So, for those of you just starting out I am going to list the order (roughly) that I introduced all of the foods. It is really hard to decide what to try, what you think they can tolerate, etc. So through some trial and error I figured out what worked for him and what didn't. Here you go...

5 months:
rice cereal-he hated it, we switched to oatmeal (i used the whole grain, earth's best brand) and he really prefers that.

6-7 months: (in no particular order)
sweet potato
green peas-not his favorite, but we kept offering it and now he likes them
green beans
butternut squash
asparagus
bing cherry
apple
pear
parsnips-not his favorite alone, they are a little strong I guess, but the kid ate asparagus!!!
banana
blueberry
zucchini
carrots
white potato
brown rice
mango
broccoli
pumpkin (i have been buying the canned pumpkin, and you can freeze it in the ice cube trays for convenience.)
spinach
prune (lifesaver for constipated days)

8 months:
lentils
chicken (only tried it once so far)
garbanzo beans
quinoa
apricot

And many more things to try!!! Haven't even started with herbs or spices yet!

Well a definite advantage of living in Georgia is easy access to THE BEST peaches ever. My husband went and picked peaches for me the other day, only $13 for 1/2 a bushel, can't beat that! So far this summer I have made peach preserves (Sam will enjoy these when he is a little older), 3 peach cobblers, frozen peaches for baby food, frozen peaches for me and the hubs. I still have roughly 30-40 more peaches to cut up and freeze. Even though I think the peaches are the sweetest I have ever had Sam thinks they are a little sour (i think?). Usually I have to mix them with another fruit.
I am definitely guilty of buying some premade fruit babyfood. I make a lot like blueberries, cherries, bananas, peaches and organic apples (when I can find them). The blueberries, cherries, and peaches really need to be mixed with another fruit because they are sort of potent. Lets face it, it is impossible to try and do raspberries or blackberries, I am not going to remove all of those seeds. There is too much waste! I normally buy anything that I know I cannot make without a lot of waste. It is nice to have some jars of food on hand for the mixing. Since babyfood is only good for up to 3 months after it is frozen, that makes it difficult to harvest certain items (like peaches) and freeze them, they will have to be eaten by November. So, basically November-June we won't have access to any really good peaches. But we will have access to some really fabulous apples and citrus throughout those months to make up for it!

So, do the best you can with what you can make for your baby. Just remember, if you make it at home you know how fresh it is and you know exactly what is in it. Once you start making your food you will see how much water is in many of the prepared items and that is discouraging to me. I want him to have food, not a watered down version that came from who knows where. Also, I follow the http://static.foodnews.org/pdf/EWG-shoppers-guide.pdf you will find this helpful too when it comes time to decide what you should buy organic, and what may not matter as much.

Having a baby is hard work, especially if you are also a working mother. I wanted to make every single thing that he ate from scratch, but that is not feasible. I learned early on that you just can't beat yourself up over some things. You can't be perfect (no matter how hard you try). I breastfed, used cloth diapers (the old school tri-fold diapers), only organic body lotions and soaps, I restricted all of my products to be paraben free, etc etc etc. The list never ends, but I think if you are doing anything to go above the norm you are doing something good for your child. So, I make as much of the food as I have time for and keep a good supply of baby food at the house for those just in case, OMG, I turned my alarm off and woke up 45 mins late mornings.

Since Sam is 8 months old now he is starting to eat a little bit thicker textures and even a little chunky. There is a recipe in the baby food cookbook for "baby's stock" to be used in recipes like risotto and other heartier recipes. That being said, I got to thinking. When you steam veggies in the baby food cooker you have cooking liquid left over. Now, the food is not soaking in this liquid, it is just left over after the steam warms the food. However, this liquid is generally colored orange or green or blue, whatever you have been cooking so I am thinking that some of those precious water soluble vitamins are being lost. I started freezing this leftover liquid in the ice cube trays to put into my baby stock when I made it. Any of those water soluble vitamins that we lost during the original cooking will hopefully make it into the stock! Sometimes you won't have any leftover liquid to freeze because you will need it to thin down the food as you puree, like potatoes, or broccoli. Certain foods though like the zucchini, green beans, carrots, blueberries, are very watery and you will not need any liquid to help you puree. You can always use breast milk to thin down as well. I just didn't have a lot of milk to spare, so I didn't take any chances wasting it. Usually I would just stir in some of my milk after I warmed something up to thin it a little and cool it as well.
I wouldn't suggest using your milk if you plan on freezing the foods afterwards. Based on the latest research, freezing your breastmilk can lose some of the immunoprotective properties (please correct me if this has changed!). It would be just fine though if you were making only a 2 day supply and it would just be refrigerated. (Breastmilk is good for about 5 days once it is expressed/pumped). Happy cooking :)

