Green beans and details

So I've had several people ask me for more specifics about my baby food making. There are so many good resources out there, and I think that making home-made baby food is becoming increasingly popular. I love making the food and it is so easy! Below I have listed exactly what I use and how I make the basic purees.

But first a video. Riley tried green beans for the first time a few nights ago. It was so funny, I think she was expecting something sweet like pears and so when she tasted these she got quite a shock!

On to baby food making. Here are the products that make this an easy process.

1. A steamer. There are many types of steamers and Williams Sonoma even has a combo steamer/blender just for making baby food. This is the steamer we got as a wedding gift and it works great!

2. A food processor. I use a small 4 cup processor and it is the perfect size for making Riley's food.

3. Ice cube trays with lids for freezing the food. Ice cube trays are great because each cube of food is approx. 1 ounce. So I know about how much food I feed Riley each time. The trays I have are bpa free and they have silicon bottoms which makes popping the frozen food out so easy.

4. Freezer storage containers. I use little plastic containers that are freezer-safe and have rubber around the seal to keep out freezer smells and such. I have seen these trays at The Container Store and at Crate and Barrel.

5. Erasable Food Storage Labels. I use these labels to label the storage containers in the freezer (what type of food and when it was made).

Most of these items came from my mom and dad for Christmas, they did a great job this stuff out. Mom thought of everything, including the very helpful labels!

**Just a little disclaimer, I totally used to think moms who made their own baby food were a little out there. However, now that it is "my child" and I know a little bit more about it, I think differently. :) Here are a few reasons I do what I do. 1. I know what goes in Riley's food (no preservatives, no additives, and I can choose organic.) 2. Its cheap. 3. Its easy (I can make enough food to last Riley all week, in the matter of about 35 minutes. 4. Riley is and will get a variety of foods. I haven't looked at the jarred baby food much but when I did, I saw basically the same 4-5 foods. There are so many interesting foods that I didn't realize babies could eat (mango, cantaloupe, kiwi, papaya, pumpkin, just to name a few) And 6. I have fun doing this for my sweet daughter!