Baby food

When I decided I was going to make Gavin's baby food, I didn't think I would actually enjoy the process.  I don't totally understand why I enjoy it.  Maybe it's because I know what's going in it.  Maybe it feels calming.  Maybe it's the satisfaction of the amount of food I can make with one "batch" of a food.  It's probably all of those reasons.  I really enjoy doing it!  Maybe I'm becoming a "crunchy" mom, haha.

I've made quite a few foods in a short period of time: avocados (once.. I'm not a good judge at when they are ready to be eaten), bananas, pears, peaches, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, green beans, and apples.  I still have carrots to make.  I try to make some each night or every other night, it doesn't always happen.

The only foods I've had to prepare before blending (so far) were sweet potatoes and butternut squash.  Those were both pretty simple, though.  The sweet potato I wrapped in foil and baked for an hour.  The butternut squash I cut in half, took out the seeds, then baked for 40 minutes.

Once the foods are cut up, they go into the magic bullet (thanks again Jess!).  It works its magic, and out comes smooth food.

Ashley has let me borrow what I assume is intended to be an ice cube tray, but it has been used as the perfect 1 ounce food measuring device.  I also have a 1/2 ounce ice cube tray from Ikea that I use in this process as needed.  I pour the food into the tray, then into the freezer it goes over night.  It then gets popped into a zip lock bag with a label.

This is how much I usually get from each:
-2 bananas makes about 6-8 ounces
-2 pears makes about 7 ounces
-1 sweet potato make 8-10 ounces
- 2 peaches makes 7 ounces
-1 butternut squash made 17 ounces
-1 bag of green beans (at least it wasn't in a can, lol) made 13 ounces
-3 apples made 16 ounces

The butternut squash impressed me the most!  I think that is a good amount of food (for all of them) for the cost of the produce, compared to the cost of the store bought food.  I feel like Suzy Homemaker.