Ok, sorry for the delay in posting. Sam has had his first double ear infection and possibly roseola. So, he actually as not been eating very well and I haven't tried many new foods. But, he is on the last day of antibiotics and is eating great once again.

One of the latest foods I have frozen is cooked lentils. I didn't use the baby food cooker to cook these because they need more than steaming obviously. I boiled water, added the lentils and a bay leaf, boiled until tender. Really not hard and I didn't measure anything. Just filled a pot with water and put about 1/2 # of dried lentils. These require no pre-soaking like black or pinto beans. Once the lentils have grown in size and you think they are pretty tender then I cut the heat down and just simmered while I prepared other food. (Make sure you remove the bay leaf before pureeing).
I froze ice cubes of the lentil puree (left it sort of chunky, so not actually pureed smooth). Sam has had them several times mixed with different foods or just plain. I mixed with cauliflower puree and also pumpkin. He was a big fan of both items.

I was driving home from work on Friday and on the side of the road some ladies were selling muscadine grapes. Since imported grapes are pretty much a no-no anymore due to the high levels of pesticides, I thought locally grown grapes might be a better choice. For those of you who aren't accustomed to eating muscadines, they are a little different than traditional grapes. They are large globe grapes and are very very sweet, with a taste sort of like concord grapes. The outside skin is pretty tough but definitely edible for people with a full set of teeth. For Sam, I quartered the grapes, removed the seeds and peeled off the skin. He ate them with his breakfast this morning and loved them!

Another thing I have started doing is pureeing up some of the foods we have been eating for dinner. One of the first things I pureed was chicken and dumplings. He really loved that, I mean who doesn't love homemade chicken and dumplings! Yes I know you are thinking, but there is milk in that!?! But I weighed the options and just decided to try and see what would happen and nothing happened. He ate it and the portion of milk that he actually received was probably negligible. It is not something he gets on a regular basis so I let him live a little ;)

Email me with any good recipes you have tried! juletay@aim.com