17 Basic Purees

After several months of feeding my first baby, I feel like I've got a pretty good list of basic purees that helped introduce different foods and flavors.  In a desperate attempt to not get bored - because let's face it, there are a lot of meals when you have to feed this little person something but I certainly don't have the brainpower, time, or ingredients to do something fancy - I've created a go-to list of purees that are simple.  These basics will most likely be the keystones for many more meals.  Just appropriate prep the food by peeling (if necessary) and cutting into chunks.  Steam, puree by adding enough reserved cooking liquid as needed, and you're ready to go:

Mixed Meals

Last night I cooked up a big batch of baby food since we were running low.  My beloved Babycook is in New Jersey getting repaired.  I'm upset that it started beeping uncontrollably, but I've been moderately impressed by Beaba's customer service.  They are nice, though not entirely efficient or accurate.  As a result, I'm steaming in a big pot and using our Cuisinart to puree everything.  This clunky method has only made me fall more in love with the Babycook.  I prefer to make small batch meals that are easy to clean up, and it was much easier to make a variety of foods for Robert using the Babycook.

Since I was going to be cooking several big batches of food, I decided to make a good soup for Jon and myself with the remnants of Robert's baby food.  The first round was carrots and celery root, a new food for my little man.

Carrots & Celery Root

• Chop roughly
• Steam for 15 minutes
• Blend with cooking liquid for desire consistency

The carrots and celery root
are a hit!

As soon as I removed this first batch from my pot, I through in squash and the rest of the celery root for another flavor combination.  I blended the first batch while the second batch steamed.  I spooned out the carrot mixture, but didn't bother to clean out the Cuisinart before adding the squash and celery root mixture.  This was the basis for our soup, but I spooned out a 2 oz portion for Robert to try as well.

In a cast iron soup pot, I sautéed onions until they were soft, then added those to my Cuisinart.

Next, I changed out my cooking water and chopped apples for a separate puree for Robert.  Those steam for just 10 minutes.  During that time, I blended the onions with the rest of the Cuisinart mix and returned it to the soup pot.  I added some vegetable stock and set the soup to simmer.  I finished cleaning out the Cuisinart just in time for the apples to go in for their puree.  I spooned about the equivalent of one apple into the soup mixture and saved the rest for Robert.

As the soup simmered I added a little salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder to taste.  My sister gave us some of her delicious homemade bread, which I chopped into rough chunks and toasted for crunchy croutons to add.  The verdict?  A fine winter meal for the adults, and several days of food for my little man!

Winter Vegetable Soup

• Peeled and roughly chopped carrots, winter squash, and celery root
• Steamed for 15 minutes
• Chopped apple
• Steam the apple for 10 minutes
• Sautee onions
• Blend all veggies and apple together
• Add vegetable stock generously and set to simmer
• Add salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder
• Add croutons, if desired

Bringing Back Squash

The holidays have been downright crazy.  We've had parties, hosted our own party, and travelled to see Nana and Granddad.  With all of the excitement and Robert's burning desire to learn how to crawl, we've been eating a lot.  Those 2 oz food portion containers that I thought were going to keep my life well organized are next to useless because he'll eat 3-4 containers in one sitting.  I've graduated to storing food in regular Pyrex dishes and spooning out generous portions as needed.

One item that we've been focusing on is the dreaded squash.  Our first attempt did not go over well.  Most ended up in the trough in his bib.  Fortunately, the Farmhouse Delivery folks sent a delicious winter squash with our bushel, and I combined this with an organic leek.

• Squash and Leek Puree 
• Peel squash and roughly chop.
• Slice about 2-3 inches of the white portion of a leek and rinse thoroughly to remove dirt.
• Steam together for about 15 minutes
• Puree, adding enough cooking liquid to make into a soft mush

Robert didn't know what hit him.  He loved it and kept opening his mouth for more.  I paired it with a simple spinach and potato puree and sole - some of his favorites - to keep the meal colorful and tasty.  

First Foods

I really wanted to be one of those moms who exclusively breastfed until my baby was six months old.  Robert had other plans.  Starting around four months, he watched us eat attentively, mimicking our chewing faces, and looking longingly at most any foodstuff.

I resisted, and my husband supported me because he wanted to be around when Robert took his first solid food bites.

Then one day I was eating a banana with one hand and holding my little man in the other.  He managed to reach out, grab a handful of banana, and make contact with his mouth.  He seemed pretty pleased with himself, and so the solid food adventure began.

I read the amazing Bringing Up Bebe while pregnant, and really liked the idea of introducing food in a more French way.  (Disclaimer - I minored in French in college and have spent not an insignificant amount of time exploring different regions of the country.)  I am envious of the cafe culture, long lunches, and obsession-bordering-on-worship of high quality, very tasty food.  And, honestly, the obesity statistics in the US are downright scary.

I armed myself with a Beaba Babycook Pro and not much else.  After the banana incident, I pulled it out of the pantry, read enough of the manual to realize that I needed to run a few steam cycles before using it to prepare food, and decided on green beans and squash as our two starter foods, mainly because I had some local produce on hand from Farmhouse Delivery.  It seemed like fresh and locally sourced food was a good idea.

Green Beans

• Wash and place in basket, steam at level 2
• Blend with a small amount of cooking liquid.  I didn't use much to keep some texture to the beans. 

Squash

• Wash, peel, and roughly chop before placing in basket.  Steam at level 3.
• Blend with a small amount of breast milk until creamy

I wanted to explore different colors and textures, which turned out to be a good idea.  Robert felt very strongly that mushy food wasn't for him.  He gobbled up the green beans, but turned his nose up at squash.  Poor kid - now I'm going to keep introducing squash until he accepts it.