Homemade Babyfood

Our ward just had an enrichment all about babies. We had classes on breastfeeding, scheduling and one on homemade baby food. I taught the baby food class and thought I would just pass along the information that I taught the ladies and the handout I made.

Homemade Baby Food

1^st Foods

Start with single pureed fruits and vegetables

Raw Foods	Buy Frozen, then thaw, then blend with a little liquid (formula, water or breast milk)	Buy Fresh, Steam or Boil, then Blend with a little liquid	Other
Banana Avocado Peaches (peel first) Nectarines Plums Strawberries Apricot Pears * Sometimes can be runny so mix in cereal when serving to baby * Wouldn’t recommend Citrus, Grapes or Melons	Frozen bagged veggies- peas, carrots, green beans *I have found my kids don’t like broccoli or corn and it doesn’t puree or digest well at first	Squash Sweet Potatoes/Yams Zucchini	Canned Pumpkin Applesauce (natural, unsweetened) * Note if you buy canned fruit make sure it is canned in it’s own juice, not in syrup.

2^nd Foods- These are much like the 1^st purees , but you can start mixing flavors and add some finger foods

Fruit Combinations	Vegetable Combinations
Strawberry and Banana Strawberry and Peach Banana and Applesauce Strawberry and Applesauce *Fruits are easy to mix and most fruits go well together	Peas and Carrots Bag of Mixed Veggies Squash and Sweet Potatoes

3rd Foods- They are almost ready for table food, so pretty much anything unprocessed

Some Examples to chop in blender

- Whole Wheat Spaghetti and some Sauce

- Broccoli and Chicken and Brown Rice

How- To Prepare and Store your Purees

Puree:
Frozen Veggies: Microwave or cook on stove until no longer frozen with a few tablespoons of water (doesn’t need to be hot). When veggies are cool put them in the blender until pureed
Fruits: Many of these need to be peeled first. For things like peaches and nectarines the easiest way to get the skin off is to blanch them (dip them in boiling water for 20 sec, then cold water) then peel the skin right off. Then you cut it into chunks, add a few tablespoons of water and puree as usual.
Fresh vegetables: Cut up the vegetable into 1 inch cubes then in a small pan boil an inch or two of water. Turn stove down to a 3 or 4, then add in your vegetables and steam then. Put the lid on, but do stir every minute or so. After about 5 minutes it should be soft enough to mush with a fork. Dump water and vegetable into blender and puree.
Storing:

Once your puree is made you are ready to freeze it for later use. I like to use an ice cube tray that has a slide on lid. Pour your puree into the ice cube trays and freeze until hard (4-6 hours?). When your puree is frozen you dump your ice cubes into a ziplock bag. Use a separate bag for each kind and be sure to write the flavor on the outside and the date. These can be frozen for 3 months or so.

Using:
When ready to use the puree- you just pull out the bag that has the flavor you want out of the freezer. Remove about 2 ice cubes (depends on how hungry your baby is). Then put them in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 30 seconds, until it is thawed. If your puree is too runny then add some rice cereal and it will thicken right up.

Baby teething sticks: Ingredients: 2/3 cup milk 4 Tbsp butter, melted & cooled 1 cup whole wheat flour, approx. 1 Tbsp brown sugar 1 cup plain un-toasted wheat germ

Directions : Beat together the milk, butter & sugar. Stir in the wheat germ and enough flour to make a dough. Knead until smooth & satiny for about 8 to 10 minutes. Pinch off balls of dough & roll them into sticks about 1 / 2 inches thick and 4 inches long (1.25 cm x 10 cm). Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350° F (175°C) for about 35 minutes or until browned and hard. Yield : 20 sticks