Kason's into Baby Food!!!

I am so excited we are to the baby food stage!!  I love it!  I love the mess, the gagging, the smiles, the spoons.... and did I say the mess!  He is just so cute eating!!!

We have dappled into Rice Cereal, Oatmeal (his absolute favorite, like his mommy), Peas and Green Beans so far!

Rice Cereal!!!

Kenna feeding Kason oatmeal

mmmm... peas.  These took some getting used to.

I love real food!!!

LOL.. here's one where he's gagging.  I love this

Dad feeding me Green Beans

The other day, I read a startling article...  What is the #1 most eaten vegetable by 2 year olds (and probably older children)?........  French Fries!!!  Oh my gosh!!!  Why?  There are so many fabulous vegetables out there, why fried potatoes?  Look, I'm not saying that I don't like a thing of fries and a milk shake every now and then... I just don't want that to by my child's number one vegetable eaten.  His favorite "fry" will be baked sweet potato fries, I'm sure.  LOL.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE to make his baby food.  It's so easy, and INCREDIBLY inexpensive.  I bought a 2 dollar bag of peas the other day and it made the equivalent of 40-50 dollars of baby food.  For containers, I just bought the small Glad containers instead of the traditional baby food containers.  Most baby food containers at $10 for 4 small containers.  You can get 8 of the same size glad containers for $2.50.  Seems like an obvious choice to me.

Also, you can easily make your own baby food with a stove, pot of water and a blender or food processor.  This is what I did with the peas while I was waiting for a part to come in for my baby food maker.  Yes, I do have a baby food maker (thanks Donna and Holly)... but is a hand me down.  I love it!  But, I would not have gone and bought one.  They are quite pricey!!  Yes, they are "easier".... but the other way isn't hard either.

Here's what we do.  The doctor said to start with the greens and then work towards the yellow and orange veggies... We've done peas and green beans quite successfully.  This week we are going to try spinach so he can be strong like popeye; then we'll move to broccoli and zucchini.  I was going to get him some asparagus, but it was still kind of pricey.  I'm going to see if it goes on sell.

Thanks Christyn for the wonderful strainer as a wedding gift, I use it all the time.

Don't these veggies look yummy!!!  Obviously, I clean the vegetables thoroughly first, then I use my baeba food maker.  You just put it in the cup, add some water and turn the nob to steam... and forget it... literally!  It finishes in about 20-45 minutes depending on what veggie you are making.  Then you turn the nob to purree and pour it in a container.  I freeze mine and use them when needed.

Here's  my complete set up...  pretty simple, huh?

this is all you need.. the spinach is making in the maker while i took this.

Here's how I see it...  I could go trample thru Walmart buying baby food wanting to rip my eyeballs out because that store drives me crazy... or i could run to the local grocery store half a minute away... buy some nice veggies and spend about 30 minutes making 1-2 months worth of baby food.  I think I'm actually saving time AND money making it.  Seems like an obvious answer to me.

I can't wait to see his face when he tries the spinach!!!