Saturday, June 9, 2012

Baby Food - Zucchini

Since Farrah is now eating solids, very well I might add, I decided it was time to get out my Baby Bullet and start making some baby food.  Now, I in no way intend to make all of the baby food Farrah will eat.  I simply want to make food for her when I can.  To my surprise, it was very easy.  I have made yellow squash and zucchini at this point.  I decided to share my zucchini making process to show just how simple it really is.

What do you need?  Not much really.
  • Something to prepare the fruit/vegetables in
  • A blender/food processor of some type.  I received a Baby Bullet as a shower gift, so that is what I use.  Any blender, food processor, stick blender, etc. would work fine.
  • Containers for storage if you plan on making more than just one serving
Ingredients: Fruit/vegetable of choice and water. I used Certified Naturally Grown zucchini from Jack-O-Lantern Farm (a local farmers market).  Zucchini is $1.50 per lb there.  These two zucchinis were not even a pound.  So I made 5 servings of baby food (at 3-4 TBSP each) for less than $1.50!
Step 1:  Slice or chop the fruit/vegetable.  It is not necessary to remove the skins from most fruits/vegetables.  I did read that babies under 7 months have a difficult time digesting the skins, so I peeled my zucchini.
Step 2:  Cook the fruit/vegetable.  You can bake, boil, or steam.  I steamed the zucchini with a little water in the microwave for about 5 minutes.
Step 3: After the fruit/vegetable cools some, blend adding a little water as you go, until you reach your desired consistency.  I added about a tablespoon of water.  From the two zucchinis I used, I ended up with just over 1 cup of baby food.
Step 4: Place your baby food in storage containers.  Any baby food stored in the refrigerator needs to be used in 2 - 3 days.  You can freeze the baby food in ice-trays and store in a Ziploc bag for up to 30 days.
Of course the last and most important step is to see if your homemade baby food passes the test.  Farrah loves her squash and zucchini!
There you go.  It is really that simple!  I have found that yellow squash and zucchini contain so much water that you really do not have to add much, if any, while you are blending.  If you do need to add water, use the water you cooked the fruit/vegetable in since it contains nutrients pulled from the fruit/vegetable.  I plan on trying green beans next.  Check back to see how that goes!

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