Ok I am probably doing this out of order, but just now realized I didn't include this info! I had my first child, Samuel, last November. He was a breastfed baby from the start. I breastfed exclusively for 4.5 months then went back to work and could not pump enough so he started getting some formula. Probably around 6 months I got less and less milk and finally at 8 months I threw in the towel. He wouldn't nurse from me anymore anyways, I guess he got used to the fast flow of the bottle nipple and got fed up with mine. It was heartbreaking, I pumped every 2 hours religiously, even woke up in the middle of the night to pump and/or nurse him. I tried mother's milk tea, fenugreek, blessed thistle, eating oatmeal, drank lots of water......still no real improvement. I had a lot of difficulty in the beginning with a cracked nipple and then got mastitis twice, wondering if all of this affected how I was building up my milk supply. Oh well, you live, you learn and I hope to make it to 12 months next time around. So, now he gets the best formula on the market (in my opinion) and I am trying to make the best decisions with his solid foods that I can. Probably my favorite hobby other than eating, is cooking food from scratch. Do I cook every meal from scratch? No, but I really do enjoy cooking.

When he was 5 months old I tried some rice cereal, he did not really eat it. We sort of played with a few solid foods like the cereal, peas, and sweet potatoes but he did not want it at all. Then about 6 months he totally switched one day and started eating anything and everything you put in front of him. I wanted to wait until 6 months to start solids but you know you get a lot of pressure from family and friends, so I caved at 5 months and tried the food. But Sam made the decision for himself that he wasn't ready. But now he eats everything! So, that is pretty much the background :)

Well the parents were here to visit this past week so I had a lot of time to cook and stock up on some baby food since I had free babysitters! My parents grow several vegetables in their garden each year including green beans. We cooked those and pureed, one of sam's favorites. I don't worry about straining, there are a few strings in there but he has always eaten them with no problems. Also, bought some organic fresh spinach, frozen organic peas, frozen organic brocooli, fresh ranier cherries, blueberries, zucchini, and peaches from the farmers market. I pureed the broccoli up by itself and froze in reusable baby jars, and when it is thawed I can mix with whatever. For example, I mixed broccoli and white potato together for dinner on Monday night. I mixed the fresh steamed spinach and pureed peas together and froze. I consider this a veggie and a starch. Fresh blueberries (steamed) and applesauce has also been a big hit. Peaches pureed and thawed, mixed with fresh pureed banana is also a favorite.
So you can see I have several things cooked. Right now the inventory in the freezer is pretty diverse, and you can mix and match for several different combinations:
sweet potato cubes
zucchini cubes
quinoa cubes
white potato cubes
bing cherry cubes
ranier cherry cubes
green bean cubes
carrot jars
broccoli jars
spinach & pea jars
peach jars


I think next on the agenda I am going to harvest some of the basil I am growing and freeze some to add to the foods when I am thawing. He hasn't had any basil yet so crossing my fingers that there is not an allergy! Also, he hasn't had cauliflower, so I'm thinking some cauliflower mash might be yummy! Would love to get a hold of some silver queen corn at the farmer's market this weekend! Open to suggestions for anything new! Happy cooking :)

Ok, so to get started you have to obtain a few supplies. You need a food processor or blender. I purchased (and fell in love with) the beaba cook babyfood maker. It is a 4 in 1 appliance that will cook, warm, defrost, and puree your food. If you are busy like me it is so great to use this to multitask. No extra dishes or pots and pans to wash! It is a little pricey, $150 from williams and sonoma, but totally worth it. I actually saved up W&S gift cards and that is how I purchased mine. I also got a baby food cookbook from W&S to get a few ideas of how to start out. Then I headed to Kroger for some supplies. W&S sells containers to freeze your finished product in, but they cost $20 dollars, which I thought was a bit pricey and now that I have actually been using just a regular ice tray and/or reusing glass baby food jars, I prefer this method.

The good thing about using the ice cube trays is that you can mix/match different foods when you choose to defrost them for your baby's meal. For instance, I may choose a cube of frozen asparagus and a cube of frozen carrots and defrost them together. But the next night I may have carrots mixed with quinoa, so it helps me to have variety. I very rarely use the microwave to defrost/cook any of my child's foods. I normally use the baby food cooker for everything. It takes a little longer though, about 15 mins, but it is done by steam and just seems healthier to me. I take this time to play with my baby and have some floor time, or he will sit in his jumperoo in the kitchen and watch me cook dinner for me and my husband. So if you are considering making your own food, I would think about the baby food cooker. If it is too pricey, a food processor will work just fine :) Happy cooking!

Ok. I am finally going to start a blog. A friend of mine recommended I start one discussing my homemade baby food! (Thanks Kelly) It is so easy, I really can't understand why others don't make their own food. You know exactly what is in it, and you can be creative with the combinations. I know you have been to the grocery store and looked on the shelves, the choices for baby food are very limited. Now there are organic baby foods that have some more creative options, and don't get me wrong, I use these sometimes. I am a working mother and simply cannot make every meal from scratch, but I try my best! So enjoy my baby food ideas and I am open to more suggestions.