to consider it my birthday gift :) Yesterday he brought me a card and chocolate after work.

I also got flowers on Tuesday from Jane & John. They are beautiful and make the whole living room smell great. I love having fresh flowers in the house but is one time that I'm actually also looking forward to when they die because I want to use the adorable vase they came in!! haha It's a pumpkin and I already have plans for it :)

Ada's 1st Car

Ada's Mamaw & Grandpa surprised her with a walker this weekend!

It's a big hit! Just look at the little hand holding the steering wheel... could she be cuter??? ♥

Taking a drive with Kiwi

She loves it!!

Beep Beep!

Ada's Life Savings = $10

Ada got a card in the mail Friday from Aunt Janie. She was so excited! Not only was there an adorable card wishing her a Happy 1st Halloween, but there was also $10! Ada's very first paper money.

Today Ada and Daddy took a trip to the "bank" to make a deposit...

For Sophie...

Sophie was born still on her due date, December 27, 2006. She is a beautiful red-headed baby girl who was taken far too soon. 

October is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness month. Tonight at 7pm candles were lit around the world to remember those precious babies.  Every time I pass by the candle that burns on my mantle right now I think of Sophie's family, and all of the families that have been forced to go on and live a life without a piece of their heart. It's one of those things that are just impossible to understand. 

I met Sophie's mom Debbie about this time last year. She has become a great friend and my heart breaks for her. I know that the pain of losing Sophie is never far from her thoughts, I'm sure she's especially thinking of her little angel right now. I just wanted her to know that I am too. And I'm praying that her heart heals a little more everyday and that the time until she holds her sweet girl again passes quickly. 

Also remembering Moira Mae, Kinsey Grace, Grayson Thomas, Ayden, Issac, Asher, and Gabe

More Jumperoo Fun

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

After a fun evening of jack-o-lantern making there's only one thing left to do... make roasted pumpkin seeds! Here are my recipes...

Sweet Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

2 C Pumpkin Seeds

1/2 C Sugar (I used splenda)

1/4 C Vegetable Oil

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1/4 tsp Ginger

1/8 tsp Nutmeg

Spicy Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

2 C Pumpkin Seeds  

1/4 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 1/2 tsp Chili Powder

1/2 tsp Cumin

1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt

1/4 tsp Paprika

1/4 tsp Ground Cayenne Red Pepper

For both recipes follow the same directions...

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Spread into a thin layer on a greased cookie sheet. 

Bake for 45 minutes (I actually let them bake for about an hour then turn off the oven and let them sit in there to cool)

Jack-O-Lanterns

We had so much fun making our Jack-O-Lanterns this year. We used patterns and a carving kit for the first time and it was so cool! It made the work so much easier and the pumpkins turned out so cute! 

This time last year I was knee deep (more like eye brow deep) in morning sickness so we had to skip this fun tradition. But thanks to all that morning sickness last Fall, we had an extra pumpkin to carve this year ♥

Three little pumpkins (the before shot)

Getting Started

Yuck... the worst part... cleaning out the "guts" 

All Clean! 

Ada joined us via video monitor while she napped 

♥ Then she joined in person once she was awake ♥

All done!!! 

♥The "King-O-Lanterns"♥

My first attempt

Today I made my first attempt at taking "real" photos of Ada. I have a really nice camera so I have been considering taking some "professional" like pictures for fun. I wanted to buy some hats, bows, flowers, etc to use as props and maybe even an real backdrop but before I did that I wanted to do a practice run. I still have a LOT of learning to do. This is my very first attempt, so please, take it easy on me! :) 

♥ 4 months 1 week 4 days old ♥

Good Ol' West VirgGINA

As most of you know, Russel was born and raised in Morgantown, WV. He graduated from WVU in 1998. 

This week he had to work in WV for a couple of days and while he was there he picked up a souvenir for Ada. 

It's a picture frame that says "Born to be a West Virginia Fan". 

When he got home last night he just sat the frame on the kitchen counter and later that night I heard him say from the kitchen "You've got to be kidding me" 

It turns out everything I've always said about West Virginia is true... (hey, he constantly makes fun of me for being from Kentucky)

Cute Little Picture frame, isn't it? 

Take a good look...

Luckily the frame inside actually had no spelling errors :) 

The frame is very cute and even came with a paint pen so it can be personalized. I laughed so hard when Russel showed me the box that I cried. 

Jumperoo Fun

Ada finally started actually jumping in her jumperoo today! She played in it for quite a while. I took this video with my phone so I don't know how good the quality will be. Enjoy :) 

Ada's 4 month check-up

Although everything went great, it's been a super long day so this is going to be short and sweet. 

Dr. S said that Ada looks great, developing well, very active, etc. She was being a real charmer and smiled at him while he was examining her. She's such a sweetheart. 

She is 25 1/4 inches long which puts her in the 90th percentile. Dr. S said if she continues to grow at this rate it will put her somewhere around 5'8" tall. That doesn't surprise me, I'm 5'9". 

She weighs 14 lbs 1 oz (70th percentile) so at this point he said that she doesn't need to start solids, she's growing just fine without them. I probably will start some rice cereal sometime just before she is 6 months old. 

Ada got 4 shots today :( Those are always hard but she did fine.

Quiet Moments

You know,  these quiet moments in the evening just hanging out on the couch after Ada goes to bed would be so much more relaxing if this wasn't happening on the other end of the couch.