Beans, Broccoli, and Peas… Oh My!

I am sorry if I am boring you with all the baby food recipe posts but I just have to document this time in my life.  It is such a fun time watching Taylor experience foods and making her foods from scratch.  It’s so rewarding!  Recently I had her start on some new foods like: legumes, dairy (yogurt, cottage cheese, and some cheeses), and even some spices.  So when I learned that it was time for her to have beans, I was excited for her to experience that because I am a total lover of all beans!   I got crazy and got a whole bag of beans, like the hard, raw beans - soaked them, boiled them, and puréed them.  That $0.89 bag of beans made a TON of baby food! 

In one day I made chick peas, black eyed peas, black beans, and broccoli!  That is over 100 cubes of baby food!

To make sure that Taylor is getting a balanced diet while trying out all these different beans, I give her a cube (or two) of beans and any previously eaten veggie baby food cube.  She is not crazy about them, but she is tolerating them well, and I know that there are so so good for her, PLUS she is developing her palate! 

{Baby Food Hummus!}

How delicious is that?!?

Just soak & boil chick peas until tender (1-2 hours)

(If you use a can of beans, just make sure they are low sodium and rinse well to get as much salt off of them)

Blend and add about 1 tablespoon of the cooking water at a time as needed. (they were very thick and hard to blend so I used a lot of cooking water)

For 8 month olds and up you can even spice up your chick peas with some seasonings to really mimic real hummus, such as zest of lemon, garlic, oregano!  (reference: Wholesome Baby Food)

Then, just store and freeze!

  

{Baby Food Broccoli}

How often do you see baby food jars of broccoli?  Like, never!  But, broccoli is totally fine for you baby to try, so why not??

Chop up a head or two of broccoli (you can use the stems and all).

Boil or steam, blend, freeze and store! 

{Baby Food Black Beans}

Prepare the same was as the chick peas above.

They don’t look the most appealing, but trust me, they are yummy! 

Where is your bib, child?!?

And now Taylor is experiencing the wonderful world of DAIRY!  Another one of my favorite food staples!  Instead of buying the 1.) over priced and 2.)  packed with sugar, Gerber Baby Yogurt, I picked up a tub of Yoplait plain yogurt.  It is naturally fat free and has no added sugar and it’s super cheap!  Yes, plain yogurt is a little tart, but babies don’t know any better, so Taylor gobbled it up without hesitation.  For a super special treat, I added pears to the yogurt and she (and I!) loved it!  I brought a tub of the yogurt to her school, so she now eats that with her 11 o’clock bottle.  It’s a definite upgrade from the boring rice cereal she had been eating! 

I think I have a pretty well rounded diet in place for this little girl, and she is loving everything so far! 

If you have any baby food recipes or ideas, let me know!  I’ll be happy to post them on your behalf, or link up to your blog if you have already published them. 

My hope is that I have at least encouraged one of you to make your own baby food, because like I said, it is so fun and rewarding!