Quick Tip of the Week

Make Oatmeal Fun!

The girls eat a lot of oatmeal. We have our "normal" flavors: apple and cinnamon (made with diced apples or applesauce) and raisin (a little brown sugar, a lot of raisins and pumpkin pie spice). Recently, though, I've started experimenting with different flavors mixed into our quick oats.

Frozen fruit has been a big hit--strawberries or blueberries thawed in the microwave, stirred in before cooking the oatmeal.

Almond butter and honey taste like wonderful cookies!

Diced peaches and vanilla yogurt (Stoneyfield Whole Milk yogurt is our favorite) make a wonderful oatmeal or put it in the fridge after cooking and have it as a pudding for a snack.

So if your kids (or you) like oatmeal, forget the instant and buy a large container of quick oats with all kinds of different mix-ins!

Fun Food

I'm trying to get more creative with what I feed the girls. There's just so many times I want to give them peas and potatoes or green beans and rice or apples with oatmeal. Next month, we're going to start adding meats, but I was thinking about adding some other proteins this month--namely egg yolks and hummus. (Does anyone have a good recipe for hummus?) Also, I was thinking about blending more fruits together for bolder flavors. In my attempt at getting creative, I've come up with a few baby versions of adult food. When it's all mashed together, I'm sure it won't be very visually appetizing, but hopefully it will taste good!

Baby Omelet (this one I picked up at Wholesomebabyfood.com) 
Egg Yolk
Mashed Veggies
Shredded Cheese
Milk or Formula

Whip together yolks and formula. Pour into a pan with a little olive oil. Add mashed veggies and scramble until no longer runny. Add a little cheese (the girls like Cheddar, but I'd like to try Swiss & Parmesan), and mix until melted.


Fried Rice
Egg Yolk
Rice Cereal
Milk or Formula
Peas and Carrots (both mashed or pureed)
Garlic Powder (optional)

Scramble egg yolk or mash a hard boiled egg. Prepare rice cereal with milk or formula. Mix egg, rice cereal and veggies together. Add a sprinkle of garlic powder if your child has had it before.


Fruit Salad
Blueberries
Cherries
Apples
Pears
Peach juice (as needed)

Puree or mash fruits and add peach juice for smoothing if necessary. My girls can't have melons, bananas or citrus, but if your baby/babies can, go ahead and substitute.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Sweet Potato
Apple Sauce
Raisins
Cinnamon

Boil sweet potato and raisins (probably 1/4 cup of raisins per potato) until soft. Puree and mix with apple sauce. Mix in a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Tools for Food

On June 26, I gave Lillie and Dani cereal for the first time. That did not go well. I tried again on July 8 with far more success. About a week later, per our pediatrician's recommendation, I started adding fruits and veggies to their cereal. We started with apples, then pears and carrots--all store-bought baby food. Then, I made sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas, peaches and green beans for them.

This is what I learned from making my own baby food: you must, must, must have the right tools. Otherwise it seems so simple until you're pulling pea skins out of your daughters' food bowls.

It doesn't take much. You need fresh or frozen food, a solid food processor, storage containers, a potato masher or fork, and a food mill or mesh strainer. Let me stress that last one. You need a food mill or mesh strainer. If you don't want your hand to fall off from pushing food through small holds, get a food mill.

Though I've only been making food for the girls for about two weeks, I've already decided what tools I need to make this all go much smoother.

Some Good Reading
My sister-in-law Pam pointed me to a wonderful website called Wholesome Baby Food. It has some great recipes, tips and menu plans. I'm of lover of most things Internet, so I always have to recommend a website.

I also must recommend two wonderful books. First, Great Expectations: Best Food for Your Baby & Toddler. It has wonderful tips on when and how to start your baby on solids. It gives nutritional information, recipes, menu plans and storage information. It also will take your child through her first five years. I've read half of it and love it already! Second, Blender Baby Foods which has tons of recipes for children ages 4 months to whenever. It's broken up by age, and it gave me some great ideas on how to combine fruits and vegetables once the girls start on their second stage of solids.

Mash and Puree
Next up, a good food processor. I'm still working on finding this, but if my food mill works well, then I'll survive with the mediocre food processor I have now. There are some great processors made just for baby food, but I'm not sure they're really worth the extra cost. While browsing at Target, I did find two that meet the standards I'm looking for.

The Kitchen Aid 7-Cup Processor is small, powerful, and under $100. It doesn't have a gazillion settings like my current food processor. (Do I really need 1-12 speeds for baby puree?) It's got a good sharp blade and a wide opening to add food or liquid. I don't know how loud it is, but it's got to be quieter than my current processor which is much like listening to a jet engine in my kitchen.

For foods with skins and stringy pieces (e.g. sweet potatoes, peas, green beans), you will also need a fine mesh strainer or a food mill. As I said before, I recommend a food mill. I bought a fine mesh strainer for the low, low price of $5, and I would've paid someone twice that to push a cup of green beans through it just to get rid of the skin. Ugh. My food mill is arriving today, and I'm already excited about using it! I went with the RSVP International Veg-3 Rotary Mill. It comes with three steel discs (a lot of baby food mills are plastic) and a long handle. 

For soft foods like potatoes, avocados, bananas and most melons, you'll simply need a potato masher or a fork--depending on your batch size. 


