New stuff!

So Grant has been trying new things all over the place lately.  I suppose I'm still supposed to be waiting 3 days, but I haven't been the best about it.  I'm trying to wait on things that are brand new food categories (ie dairy).  So in the past week he's had yogurt, teething biscuits, bread and banana puffs!  I snapped a few shots along the way, but he's seemed to enjoy all of it.  It's so cute how he looks like he's really chewing even though he just has the one little tooth.  I have to keep a really close eye on him to make sure he doesn't have any big pieces, but besides that he's good to go to try most things.  Of course there are still plenty of "rules", but it's been fun.  Anyways here are the pictures I did get.

Yogurt (stonyfield farms yobaby, plain)

 Happy Bellies banana puffs

 Such concentration!  It was hilarious to watch him chasing them all over the tray.

Peaches

1 bag organic frozen peaches
water

Wow this was easy...I bought the frozen peaches because they are already peeled and sliced.  It even says on the bag, "frozen fruits and vegetables are just as nutritious as fresh".  I'm going to trust them because it made my life super simple.  Bring to a boil, steam for about 5 minutes, puree and you're done.

Grant seemed to enjoy these as well as anything else.  I thought they were pretty tasty.

OHHH Excitement!

I just got home from the doctor with Grant (7 month well visit) and asked about his solids.  The doctor told me he can start having all sorts of things now, chicken, pasta, cheese, yogurt, beans.  OMG I'm so excited! So anyways, hopefully this blog will get a little more exciting as I introduce some new flavors and textures with the little man.  I think I'm going to start with yogurt (after the peaches which I already bought) and go from there.  We can also start doing finger food and he will learn to feed himself.  Pretty fun stuff.  This picture isn't from today, but I can't have a blog post without a picture!

This is how excited Grant is!

Green beans

organic green beans (I used a prepackaged, prewashed kind I found at the a&p, but they weren't super tasty.  Next time I'll do all the work myself)
water

Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer for 10 minutes.  Puree in blender and pass through a strainer to remove extra stringy stuff and bean "hulls".  This is another labor intensive one because the string beans get kind of , well, stringy.

Reaction:  Um, yum.  First bite was a smile and then he proceeded to knock out the whole bowl.

Avocado (aka making Guacamole at 8:15am)

Recipe:
1 avocado (mine could have been riper...so I'd say very ripe is what you're going for)
1 squirt lemon
water - more than you would think

Mix together ingredients and puree in blender.  Yum, it smells like a Mexican restaurant in my house.  The squirt of lemon isn't enough to be lemony, but it is enough to keep the avocado from browning.  This made enough for today's breakfast, plus 5 more 1 oz cubes.  I have a couple more ripening on the counter, so I have plenty of avocado for the freezer.

Grant's reaction:  Tough to say on this one.  I made the avocado this morning, so he had to be patient while I mixed it up (no cooking necessary) by the time I got it to him, he wanted out of the high chair.  I ended up feeding him on my lap and he sucked it down, so I'd say success.

I also bought some fun organic purees to try when we're on vacation since I probably won't really be cooking too much down the shore.  I'm actually pretty excited to try these.  They make such fun stuff for babies these days!  Eamonn and I decided to not try anything new while we're away from home, just in case he has an sort of reaction.  So we're taking a break.  I'm also running out of fun ideas of things to try with him, so if anyone has suggestions, I'm open.  Some things (ie broccoli, tropical fruit, anything with seeds) are not appropriate at this age, so it gets a little tricky.

Zucchini

2 zucchini, peeled, deseeded and chopped (I've heard you don't have to peel, but I did)
water

Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and steam for 5 minutes. Let cool with top on and then puree. This has a very VERY mild taste, I might try something else with it next time. Or maybe add some garlic or basil? I'm trying to get some spices into my cooking for Grant. He had cinnamon with his apples this last time I made them and seemed to like it very much. I don't cook with a whole lot of spices so I'd just like to introduce the ones I use the most.

Anyways, I'm not too sure on Grant's reaction. He seemed to like it at first, but then he had himself a little tantrum. I'm not sure if it was related to the zucchini or he just wasn't in the mood for breakfast or what. I'm willing to give it another go tomorrow and see what happens. I really hope it wasn't the zucchini.

UPDATE: I don't think it was the zucchini...phew. He seemed to like it just fine this morning, so it must have been something else yesterday. Ah, babies

Bananas

Again, bananas are no cooking experiment.  Just mash with a fork, add a little water or formula and you're good to go.  Grant was pretty pleased with these.  He smiled a little and basically just kept opening his mouth.  Not bad.

Not too sure...

 Okay yeah, these are good.

just to note...

