Easier Homemade Baby Food

Ok. With the 2nd baby I was all ready to feed him store bought baby food...until...he started reacting to stuff. Long story short (he's fine) I'm serving him up some good homemade mush inspired by a batch of pureed yams my mom (thanks mom) gave us.

So. There are LOTS of recipe books, blogs, newsletters, advice and tips about making and storing baby food. This works well for me:

• boil up [whatever food you're making]
• emersion blender (the hardest working small appliance in my kitchen) w/ cooking water to desired consistency
• pour it all into a parchment paper lined baking pan
• freeze until almost frozen
• take out of freezer, pop onto cutting board, cut up like brownies
• toss back into original freezer bag, if possible (saves labeling & using a zip lock bag), or toss into a zip lock freezer bag
• Please refer to your own trusted sources for best used by date, cooking methods, etc...

I like this because it's fast, easy and I found that not everything freezes well, or to rock hard consistency, in ice cube trays (apricots, prunes, etc...). If more cooking water is added to the blend then the mush is easier to pop out of out of ice cube tray once frozen...but pouring it into a pan (for me) is way easier.

You can use this method for blending up & freezing fruit for smoothies, etc. 

P.S. Another freezer storage tip...pour your soups & other "freezables" that start out soft (chili, pulled pork, etc) into zip lock freezer bags and freeze flat...then store upright like books in a bookshelf - save so much space and thaws quickly. 

Bon appetite!