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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Making baby food-Carrots!

Hubby and I, decided that lil A, now over 6 months, is ready to start 'real' food!
We had some carrots in the fridge so I started with those..I checked a couple on-line sites, go here(this great website is called www.wholesomebabyfood.com) to see some of those sites... and making baby food is really very simple to do.
Usually the directions go something like this...wash veggies, steam, puree, freeze and use!

PS here is a great reference from wholesomebabyfood that lists veggies and fruits that freeze and don't freeze well.

The trick with carrots, is to NOT use the water that you steam the carrots in, to thin out the baby food, make sure you use new water for that.

so, let's get started...

step by step...

1.Wash and chop up your carrots, I did about six large carrots.


2.Steam the carrots on the stove or microwave, till tender.3.Pour off the water that the carrots were cooked in, toss the steamed carrots and fresh water in blender, puree till smooth.

4. Pour smooth carrot puree into ice cube trays and freeze.
5.Final result...frozen carrot cubes in baggie...ready to enjoy :)
Our lil one started with half an carrot cube at a time, then use more as needed. I simply thaw or microwave desired amount and then serve cold or slightly warm.

'the proof is in the pudding'...well carrots...
here is our lil one enjoying herself

I'm linking this back to the Thrifty Home blog

12 comments:

susie said...

Hey Chantal--I made baby food too...so simple! There's a site called One Step Ahead that sells really cool baby food containers for the freezer that are super helpful for when you're on the go or to avoid freezer burn on the finished result. I also used a food mill a lot for smaller things...less mess than using the blender sometimes :) Have fun and we're looking forward to meeting little A soon!!!

jchaas said...

thanks Susie
we are really excited to see you guys again soon!
thanks for the site, I'll check it out...thanks for the comment and congrats again on the new pregnancy :)

Jenny said...

Hey I just arrived her from your link on The Thrifty Home! I just started making baby food too, it saves a lot of money and it is super easy! Nice blog!

jchaas said...

thanks for stopping by!
I'm excited to try some more unique baby food combos in the future...have you ever tried to mix your fruits and vegetables together?
have a great day :)

steph@tbsigma.org said...

I make all of my baby food, not just carrots. I have mixed baby foods, just cook each veggie/fruit separately, then blend together! I usually just make a batch of one food though, then pull an assortment of cubes so I can vary it to my liking. Maybe I'll try the variety next time!

matt and steph said...

Hello! So I am going to buy some fruit and veggies today to start making my own baby food! I am kind of nervous because I always seem to mess things up, but if it saves money, then I am all for it! I do have a question though- can I freeze ALL kinds of baby food that I make like bananas and avocados? Thanks for the inspiration and explanation!

jchaas said...

Hi all,
thanks for the comments, they are much appreciated :)
Here is a great link to find out what fruits and veggies freeze well, and what should be used fresh..just got here:
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/baby-food-freezing-chart.htm
ps.I will add this to the blog too

jchaas said...

From what I've seen, avocado's freeze ok, but will turn brown, so this is probably better used fresh.
Bananas will also discolor so it's also better used fresh, however you can mix it with other baby foods(fruits and veggies that freeze better) and freeze, that seems to work better. Hope this helps :)
Let me know how it turns out.

Sherry - Mommy Missionary said...

Okay - maybe all my three kids are going to show some sort of disfunction - but I've always used the water I steamed the veggies in. And now I want to know why I shouldn't have??? I figured the vitamins that steamed out would be in there so why not??? I really like The Super Baby Food Book - well worth the investment esp. if you are on baby #1. Way more info in there than just baby food - I learned a ton about healthy eating in there from recipes for whole grain waffles (you can freeze of course) to making my own fruit leather (roll ups sans corn syrup and pricey packaging). I'm pretty sure I still owe you a baby gift so let me know if I should just send you that instead of the Story book Bible I've been meaning to order! :)

jchaas said...

Hey Sherry,
as far as I've seen/read it's great to use the water you steam your veggies in for baby food, except for carrots. It has to do with nitrate(nitrate poisoning), which can lead to 'blue baby syndrome', but I have to add that this is merely a precaution and that the actual chances of a baby contracting this syndrome are less than 1%...but most of the baby sites mention it, so I thought I'd mention it too...
:)

vanzare apartamente said...

It's a good idea ... but I am worried about the level of the vitamins from this pudding

jchaas said...

in response to the last comment:
as far as I know, making your baby food retains the vitamins(similar to what is done with store bought baby food), since you steam the vegetables and in most(but not carrots) cases, you use the water from steaming to puree the vegetables.