I'm sure none of you are surprised to know we have been making Hope's food 100% organic and from scratch - - liquids, and solids both. We don't even have purchased "emergency food" in the cupboard. So making food is almost a daily affair, where half gets used the same day, and the other half goes in the freezer to be rotated in as needed.We started solids at the beginning of her 5th month, and have added new tastes almost daily, eschewing any rules about waiting 4 days to spot an allergy, etc, egged on mostly by my parents' insistence that "in their day" anything on the table for themselves just went into the food mill and was served to us. While I cringe at the thought of Grandpa Bob's special American Chop Suey being ground up and served on a silver spoon, I do find some comfort and inspiration in the notion that beyond a few basic food precautions, the world is Hopester's oyster.
That said, let's see if we can recall what's gone down the golden gullet, in rough chronological order, mostly pureed/mashed:
- Baby Rice Cereal (no surprise there)
- Bananas
- Carrots (not a fan)
- Apple Sauce
- Sweet Potato
- Yogurt, Part 1 (Nancy's plain yogurt - - too tangy, made a face)
- Carrots in baby rice cereal - a surprise hit! Rice cereal hereafter added to everything questionable
- Japanese Yam (too pasty - - came out like poi)
- Peas / Peas-in-rice-cereal
- Peas in ricotta cheese
- Butternut Squash
- Grapes
- Fresh mozzarella (just a smidge - miam miam!)
- Butternut Squash with basil and a hint of lime (muy popular)
- Guacamole of Avocado, Peas, and finely diced tomato (+ requisite spice but no heat - - loved it)
- Cauliflower and Broccoli with cheese sauce - - cheese sauce experimentation begins
- Cauliflower and Broccoli with basil and balsamic (i thought it tasted kind of gross actually, but she liked it enough to finish it)
- Yellow Peach
- Mango
- Nectarine
- YoBaby Yogurt (yum!)
- Rainbow Carrots (still not a fan)
- Rainbow Carrots in cheese sauce (ugly brown mistake)
- Fish and Peas and Carrots with cheese sauce - tasty!
- Quinoa with yogurt (bleh)
- Quinoa with cheese sauce (better)
Note: quinoa feeding discontinued when experienced "on the other end" (hint: looked exactly like it did going in) - White Peach
- Cantaloupe
- Green Bean / Green Bean + Cheese Sauce --> both were HATED, refused.
- Cauliflower, Broccoli, Peas & Cheese with a splash of cheese sauce
- Peach and Banana - mmm....
- Corn and Sweet Potato
All kinds of spices have been used - - granulated garlic, cumin, dried and fresh herbs, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper (in moderation of course). For sweetening, I've been using Agave Nectar, which B and I also favor over sugar in our tea and coffee. It's a nice natural alternative to the granulated stuff. And for liquids, it's either mommy's milk or water, so we aren't introducing any additional sweets or sodium in that department.In the past week or so, we've been chunking up the texture a bit, which has led Hope to stick her finger in her mouth more frequently to "investigate." She's really curious about, well everything, so while I'm cooking her food (if she's awake) I'll let her hold whatever I'm about to chop up, and I talk to her about the color, texture, temperature, etc.
My next thought is to basically make paella, with chicken thighs, rice + saffron, some kind of veg and stewed tomato. I haven't really worked yet with land meats, so the texture might prove more challenging.
It's been a fun experience at the grocery store produce section, since the displays are so colorful and larger-than-life. The fine folks at New Seasons are really good sports about the occasional stray lime from Hope excitedly kicking her legs. I also pretend to let her help put our selections into the cart or a plastic bag, which she is always trying to wrestle away from me. Luckily, New Seasons staff are all about help at the checkout too, so I only have to worry about getting stuff into the cart, and not back out onto the conveyor belt too.
While most of the recipes are just spontaneously created from whatever is on hand and strikes my fancy, I do like this book for the pictures, and the cheese sauce - Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel. A final admission: some days, my breakfast and/or lunch *is* baby puree. But that just tells you a little something about how good Hope has it. Especially given my texture issues (I can't abide oatmeal or cottage cheese). Bon Appétit!
1 comment:
I'll vouch for the butternut squash, basil and lime! At least it smelled divine. (I would never steal Hope's food, but I must say that on this occasion, I was tempted to take a spoonful myself...)
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