Lemon Chicken and Vegetables

(The above picture is from weelicious.com)

This recipe came from weelicious.com. This stuff is yummy, make a batch for you dinner as well!

Lemon Chicken and Vegetables (10 Baby/Toddler Servings)


1 Chicken Breast
1 Cup Broccoli Florets
1/2 Cup Yellow Squash, chopped
1Tsp Lemon Juice
1Tsp Vegit (I used a vegatized seasoning salt)

1. Cook the chicken breast in a steamer pot over boiling water for 4 minutes.

2. Add the broccoli and yellow squash and steam 4 more minutes or until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are fork tender.

3. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse.*

4. Cool and serve.

*It’s nice to keep this dish a little chunky if you’re serving it to a little one with a few teeth.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Drew is not a big fan of fruits or vegetables right now, so I am having a difficult time trying to find ways to prepare them so he will actually eat them. I figured I'd try some beef stew. I could cook several veggies & meat at one time with loads of flavor infused in them. No way he could resist that, right? Well, turns out he actually does eat his vegetables; just when they are loaded with flavor. I just made my normal slow cooker beef stew recipe (Stew meat, onions, celery, carrots, potatoes, garlic and a season packet for stews). I actually froze several servings for later too!

Baked Chicken & Cauliflower Dressed Up

Last week Drew tried something old & something new. Drew loves cauliflower, so for added flavor I boiled the cauliflower in chicken broth (low sodium) and than pureed it with a little bit of the left over broth & a bit of butter. I believe Drew likes it just as much, if not more than the plain cauliflower.

According to my Cooking for Baby book, they recommend starting Chicken between 9 and 11 months. Drew was about 8 1/2 decided to try it. We did so because he had been eating solids since 4 months and doing well on them. He also did well with the ground turkey. We took boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I used four, but I think I'll just do two next time), put them on an oiled cooking rack over a foil lined pan. We cooked them for about 24 minutes, flipping them half way through. We have a digital cooking thermometer that helps us cook chicken thoroughly. I highly recommend one. I pureed half of this and chopped the rest for finger foods. Drew is not fond of this in either form. I tried mixing it with sweet potatoes too, which helped a little. I might try white meat next time to see if he likes it better and I plan on making a pasta too.

Just when I think it can't be any easier...

I find this in the freezer section of my local grocery store...

It is organic, frozen winter quash with no added ingredients and already pureed. Just thought I'd share my latest fine.

More refined taste

On the gourmet menu this week: Green beans with mint & olive oil, white asparagus puree and sweet potatoes with a touch of cinnamon (Recipes from the cooking for baby book).

Drew loves sweet potatoes. We can pretty much mix anything he doesn't like with them so he will eat it. We decided to take it a step further and add a touch of cinnamon for some added flavor. Drew loves this.

Asparagus: When my husband was at the store this past week he was looking for regular green asparagus, but they only had white. So, we went ahead and made that. He doesn't seem to love them, but doesn't dislike them either. They have a pretty mild taste. We took a bunch of white asparagus and removed the woody ends. We than steamed them until tender (about 7-9 minutes) and rinsed them in cold water to stop the cooking. Finally, we pureed them in a food processor until smooth. The cookbook notes that if baby is reluctant to eat this, stir in apple or pear puree. Store in airtight container in fridge for up to three days or freeze for up to three months.

Green Beans with Mint & Olive Oil: Boil a half pound of fresh green beans until tender and bright green (about 7-9 minutes). Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Puree beans with 2 tbsp of water and 1 tbsp of fresh mint. After it is pureed, stir in 2 tbsp of olive oil (optional). Store in airtight container for up to three days (Note: I went ahead and froze some). I am not sure if it is because we used fresh green beans, and/or because they were boiled instead of steamed, but these pureed much better than the last batch. Drew also enjoys this much better than plain green beans.

Barnes, Lisa. Cooking for Baby. Gold Street Press, page 33.

So this week our new foods were cauliflower and peaches. Cauliflower may just be Drew's new favorite food for now. For the cauliflower, we just took a half a head of cauliflower and steamed it until tender (about 10 minutes). We than used the food processor and blended it with a little bit of formula. I just give it to Drew straight up, I haven't mixed it with any other foods yet.

As for peaches, I bought a frozen bag a peach slices. This way, I get two uses out of them. First, I can put a frozen peach in Drew's mesh feeder to help with his teething. Second, I can thaw out a slice or two at a time (about 50 seconds in defrost mode in the microwave) and chop them into pieces for Drew to eat as regular. The are a little difficult for him to pick up with his hand yet, so most the time I use a spoon to feed it to him or stir in the pieces with his oatmeal for breakfast. He was not a fan of the peaches at first; in fact, he gagged a little than spit up his first try. But now he really enjoys them.

(Drew is 7 1/2 months now)

Green Beans & Apricots

So this past week Drew has tried Green Beans & Apricots. First, the green beans. I was a little worried about the green beans because for the life of me I could not get them to "puree". The texture is hard to explain, not really chunky, but definitely not blended. Drew is not a fan of them either. Not sure if this is because of the taste or the texture. If I blend them with sweet potatoes he likes them a little better. I opted for the easy way out to make green beans. I bought a frozen steam bag (no salt added) and just popped in the microwave for a few minutes. Than, I blended them up in my food processor and added a little breast milk to help "puree" them a little better. I don't think it helped so I might skip this next time. I froze the left overs, they should be good for up to 3 months.

Now for the apricots. I bought a package of dried Turkish apricots from the produce section of my grocery store. I put them in a pot with a about a cup of water and brought them to a boil. I than boiled them for 10 minutes until they were tender. I blended them in my food processor, adding the left over water that they were blended in to help puree them. The apricots also have a strange texture. They never quit "pureed" but they did better than the green beans. They are very thick and sticky. I did freeze them, but they never got rock hard. They should be good in the freezer for up to three months. Again, Drew was not a huge fan of these, probably because of the texture. He likes them better when I mix it with his oatmeal.

