A Tale of Two Veggie Dishes

Once upon a time, there was a woman who was a pro at making baby food. But she always knew there was an arch nemesis to the homemade baby food world: green beans. So one sunshiny day, she decided she would try three different methods using two different types of green beans to see if it was at all possible to match the perfectly smooth texture of jarred baby food. To her utter dismay, two and a half hours passed by as her kitchen got messier and messier; and all she was left with was the same kind of homemade baby food green beans she had ever ended up with. A whole morning gone with nothing left but textured baby food her daughter won't be able to eat for a while yet.

Now I remember why I always bought jarred green beans. Green beans don't have pits. They ARE the pits. Ugh. I began with good intentions to use frozen green beans. Steamed 'em up, and started hand-cranking away. And cranking and cranking and hand cramping and cranking... Just an awful amount of work that produces such a tiny amount of baby food. So I was going to throw them into my awesome electric baby food mill, but I think it must have shorted out a few seconds after I began. And being the amazing electrician I am, I have no idea what happened (nor did I choose to investigate -- good news for those of you that know my "background" in electricity...). I then tried to hand-crank some more, got fed up with that, and promptly grabbed the two cans of French style green beans (no salt or preservatives, just beans and water). Those cranked up very nicely, though still more difficult than soft fruits. It's amazing the amount of water that comes out of green beans! But what was I going to do with the rest of the steamed frozen green beans? I put them in the Kitchenaid mixer attachment that grinds food. Wow. Water pouring out here while green bean pieces that resembled cow cud pushed out here, and oops there's a leak there too. Pushed some more beans down and now I have green bean juice a few feet up on my cabinet doors. Forget it! I was left with two bowls of baby food. One a bright fresh green with tons of water and a potent flavor. One a muted green with a softer consistency and bland green bean flavor. Neither of which Eden can eat just yet because it is too textured. So I just combined the two (now that was a pretty site - not!) and froze 'em up. And now I just remembered I completely forgot to add a little salt and butter. ::sigh:: I hate green bean baby food. Let's nuke the City of Green Bean Baby Food and move on to the tale of a lovely veggie dish.

Far away in another veggiedom, there was a woman who was about to do something she'd never done before. She grabbed a zucchini, a yellow squash, and several red potatoes. "I want to try my hand at oven roasting some veggies!" she said to herself. "I know I'll probably be the only one that likes them, but who cares!" So she chopped them up, dressed the chunks, and threw them in the oven without a worry. After a while, out came gorgeous roasted veggies that she thoroughly enjoyed. Why, so much that it was ALL she ate for dinner. Two bowls of yummy roasted veggies -- and no one wanted to share! More for her! Since then, she has made them several times and encouraged her King and knights to try them with her. The King loves the potatoes and graciously eats a few of the zucchini and squash pieces. The knights? Well, they still need convincing.

Seriously! I realize I'm probably behind a lot of women in the whole veggie department, but hey I'm catching up! It is so super easy to roast veggies, so cheap, and so delicious! Just a little chopping, mixing, and oven-time gives you a beautiful and hearty side dish to any meal. I mixed my zucchini, yellow squash, and unpeeled red potato chunks with salt, pepper, 2 glubs of olive oil, 2-3 glubs of Italian dressing. Spread them out on my wonderful new metal baking sheet. Roasted at 425 for 40-50 minutes, turning every 10 minutes or so. The few times I've made them with something else baking, I just put them in at 425 while I prep the other dish, turn the oven down when I add the other dish to the oven, and then crank it back up to 425 when the other dish comes out. It's worked great every time. Try it! Who knows, maybe I'll throw in a sweet potato soon. Though I am CERTAIN the King won't be eating those pieces... (I just realized there are no after pics -- I was too excited to eat them!)

On the whole food thing...

Can I just say that it is so odd to follow the "new guidelines" for feeding an infant? It's amazing how new studies and research can change mass thinking so quickly. Elijah is only three years old. It wasn't terribly long ago that I went through the baby food process with him. And in just the short time since then, it's all changed. Where once you had to spend at least a week introducing a new food to check for reactions, now you only have to wait 3 days. Where once you had to make sure to introduce every single ingredient before you could mash up a casserole or main dish, now you can go straight to feeding your baby exactly what you are having for dinner after you and baby master the basics of solid food feeding. Simply mind bending. Disclaimer: If you do your own internet research, you can find all opinions represented. I really like Wholesome Baby Food as well as my own pediatrician's advice.

