I’ve started making more food for David–and he totally loves it! David is almost ten years old {gasp!} but since he has CdLS he eats only blended foods. He had a g-tube the first year of his life, and we are so thankful he eats by mouth now.
I don’t make all of David’s meals. I still supplement with store bought baby food and applesauce. He also loves soy yogurt and soy pudding. It’s easy to see that he prefers homemade. It has so much more flavor!
This week, one of the things I prepared was oatmeal with fresh berries and cinnamon. He gobbled it up!
I warmed the oats in the microwave with soy mild {David is lactose intolerant}.
Once the oats were soft I put them in the blender with a bit more soy milk, strawberries, raspberries, grapes, a bit of vanilla, a dash of salt and cinnamon. Then I blended it until it was smooth.
I divided the oatmeal with berries into six small containers and kept them in the fridge for the week. I warmed it in the microwave for 30 seconds and served it slightly warm. I tried this dish and it tasted like berry cobbler. Delicious!
Do you make your own baby food? I’d love to hear ideas for more baby {or blended} food dishes.
Hi Lisa. I made 90 per cent of my son’s food. One of his and my favourites was half a cup of baked beans (i used tinned just the ones in tomato sauce) and half a cup of mashed pumpkin. Puree together. We also added cheese but obviously not so good for David. I remember the recipe said it wasn’t suitable for freezing. He also loved most risottos. Chicken and mushroon was his favouite. Happy cooking.
YUMMY oatmeal recipe! My one-year old will like it, I hope. And yes to blending big people foods! I blended up market pantry beef ravioli this week and she LOVED making a mess of herself and got plenty of it down the hatch, too. And I thought I’d be 100% making the food, but a mix has worked well for us between organic jarred stuff, stuff we make (prunes, berries, sweet potatoes, squash – we haven’t been that creative but I’m inspired after this) and regular foods. Once I get beyond my extreme fear of her choking, mealtime is super fun! 🙂
oops, foods, of course
@Lisa: You’re welcome (and the good thing is that these food appeal to others, too (unblenderized!)
Bon appétit from Switzerland
a
One of the moms of a kid I taught said she just got so tired of giving her baby food that she threw pizza in the blender with some water, fed it to her girl, and never looked back! She said she just put everything in the blender – whatever they were having for dinner! 🙂
Certainly homemade applesauce for sure, and for us all!!!
– honey-roast parsnips, blended with some water or chicken stock
– roast potatoes, carrots and onions, idem (our kids still eat this soup)
– mashed potatoes (use vegetable stock and olive oil instead of butter/milk) with a bit of garlic
– add pureed broccoli/cauliflower/carrots/peas/kohlrabi to mashed potatoes
– any of the veg purees with a bit of smoked pureed trout (check for allergies first!And mind the bones)
– pureed green peas with a bit of mint, sugar and lemon
– pureed red or brown lentils with the tiniest hint of curry
– pureed risotto (http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/risotto/basic-risotto-recipe, just lose the parmesan and check beforehand for celery allergies)
– dairy-free polenta (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/06/polenta-recipes_n_1186914.html) with a bit of gravy
Pudding
– watermelon slush
– unsweetened chestnut purée (don’t puree your own, use tinned) with vanilla and soy cream, YUM and loads of goodness (see http://www.centerforagroforestry.org/pubs/whychestnuts.pdf)
– semolina pudding (not for freezing) with pureed raspberries
– and my childhood favourite: http://www.thegermankitchen.com/index.php/recipes/2009/05/rote-grutze-german-red-fruit-pudding-recipe-red-grits/ – but take care to heat berries and then use only the juices (put berry mush from receipe in a muslin-lined colander and let the juices drip down)
– organic apple juice, boiled up with a lemon zest, some sugar and a stick of cinnamon, thickened with agar-agar and served with soy cream once cool
Snacks (cannot be made in advance or stored)
– mashed avocado with a little lime and olive oil
– mashed banana with cinnamon
Oh, and freeze the freezables (nt the avocado) in ice cube trays, transferring to ziplocs when frozen for easy storage and portion control
hungrily
a
This is awesome!!!!! xxoo
I made baby food for our last child. Wholesome baby food http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/ is a great site with recipes and suggestions for combination of foods.
I make a mix of chicken breast, sweet potatoes and apples (pink lady, red delicious or similar). I use chicken stock as the liquid and I cook them in an electric pressure cooker or you could use a slow cooker. I let it cool and then I blend in a food processor. After it’s blended, it’s thick enough for me to use a 1 Tbs cookie scoop to scoop onto wax paper lined cookie trays and freeze. Once frozen, I transfer into zippered bags for easy access.
That sounds like the oatmeal that I have been feeding my children for the past 8 yrs! – (minus the milk). We are trying to adopt the GAPS diet (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) for our almost 3yr old, so with our 8 month old he is getting lots of homemade chicken bone broth mixed in with his meals. There are a few free kindle books for making baby food, I downloaded one yesterday to our ipad that I haven’t looked at yet, but is written by a gal from India. I couldn’t tell if they were indian dishes or “normal” baby food. 🙂 There is a good recipe by Jamie Oliver on the Parenting magazine site for a vegetable sauce/soup – my husband thought it had tons of flavor and liked it. Do you own a Vitamix? I think they have lots of recipes for “super-blending” foods. Flaxmeal is a good addition for fiber and omega-3s. you can get a bag for a good price at Costco (at least some costcos, anyway…).
I agree, homemade is best! You have total control. and the freezer is your friend! ice cube trays, zip-loc bowls, freezer jam jars, etc. Oh, his tastebuds are going to be so happy! Mama love.
I’m sorry, I could have been a little more helpful! 🙂
this is really a pasta sauce, but we ate it as soup:
http://www.parenting.com/article/jamie-oliver-tomato-sauce-recipe?cid=searchresult
another favorite..creamy w/o cream:
http://www.marthastewart.com/338524/creamy-broccoli-soup
when i nannied for henry (who had a g-tube for three years) and then went to bended food after it was removed, when we made oatmeal, i always put a scoop of peanut butter in it for the extra calories and fat, and protien because he needed it! and it was delicious! have you tried that, if david doesn’t have peanut allergies, that is. 🙂 i still put peanut butter in my outmeal today some days just because it is so so yummy, not that i need the extra calories OR fat! but protein…yes! haha
The book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron is great. Once I read that, I got so used to making baby food that I didn’t want to stop when my youngest got too old. Good luck!
ps- I still freeze cubes of pureed veggies and try to sneak them into sauces, spaghetti, etc. It adds a little vitamin boost to whatever I’m making and the kids don’t notice much.
Yummy. I’d eat that myself. 🙂
http://shannonhearts.blogspot.com/
I love this recipe I will be trying this for Thomas. One of our favorites that has tons of calories is Avocado, greek yogurt, and any type of fruit he may like.
Our little girl is 4 months old and I’ve been debating making her own food rather than buying it. So after finding your post, I think I’m going to give it a try! 😉
This does sound good! I made some baby food when my kids were small. Actually, I made quite a bit of it. This recipe almost sounds like a dessert and nice and nutritious. David is a lucky boy to have a mama like you. (I’m sure that goes both ways. :-))
~FringeGirl