Serves: 1-2  Prep time: 2 minutes  Cook time: 0 minutes

Make sure you banana is ripe. Peel it and break to desired length.  Grab a fork and begin to mash it.

For the new to food crew (i.e. 5-6 months) mash this up very very well.  You can blend with formula or breast milk, combine it with rice cereal, or just serve it up plain.

Beginning at around 7 months you can add some texture to the bananas by stirring it in with some smooth yogurt or cottage cheese.  Most babies really enjoy the taste of both of these and will delight in being able to stick their hands in and play with their food (very important for baby’s development!)  

Around 9 months begin adding in bigger chunks of soft banana for your baby to pick up and chew on.  This is when babies begin to master their ability to grasp food between their thumbs and forefinger.  Be sure to give them lots of opportunity to get messy and play with their food.  Put the food directly onto their high chair tray in small batches.

By 10 – 11 months self feeding will be in full swing.  If you can actually get your child to let you feed them, well – you’ll be having much more luck than I ever did!  Cheerios are a wonderful addition to this recipe to make it a substantial breakfast for your little one and will satisfy the desire to self feed.

Thank goodness for bananas!

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• Feed my baby!
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…your pumpkins first meal after rice cereal!  Yea!  We’ve hit the big time.  They’ll be off to college before you know it.  They’ll graduate, move out, shack up with some yoga instructor and start ignoring your texts.  And then you’ll be a Grandma in no time…ok wait, back it up…let’s at least get their first meal into them before they sprout some teeth.

Ok, first things first.  You need some supplies.  I recommend a steamer, a potato ricer or mouli, a food processor, and some ice cube trays.  You can pretty much make any baby food you need with that gear.  The ricer or mouli is only to make potato and sweet potato with (they tend to get gummy if you run them through a food processor) so you can skip those if you’re low on funds.  Ok, fire up that steamer because here we go…

We’ll be making potatoes first.  Why?  Because potatoes are nice and mild and a great way to begin the process of introducing the vast world of flavors and textures to your child.  Plus you make a big batch, freeze them, and store them in plastic freezer bags and then combine them with other less baby appealing veggies (ie broccoli) they’re more likely to adjust to the stronger tastes.  So smart huh?

4 large russet baking potatoes cleaned, peeled, and chopped

Liquid (you can choose to use breast milk, formula, or the steaming water.  You’ll need enough liquid to make the potatoes smooth and almost runny, like thinned yogurt.)

Place chopped potato in the bowl of your steamer and cook for 15-20 minutes, until they are very soft.  Remove the potatoes place them into a ricer or a mouli (you could even just press them through a colander if need be).  Strain the potatoes into a bowl and combine with enough liquid to make a thin and smooth puree.  Serve as is or combined with rice cereal.

You can save some in the fridge for the next few days and spoon the rest into clean and sterilized ice cube trays to freeze for future use.

You can use this recipe to make a number of vegetables including carrots, parsnips, butternut squash, sweet potato (avoid the food processor), rutabaga, and zucchini.  Just clean, peel and steam as above, and puree in the food processor until smooth.  Voila!

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Prep Time:  5 minutes   Cook time:  20 minutes

Makes about 1 ice cube tray worth of extra for freezing

1 head of cauliflower florets

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

4 plum tomatoes diced and seeded

1/2 T unsalted butter

Steam cauliflower until soft, 15-20 minutes, so it’s extra soft for babies.  While you are waiting for you cauliflower melt butter in a small sauce pan.  Add tomatoes and cook over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes.  Lower the heat and add in cheese and allow to melt, stirring often.

Once the cheese and tomato mixture is well melted and combined pour over cauliflower and mix well.  Transfer to a food processor and and puree to desired consistency.  Freeze the leftovers in a sterilized ice cube tray to keep for future use.

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Serves: 1   Prep Time: 5 minutes  Cook time: 8 minutes

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup baby spinach

1 t unsalted butter

1 T grated Parmesan cheese

In a small sauce pan heat butter over medium heat.  Once butter has melted add in your spinach and allow to wilt while stirring occasionally.  Once your spinach has wilted (about 2-3 minutes) pour in your egg yolks and cook until yolk is cooked completely through.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Remove omelete from the pan and allow to cool on a cutting board.  Once the omelette has cooled, chop to desired consistency.  You can also add more cheese.  Serve up for you baby to enjoy!

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• Feed my baby!

Yes, I made it for each of my kids.

