Green Beans & Squash!

I thought it would be fun AND wholesome AND economical to make Taylor’s baby food from scratch.  My sister did it for her third child and wishes now that she did for all of them.  It turns out it is so easy and simple!  It also tastes like real food… so when it comes time for your baby to eat table foods, I think they will be more likely willing to eat their veggies because it will be a familiar taste to them. 

Plus, making your own baby food is super cheap too!

All you need is a few ice cube trays, a blender, large pot, strainer, and veggies or fruit!

I bought:

• 4 new ice cube trays $9.96

• Green Beans $1.43 (made 16 servings of baby food!)

• Yellow Squash $2.50 (made 32 servings)

Tonight, I made green beans and yellow squash. 

Just rinse and coarsely chop up the vegetables.

And toss them (separately) in a pot of boiling water.  (you can start blending the different foods together once your baby has tried them all and you know they are not allergic.)

Don’t add any seasonings or anything - Just plain old veggies!

The green beans needed to boil almost 1 hour.  The squash only took about 15 minutes.  Once the veggies are soft and mush-able, remove the pot from the heat and scoop out the veggies. 

Plop the veggies into the blender (A Magic Bullet or food processor will work too).

Reserve some of the cooking water from the pot to add to the blender as needed to get the consistency you want.  Be sure to use the cooking water because that is were a lot of the nutrients are from the boiled veggies.

Spoon the blended food into ice cube trays.

Cover with plastic wrap and freeze.

Once the cubes are frozen solid, dump them into freezer storage bags.  The cubes of food make the perfect serving size for new babies just starting out with food. 

To serve, just toss a cube into the microwave for a few seconds, stir, and enjoy!  If you want to thicken it up, add some rice cereal or baby oatmeal to the veggie cube.

Kid tested, mommy approved! :)

P.S. While I was bagging the cubes up, one fell on the floor and Romie ate it all up.  She loved it!  Ha!