Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Baby Food DIY, Day 3

Today I share the breakdown on some good first fruits to make for baby:

Good First Food Fruits:
Pear
Peach
  1. Peel well-ripened fruit and remove the seeds, pit and stem.
  2. Place in a food processor and puree. Mixture may turn a bit brown, but this is a natural reaction to oxygen and doesn’t mean the fruit is “bad.”
  3. Save some of the food puree for your sweet pea to taste during his/her next meal and freeze the rest in an ice cube tray
  4. After the trays of puree are completely frozen, pop out the cubes and store in a marked freezer bag.
  5. When you are ready, put the number of cubes you wish to thaw either in the refrigerator overnight or in the microwave to cook immediately. If you are going out for a play date or will be on-the-go, put them in a small Tupperware for easy transport.

Apple
1. Peel apple and remove seeds and steam. Cut into quarters or pieces and steam in a steamer basket in a sauce pan filled with an inch of water or microwave with a small bit of water until apple is very soft.

2. Repeat steps 2-5 as above.

Mango

1. If you aren’t sure how to cut a mango, check out this site: http://www.wikihow.com/Cut-a-Mango

2. If the mango is well ripened, simply place in the food processor and puree, if not, you may want to steam it a bit first.

3. Repeat steps 3-5 as above

Banana
Avocado

  1. Peel and, in the case of the avocado, remove the pit
  2. Chop into small cubes and then puree. Mixture may turn a bit brown, but this is a natural reaction to oxygen and doesn’t mean the fruit is “bad.”
  3. Repeat steps 3-5 as above.

**Once your child is ready for slight texture in his/her food, you can easily make banana or avocado baby food by simply mashing either with the back of your spoon, a la guacamole!

2 comments:

Ray a.k.a. The Produce Picker said...

Hi Sweet Pea Chef!

I noticed you had a link to a site that shows people how to cut open a mango. I thought I would let you know that I just did a recent episode on my video podcast (Produce Picker Podcast) on this very same subject. Check out my how to cut a mango video and let me know what you think. I think seeing it in motion is even more helpful than pictures.

I'm a produce clerk at a specialty grocery store and I like to be able to share my knowledge with people other than just those I meet in my store.

I'm trying to build a community of people interested in food with a focus on fruits and veggies and I'm glad to find your blog about food!

With a name like Sweet Pea Chef you might just be a perfect candidate to come on my show sometime and share a recipe or two or relate some of your food interests.

I Look forward to reading more of your posts.

Ray a.k.a. The Produce Picker

Sweet Pea Chef said...

Thanks Produce Picker! I like your website and would be happy to share any of the recipes on my site with you.