No, I didn’t stick to it each and everytime…more on how I thought I practically killed Keegan later (I was a super sensitive first time mother!)

But it is a wonderful option!  I highly recommend it.  And don’t be afraid, we’ll do this together.

Keegan was not a huge eater and would only eat maybe one jar of food at a meal.  Brady and Cooper on the other hand could easily knock back at least 3 jars each at a sitting and were costing me a fortune.  Making your own baby food is easy, fun, healthy and super economical, and who couldn’t stand to save a buck these days?  I will begin posting recipes soon but many of you have asked about what to feed your child and when.  Now let me state in big bold letters…I AM NOT A DOCTOR.  But I will pass along information that I researched and what worked for me, but by all means talk to your pediatrician as well.

First the Don’ts…Don’t feed a child under one year…

Honey

Peanut Butter

Strawberries (though I accidentally gave Cooper strawberries at about 8 months and he’s totally fine)

egg whites

fish (this is a personal call – my doctor said to wait until one year)

Also, don’t reheat food more than once, don’t save half eaten food (due to possible bacteria growth), don’t add salt or sugar to young babies food, and don’t offer your baby food or a bottle that you have not tested the temperature of.

The Do’s

Start slowly with just a few teaspoons and one food at a time

Offer each new food for 3-5 days before moving onto the next offering

Keep track of what new foods you’ve tried

Begin with cereals followed by vegetables, then fruits, then meats

Offer a wide variety to expose your little one to the rainbow of foods to enjoy for years to come

I’m going to start by giving you a rundown of the order I gave my kids their food in.  I stopped making Keegan’s food around 7 months (See Coop’s Culinary Adventure for the full story on that fiasco) but the other boys I followed through with up to the year mark.  I’m going to list the order in which I introduced their new foods and once they had it I was able to make them in large quantities and freeze them and offer them in combinations.  Recipes to be posted in the next few days under Homemade Baby Food.

Keegan Iain Fitzpatrick (now 4)

5 months

Rice cereal

potato

zucchini

butternut squash

carrot

6 months

banana

apple

honeydew melon (hated it, he spit it at me)

peach

pear

sweet potato

oatmeal

cottage cheese

7 months

turkey

chicken

avocado

Notice abrupt stop due to avocado incident…

Brady Jackson Fitzpatrick (now 3)

Oddly enough, being that he was a big bruiser of a baby, he had no interest in eating at 5 months…none!  I tried again at 6 months and he was a bit more receptive.

6 months

rice cereal

potato

butternut squash

carrots

cottage cheese

7 months

zucchini & sweet potato (clearly I was feeling daring being that he was my 2nd and I doubled up on 2 new foods at once…I’m so crazy!)

peas

cauliflower

broccoli & potato

mango

banana

honeydew melon (oddly he spit it at me too)

apple

8 months

pear

avocado (without incident I might add)

papaya

multi-grain cereal

turkey

leeks

chicken

rutabaga

9 months

spinach

cheese

yogurt

tomato

egg yolk

10 months

kidney beans

ground beef

You’ll notice that I stop here with Brady, not because I stopped making him food, but because he had the nerve to start walking at 10 1/2 months and even after I kept pushing him down, kidding kidding (well sort of), he was a force to be reckoned with.  I was still cooking, just not writing.

Cooper Mason Fitzpatrick

(Now, and I can’t even believe this but, 11 months old tomorrow!)

5 months

rice cereal

potato

sweet potato

carrot

zucchini

peas

butternut squash

6 months

banana

apple

pear

mango

broccoli

rutabaga

chicken

cottage cheese

7 months

turkey

rice

lentils

cheese

watermelon (no spitting)

cantaloupe

cauliflower

strawberry

blueberry

tomato

8 months

pasta

mushrooms

ground beef

chicken stock

onion

9 months

beef stock

egg yolk

waffles

pancakes

green beans

edamame

oranges

10 months

oregano

rosemary

parsley

corn

kidney beans

black beans

white beans

crab

asparagus

steak

shrimp

scallop

hummus

Keep checking back and we’ll add more!

So there you have it…a bit of a road map to start feeding your infant.  All of these fruits and vegetables can be steamed and then pureed and frozen for easy and convenient use.  There are even machines out now that do it all for you.  I’ll start posting recipes this weekend to do without a machine.  Try and make it a fun experience for both of you.  Take some time and go to a farmers market or organic store together.  It can be a special thing you and your baby do together every week.  Remember, you are helping form the building blocks of your child’s future eating habits.  Enjoy the process and experiment…together.

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