Grant loves peas...I mean he just downed an entire 2.5 oz jar of organic peas.  Since the last time I tried to make them it was a debacle, I'm fine with buying the earth's best organic ones.  Grant didn't seem to mind one bit.  He may like peas more than apples...we'll see.  Tomorrow, bananas!

Carrots

One pound organic carrots, peeled and chopped into 1" pieces (um, ish...I need to be better about equal size pieces)
water

Bring to boil, reduce to simmer for 25 minutes. Puree with some of the cooking liquid. Makes 10 1 ounce servings.

Reaction: Another winner here. Grant seemed to enjoy the carrots, they are pretty sweet and tasty so I'm not overly surprised. I guess he just didn't like those parsnips...pretty funny.

Parsnips

4 parsnips, peeled and chopped
water

Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.  Puree in blender with some of cooking water.

Oh man...Grant did not enjoy these.  The first few bites he took down with some fun faces.  And then the gagging started.  Yuck.  So I guess he won't like everything, oh well.  I'm going to try them mixed with apples tomorrow and see how that goes.  Otherwise, we're done with parsnips.

Apples

3 Organic Gala Apples
1 cup water

Peel and core apples and cut into chunks (about 8 per apple).  Add water to pot and bring to a boil.  Turn heat to low and simmer for 25 ish minutes.  Add apples and half of water to blender (I had to do two batches) and puree.  This made 12 1 oz servings (Grant now eats 2 oz at a meal).

Yum!  Grant actually was smiling and laughing a little while eating this.  I served it for breakfast with 1 oz of oatmeal.  He didn't finish it, but it was significantly more food then he normally eats.

Oatmeal

Let's just start by saying that Grant doesn't love rice cereal.  It seems to be just okay for him...maybe because it's pretty much tasteless.  Oatmeal on the other hand he really seems to enjoy so far.  He's not quite leaning forward in the high chair with his mouth open like he does for his vegetables, but he finishes it off.  Also it's baby oatmeal...not like Quaker or something, so it's not really a cooking experiment for me. I add 1 oz of water to the oatmeal and stir...voila.
Here's what Grant thinks of it!

Peas

Recipe:
1 bag (10 oz) frozen organic peas
water

Add enough water to steam peas and bring to a boil.  Boil, covered for 4 minutes.  Let cool with top on.  Puree in blender.  This was very difficult to puree smooth because of the pea skins.  I ended up passing it through a mesh strainer before I fed it to Grant as it still wasn't smooth.  Made 14 1 oz servings.

Reaction:
Grant liked this too...he was leaning forward in his high chair with his mouth open.  I'm so happy he's enjoying food!

White yams

So I was going to do peas next, but I forgot I had ordered some white yams from fresh direct.  It made sense to do these first since the peas are frozen...so here we go.

Recipe:
1 medium size white yam (or white sweet potato...same)
water

Steam in a pot for 13 minutes, let cool in pot with top on...puree in blender.  Again, I added some extra water to smooth it out and make it a little less lumpy.

Reaction:  Yum, Grant seemed to enjoy these too....I'm hoping that the man is not going to be too picky.  So far he has yet to turn his nose up at anything I've offered.  He ate this whole serving up.  Note to self, I think he's ready for 2 ounces at a meal..

In the blender

The money shot...

 "Mom, I want it on my hands..."

Butternut Squash

Recipe:
1 large butternut squash (organic from fresh direct)
1/2 cup water

Cut squash lengthwise into quarters.  Cover with tin foil.  Bake at 350 for 90 minutes.  Let sit at room temperature to cool down.  Scoop out the squash and puree with the water.  This made 10 1 oz servings and I kept 1/2 for us to eat another time.  It was HUGE butternut squash (over $7 worth...geez).

Reaction:  Grant loved this...he went right for it and kept opening up for more.  He ate the entire serving up.  So far I've been impressed with how good plain vegetables can be with no salt, seasoning or fat to flavor.  This was an excellent squash.  Next up...something green, maybe peas?

First Vegetable! Sweet Potato

This is the first post of Grant's Eats.  It's more to help me keep track of what we've tried and what he's liked or not liked.  I'll list the "recipe" or method, a few pics and of course Grant's reaction.  As he gets more items under his belt, I'm sure it could be more interesting.

June 21, 2010

Sweet Potatoes (organic from Fresh Direct)

1 large sweet potato - made 10 1 oz servings

Peel and chop the sweet potato into small dice.  Steam for 12 minutes until very tender.  Puree in blender with all of cooking liquid.  When I served this to Grant I added some additional water as it was still a little thick for his liking.

He seemed to like these as he kept opening his mouth for more.  No smiles though, so I guess he didn't love them.