Organically Growing

We continue to forge ahead on trying new foods. The challenge now is determining the best method for Ryder to eat. He likes to feed himself, but other times, he’s all about being spoon fed. I’ve decided that as long as I start with the bowl and spoon, he’s more likely to stick with it. Whereas if I start him off with some broccoli trees, he isn’t psyched to move onto mush.

New foods we’ve tried recently:

• eggplant
• zucchini
• yellow squash
• mango
• asparagus spears
• salmon
• tortillas
• kale

He still madly in love with my homemade pancakes (with wheat flour and ground flax) as well as organic frozen waffles, bananas and pears. And pretty much anything with Trader Joe’s White Bean hummus on it. Last night he devoured some homemade butternut squash ravioli. Now that’s good eating!

As I prepare to head out of town for a work trip, I spent quite a bit of time shopping, cooking and planning Ryder’s meals and snacks for the week (food = love, right?). In the past two days I have made:

• Broccoli snacks (steamed florets)
• Sweet potato snacks (steamed cubes)
• Carrot snacks with ginger (steamed slices)
• Potato cubes
• Pancakes (made with whole wheat and ground flax – Ryder can’t get enough of them!)
• Broccoli puree
• Butternut squash puree
• Millet
• Lentils
• Brown Rice
• Soybean puree
• Hardboiled eggs
• Kale puree

Plus, I got a few of the HappyBabyFood organic baby food pouches to have in the cupboard, “in case of emergency.” There’s also a bag of frozen organic green beans that can be steamed up quickly and a can of organic kidney beans for finger foods. Not to mention the 244+ oz. of breast milk in the deep freeze.

I don’t think he’ll go hungry, anyway.

A trip to our pediatrician proved that the rash and corresponding “loose” poops are not likely linked to a food allergy. Instead, the doc said it’s pretty common for babies to get this little viral bug that causes both rash and poops. She said it’s nothing to worry about it and will most likely resolve in a week.

For the record, had it been a reaction to food, she said the rash would have been very itchy and uncomfortable – more like eczema.

Second doctor visit for the day (with Affrey the dog) proved less reassuring and they want to do a procedure to clean out her ears as biopsy two bumps on her nose. Poor Affrey. Sure we had pet health insurance!

Ryder is pretty fond of green beans and sweet peas, but I am needing to expand his repertoire of green veggies, so, I decided to go out on a limb and introduce broccoli for lunch today. I mixed it partially with sweet potatoes to get him warmed up, but it wasn’t necessary. He was mowing down the green stuff like it was his favorite flavor of YoBaby yogurt. He hardly made a mess at all (which I use as the measure for  how much he’s liking a food).

Tonight I steam up organic spinach and cauliflower. Helllooo toots.

Seems like it’s been awhile since I provided an update on Ryder’s organic eating! The last few months have brought so many new foods to our table, it’s been hard fitting them all in before he’s on to the next month’s menu of available foods.

He’s started mashing food in his gums, so we can do some small pieces of soft fruit. He tries to grab them off the high chair tray using his “pincher grasp” but the pieces are so slippery they don’t really make it to his mouth. He eventually just gives up and puts his mouth down on the tray to pull up a piece. It’s funny.

Things we have added recently:

• Tofu (mashed up firm variety that was not well-received. Will try silken next)
• Butternut squash
• Sweet peas
• Green Beans (nuts over these!!)
• Pears (have over taken bananas for favorite fruit of the month)
• White potatoes (ho-hum)
• Carrots
• YoBaby yogurt (you’d think the kid was eating a slice of heaven he’s so excited about these little fruit-flavored yogurts. He shakes with excitment between bites)
• Egg yolk (won’t even go for it hidden in yogurt or rice cereal)
• Ground up walnuts
• Kiwi (a little tart on first taste, but I think he’ll grow to like them)
• Millet

Next on the menu: A variety of veggies (broccoli, spinach, all the root veg), tahini, mashed beans and lentils.

Ready to go gourmet with your homemade baby food? Epicurious.com has some great tips and recipes for making your own:

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/everydaycooking/family/babyfood?intcid=epi_hptile2

Making homemade baby food is really no big deal. I already have 5 different freezer bags full of food cubes in my freezer and I can’t say I’ve spent more than 15 minutes per week working on it. Fruits and veggies are easy.

And when it came to introducing whole grains, I had the best intentions of making that, too. But then I went on a business trip and I wanted Ryder to continue eating new foods (and apparently I can’t trust anyone else to make the food??), so I picked up a box of Safeway Organic Brown Rice Cereal. It’s the highly processed meal stuff, but at least it’s organic and it’s brown rice. Plus, it’s fortified with iron, which is apparently a big deal. I figured I’d make up for it by pureeing my own steel cut oats for grain #2.

But, I was at Target and noticed a can of HappyBellies organic oatmeal cereal with DHA and Probiotics. Wow, that sounded good. And easy. And it was only $3. So I bought it. Ryder seems to enjoy both grain cereals and I feel like for a store-bought option, they are good ones.

I figured these two boxes of cereals would be where my store shopping would end. Until I was at the new Whole Foods Interbay today. I ran through the store to get Hylands teething tablets and some more plain yogurt for the babe. Turns out you can only buy organic whole milk plain yogurt in the 32oz. container. With our vacation coming up, I figured that would be a waste. So, I opted for the Stonyfield YoBaby organic yogurt cups in peach and pear blends. It’s organic and the label didn’t have any weird ingredients, so I went for it.

And so did Ryder. For dinner tonight he gobbled up a sweet potato cube, a serving of rice and was hungry for more. I dished out half a container of the pear yogurt and I’m pretty certain he would have eaten the rest.

Taste-tested and approved!

A trip to the farmer’s market and I procured a big bag of organic, Washington state apples. It’s applesauce day for Ryder.

I pureed up a batch (the easiest food I’ve made yet, with apples nuking for just 10 minutes in the m-wave) and we dined on fresh applesauce for dinner. No surprise that the boy gobbled it right up. What is fantastic is that we were also able to hide peas in the applesauce and he gobbled that up too.

Strategy from here on out is to decrease the apple to pea ratio over the next couple weeks and get him eating straight up peas without him even realizing!

Ha ha … we’ll show you baby!

My favorite book of the moment, Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron, suggests giving baby 1/2 – 1 food cube of avocado per day (for the healthy omegas and all that good fat stuff). I had to do a re-read on that part.

An avocado food cube? Is Ruth saying that avocado puree can be frozen, like every other veg/fruit that I’m whipping up for the lil’ one?

The answer is yes! In the handy reference section (in which she outlines nearly every fruit and vegetable imaginable with prep and freezing guidelines) she suggests mashing up the ripe avocado on a plate and scooping it into freezer trays.

I have to admit, I was a little dubious. Seems like the puree will become that not-so-appetizing shade of grey, like guacamole does after half an hour. Then I saw avocado halves in the freezer section at Trader Joe’s and I thought – we’re on to something here! If TJ’s thinks it’s cool to sell frozen avocados, then I can most definitely freeze up the puree at home.

This revelation comes none too quickly either – I have 3 uber-ripe organic avocados from Costco in the fridge that need to be prepped tonight!