Granted, I'm sure "they" are not saying to grind up some spicy (read: burn your mouth off) curry chicken for your 6 month old or popping a few whole peanuts on the high chair tray. I'm gonna call it "Cautious Freedom." That's what it seems like after reading into it. And I like the thought. But it's a little scary because it's just different from how things were with Judah and Elijah. What was especially scary (though our pediatrician approved it) was giving Eden a mix of sweet potato, rice cereal, and ALMOND milk tonight. I gave my 6 month old a nut product. Every spoonful was given with frightening thoughts in my head: "What are the signs of anaphylaxis? Would I call 911 for an epi-pen? How soon would she break out into hives if she's allergic? ... " So, why did I do it if I was scared? Because there is no reason to be afraid. There is no known nut allergy in either of our families. Matter of fact, I'm pretty sure life as we know it would cease without peanut butter. ;-) I consulted Dr. L, and he said sure. I wanted to give her something yummy-creamy, and water can't do what a milk texture can. Trust me. I know. (6 months down and less than 6 months to go on this dairy free...with occasional slips...diet.)

I'm treating Eden as an experiment. Since I plan to make more of her food homemade than I did with either of my boys AND because she has not reacted to any foods yet, I'm going to introduce her to more foods than I did the boys. She's already had sweet potatoes, red potatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash -- things the boys never had or to which they reacted. Maybe by doing this, she will have wider food horizons than the boys. Maybe not. We'll see! (Though, the boys seem to have broadened their horizons as of late. I think Elijah at least THREE times this week told me over and over how delicious dinner was...wow!!) Also, because I have recently realized that perhaps I do like avocado... I'm going to buy my very first avocado this week and feed it to my baby. NEVER thought I would say or do that. Watch me!

And now that I've totally rambled about baby food, I offer an adorable Elijah food-ism. Tonight, he and I had a Mexican layer dip with tortilla chips for dinner (see above statement about the dairy diet slip...but just a leetle bit...::sigh:: I know I'll be cleaning up a bit more spit-up tomorrow for that...). As I was building Elijah's layers, he kept telling me what he wanted. He'd think through the list as he said it:

"I want, uh, cheese. Aaaaand....cream [sour cream]. And sauce [no salsa]. And, uh...uuuum...::thinking very hard and long::.... SELL-US! I want sell-us, too."

You mean lettuce? "Yeah! Sell-us!" Too cute to correct. He's putting "salad" and "lettuce" together. That just makes me smile and love his adorableness even more.

They did the Taaaaater Mash!

There's a first time for everything. And today, I don't mean my first time to make baby food. I'm a pretty seasoned pro when it comes to that, having done it for two children already and now on my third. But neither of my boys could eat sweet potatoes or squash without getting a face rash. My daughter seems to be able to eat anything I put in her mouth -- with hardly any reaction (much to our disappointment...isn't that part of the fun of baby food?).

No, today's firsts included having sweet potatoes in my house, peeling and cutting sweet potatoes, and cooking them up for baby food. Ok, one other first was using a hand-crank baby food mill rather than the electric one I used for the boys. I gotta say, even though it is more manual work, I think it makes a smoother, more consistent

baby food. I'll save my final decision on that after I do some corn and peas. If you have never made your own baby food or are just interested in the process, I photo-chronicled the Sweet Potato Mash just for you.

Really -- making your own is cheap and easy. Granted, more work than popping open a jar. But using fresh or even frozen foods to make your own provides more nutrients and more potent flavors for your baby for much less money. I think one thing that really gets me is that jarred baby food or even using canned food to make your own means you are using food that is packaged in a way that it can sit on the shelf for a couple years before it is consumed. Hmm. Not my first choice when considering my new baby's food intake. (Disclaimer: I do occasionally use jarred and canned, but it's not the norm. Sometimes you need the food a little faster.)

I used two sweet potatoes. Just wait until you see how much I got out of them!

1) Peel and chop the sweet potatoes. I was shocked at how hard it is to cut those things! Matt said what I was thinking: "Just make sure no fingers get cut off!"

2) I used Pampered Chef's large microcooker and a little water to steam the sweet potatoes in the microwave in 3 minute increments (about 12 minutes total until tender).

3) Pull the plunger of the food mill to the bottom and fill the cylinder to the top with some steamed sweet potato chunks. Lock the crank into place. Crank while putting gentle downward pressure on the center tube. Have fun watching the sweet potato come out the top like playdough spaghetti!

4) Scoop the mash into a bowl. Repeat until all sweet potato chunks have done the mash. Add a little butter and either water or breastmilk/formula for both flavor and consistency.

5) Divide into your choice of containers for consumption and freezing. I kept some out for use in the next couple days. Some I put in my awesome little reusable baby food containers for on-the-go use, and the rest went into covered ice trays. Once frozen, I'll remove the ice cube food to a labeled and dated ziploc bag. I got 2 fridge portions, 2 on-the-go's, and 1.5 ice trays (21 ice cubes)...out of just two sweet potatoes. If that's not saving money, I don't know what is! $2 vs approx $12! Glad she likes them. ;-) Now if I can just make sure her nose doesn't turn orange like Judah's did......