Store Away
As soon as the girls have tried a food and prove to have no allergies, I will be making things in bulk. And when making in bulk, you must have a good storage system. Ice cube trays are a great way to go. (Look for ones that have a lid to keep out freezer smells.) They're about one ounce in size, inexpensive, and freeze baby food in nice convenient cubes. Once the food is frozen, you can transfer it to freezer storage bags. Now, you can go straight from freezer to warmer or microwave and the meal is ready to go. I decided to go a step beyond ice cube trays. Mostly because I hate plastic freezer bags in my freezer. I went with the 2 oz Baby Cubes from Juvenile Solutions. For smaller batches that I plan to serve right away, I just use the smallest storage containers I have. My mom was nice enough to buy me a great set from Rubbermaid with snap locking lids.

The Food

You can't make baby food without the food. Great first foods include peas, carrots*, green beans, peaches, pears, apples, sweet potatoes, bananas and squash. By all means, if you want to buy everything fresh, go right ahead, but I've got two babies to worry about and prepping, cooking, mashing, pureeing and storing all fresh is not exactly my cup of tea, so I choose which to buy fresh and which to buy frozen.

Green beans, squash (especially butternut), peas, and peaches are perfect frozen. There's not cutting, snapping or peeling necessary. Plus, peas are at they're freshest when they're frozen, and butternut squash comes already pureed if you buy the frozen box instead of the bag!  Just make sure to read the ingredients. Baby food has the fruit or veggie, water, and sometimes absorbic acid. Your frozen foods should read the same. So far, I've only run into a problem with peas--most of the frozen ones had added salt.  Avoid canned because of the extra preservatives. I would only but canned pumpkin since I'm in no mood to seed and roast a pumpkin!

So far, I'm really enjoying giving the girls new foods everyday. They haven't had much that hasn't been mixed into their rice cereal yet because I'm mostly looking for allergic reactions right now, but soon I'll be giving them tiny meals in the morning and evening. 

The only difficult part thus far is keeping one occupied while I give the other a few spoonfuls. My girls are definite chow hounds, and they can't stand waiting while the other one gets to munch on the yummy stuff!



*You should use store-bought carrots. The American Pediatrics Association advises against homemade carrots, beets, turnips, spinach and collards due to high levels of nitrates.

Rice on a Spoon on a Chin on a Bib

At their four month checkup, Dr. Triggs gave Lillie and Dani the go ahead to try solid foods. Last Saturday, in an effort to "entertain" the girls until bed time, Tim and I decided that it was time to bust out the rice cereal and try it.

Lillie wasn't really having it. She was already a little upset, so I didn't really push it. She definitely ended up with more on her chin than in her mouth. She did tilt her head way back to let some roll into her throat though.

Dani was more than ready to go. As soon as the spoon headed in her direction, she opened her mouth wide. Once the cereal was in though, there was more slurping than swallowing.

Sunday morning, I tried again. Both girls opened their mouths a little bit (after a demonstration from Mommy and a bowl of Kix), but still not much happening. I decided to do a little taste test to see if it was a flavor issue, but they both happily sucked on their pacifiers dipped in soupy cereal, so I just think they may not quite be ready.

We will try again in two weeks or so.

Once they get the hang of cereal for a couple of weeks, we'll move on to fruits and vegetables...of which I plan to do most of the preparing. That's a whole 'nother blog!

No matter what, it was a fun experience. It will definitely be easier once their new high chairs arrive, and when I'm a little more organized with the whole thing.

Bowls, spoons, cereal, oh my!

Lillie and Dani will be four months old on Monday. That means that in the next month or so, they will probably be starting on their first solid foods. That also means that I will be starting my research right about...now.

I already know that I'll be getting the Ikea ANTILOP high chair for when they're sitting up on their own, but I'm in search of--I bet you can guess--good bowls, spoons, and cereal for my growing twins.

I've already got my eye on a few things, and I'd love to know what other moms think, so throw your two cents my way.

First off, I know I'll need spoons. I want soft ones that are pretty shallow since the cereal will be mostly formula at first. I'd like to keep the handle long since I've got two grabby girls, and I personally would like to keep feeding time as neat as I possibly can. (Don't worry, I'm not delusional; I know it will be messy.)

The Nuk soft bite spoons seem like a good buy. I also like the Munchkin safety tip spoons. (I should admit that I pretty much like all things from Munchkin.) I also already have this cool dispenser spoon from Boon (thank you Rachael & Sean) that I'm dying to try out. If that works, then I'll buy a few and won't need nearly as many bowls.


On the food side, I'm leaning towards Happy Baby cereal. I've never been one way or the other on organic food, but I like that I can pronounce all the ingredients, they have probiotics and the price is right for us. Oh, and the fact that it comes in a canister instead of a box is a big bonus. I'm definitely not turning my nose up at Gerber, so I'll be trying their cereal out as well.

I have no idea what kind of bowls I'm supposed to get. Is there a special bowl for babies just starting out? I definitely like the idea of something with a suction cup bottom so that the girls (nor me) knock it over accidentally. I saw this snazzy little thing online, but I don't know if it's really worth buying or if a normal bowl will work just as well.

As I said, throw in your two cents or your dollar fifty. I always like to get feedback!