A day in the life of Drew: Lunch

For lunch, we went out to eat. I took one 2 oz thawed cube of sweet potatoes and one 1 oz cube of thawed peas. We served the to Drew at the restaurant while they were still cooled (we took them there with a freezer pack to keep them cool). I basically mixed the two before serving it to him, which he seemed to enjoy. He ate probably 2 ounces total. He also had a 5 oz bottle(compared to the normal 6 oz). Between Breakfast and lunch he was nursed one time

Not so sweet potatoes

So we've been trying sweet potatoes over the past few days. At first, Drew did not like them, at all. After a few days he is indifferent to them. I doesn't have the bad reaction he does with apples, but doesn't have the same good reaction he has with bananas. He truly enjoys eating, so I think he just puts up with them. Like Olivia's try with sweet potatoes, we baked ours instead of steaming or boiling.

Two sweet potatoes, unpeeled
Prick with a fork several times
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes
Puree to desired thickness, adding water, breast milk or formula to thin them down


I actually used a mashed potato masher and mashed them by hand. This left them a little on the thick/chunky side. I thinned down the first few cubes that Drew ate and than started giving him the more chunky ones as the days went by making them more of a stage 2 food.

We're Like Peas and Carrots

Awww, reminds me of Forrest Gump!

DD and I made peas and carrots on Thursday. As always, I used organics, and the peas were frozen, and the carrots were fresh. Who wants to shell peas anyways! It was super easy with my steamer/blender (see below). All I did was steam, and blend. I did use the reserved cooking liquid to thin them down, and plan on using breastmilk or water to thin it further, if need be, when it's time for Olivia to eat them.

The most interesting thing about this time was the comparison I did. I had some "canned" baby food leftover from a game at my baby shower. Now I am not bashing prepared baby food. I am sure that is what I ate, and lots of other babies are perfectly fine with it. But when I made the peas and carrots this time, I dug out those jars and actually tasted them both. The difference is amazing. The taste is completly different and the color is sooooo much brighter with the fresh food.

I am using the Fresh Baby freezer trays. BPA free, and they come with lids. Sounds good to me. They have been easy to use. I just freeze things in them, and then transfer them to freezer bags later.

Oh yeah, and Olivia didn't try any of the food yet. I plan on introducing them in a couple more weeks. She is still on the cereal, and is only just starting to get more interested in it. Since the sweet potatoes were a big FAIL, I decided to wait a bit longer for other "food".

Sweet Potatoes!

Hi guys! I'm happy to join Sabrina on this blog, and hope everyone enjoys our adventures. I have been excited about making baby food since I was pregnant. I have a weird obsession if you will, about knowing exactly what goes into my children's bodies, and I thought, what better way to start out then by making healthy, organic baby food!

We did start with rice cereal, a few days before Olivia's 5 month "birthday". I wanted to EBF for 6 months, but she got a late diagnosis of reflux, and the doctor thought the cereal may help. She was pretty gung ho about it the first day, and really hasn't been too enthused ever since. We use Earth's Best Organic.

This summer, I planted a garden, as I have for the past 4 years that we have owned enough land to do so. Honestly, this year was awful. Um, what did I think, that at 9 months pregnant, I would be out there in the TN heat, weeding a garden? Not only that, but I really didn't think about the timing. My cutely pregnant, second trimester self got out there in the spring, planting away all these veggies I could make into baby food. Didn't think about the fact that you can only freeze it for so long, and baby Olivia wouldn't be eating baby food until at least 2009, so what was I to do with all these baby friendly veggies?

Let them die....or become overrun with weeds! What do you expect, I was huge, and it was over 100 degrees in July! The only one salvaged was the sweet potatoes, and since you can keep them in a cool dry place for a long time, they were ready for me when I decided to embark upon my first adventure in baby food making. There was something oddly satisfying about knowing that the first veggie my daughter ate came right from our own land! I knew it was organic, and I knew it would be great for her.

I didn't know how easy it would be to make though! And I didn't know that she would hate it....

So I tried...for three days in a row. Still no go. Oh well. I have plenty in the freezer to try again later! She will like them....!

Sweet Potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes
liquid of your choosing- breastmilk, formula, or water

Pierce the skin of the potatoes, and bake on 350 for about 45 minutes, or until a fork inserted into the potato goes in easily.

Remove and let cool.

Cut potatoes in half and scoop out the "meat" with a spoon. Puree using food processor or blender with desired amount of liquid until you reach desired consistency.

Fill ice cube trays with food and freeze. Remove from tray and store in freezer bag, removing cubes as you need them.

Recommended freezer life is 3 months.

Pureed Sweet Peas

This was Drew's first vegetable (He was 5 1/2 months old). So easy to make, and he actually liked right away. And for those that are unsure (like I was), sweet peas and green peas are the same thing.


Recipe: 2 cups of frozen peas (you can use fresh if you can find them). Steam until bright green and tender (about 5-7 minutes for fresh or hard frozen and 3 minutes for thawed frozen). Puree peas in a food processor or blender until smooth. Add water, breast-milk or formula to thin puree to your desired consistency. I made mine a little on the thicker side. That way, when I thaw it out I can add warm water or breast milk. This warms it up a bit and thins it out at the same time.

I scooped up the puree into an ice tray, put in freezer until frozen, than took them out of the tray and put it in a zip lock bag. This makes it easier to thaw out one serving at a time. These keep in the freezer for up to three months.

Next veggie: Avocado