…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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