Today I have another friend sharing a recipe that I think is fantastic! It’s for the littles in your life…homemade baby food.
Amanda from Much Ado About Mommy has an easy recipe for homemade baby food that is healthier (and cheaper) than the stuff you can buy at the store. It’s an easy recipe…right up my alley! Amanda is a writer, blogger, Fantasy Football enthusiast, coupon lover, a total book nerd and movie fanatic. She’s also a self proclaimed Shakespeare geek. She also dreams of becoming a fiction writer (me too!)
So I’ll hand it over to Amanda now.
Homemade Baby Food
Hello! I’m Amanda and I’m very excited to have my family’s recipe for homemade baby food featured on Mommy of a Monster and Twins! A little bit about me, I’m originally from Miami and have lived in big cities my whole life up until this past June. Now I am the proud resident of a small town in the Midwest and a stay-at-home mom to an adorable little boy. One of my favorite things to do lately is to find new and exciting recipes for me and my family and I’m happy to be sharing this recipe– taught to me by my mother– which may help other moms save a little money and give their baby a great start on solid foods.
Baby food can get pretty expensive after a while, and while the prepackaged foods are a great way to start off your baby on solids, natural is always better. Always consult with your pediatrician before you give your baby homemade food. Chances are they’ll say it’s okay, but it’s always good to check first.
Making your own baby food will not only be better for your child, but it’ll also save you some money! And it’s easy as pie! Here are the veggies I use in my family’s recipe for homemade baby food.
1 Baked Potato
1 Sweet Potato
1 Squash
1 Bag of Baby Carrots
1 Bag of Green Beans
The first thing you want to do is peel and cut both potatoes. I usually cut slices and then cut the slices in half. You’ll need a big pot to put them in. Then slice up the squash. The slices don’t have to be any particular size, but you don’t want them to be too big because you’re going to blend everything after it’s done cooking.
The baby carrots can go in as is and for the green beans, you’ll want to cut the ends off and break them in half. Put everything into the pot and fill it with water until the veggies are submerged. You don’t have to use a whole lot of water for this, just enough to cover the vegetables.
Boil on Medium high, stirring occasionally until the veggies are tender. You should be able to cut them without much effort with your stirring spoon. Once they’re done, let them cool for a little while. The whole process should take about an hour or so, depending on how big the potato pieces are.
After the pot is cool, get out your blender and pour a little bit of the water in and then add veggies. You want the consistency to be a little thick, so make sure to use more vegetables than water. I usually do two scoops of water and two big scoops of veggies. Pour it into a Tupperware for storage or you can even use an ice tray to make portions easier! Continue until all the veggies are blended. You may have more water than veggies left in the pot. That’s okay. Just drain the water and use the last of the veggies. Also, make sure that all the veggies have been blended completely; be sure that there are no chunks of anything.
From start to finish, this takes approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes and it makes a ton! I made some for my son just last night and we filled up four containers! Three of those went into the freezer for later use and the other is in the refrigerator for the next couple of weeks. Another great way to store the food and keep it in portions is to use ice trays! After the food freezes, you can take the cubes out of the trays and put them into a freezer bag. This allows you to use as much as you need at a time, while having to worry about needing to use it before it goes bad.
If you’re just using tupperware to store it, that’s fine. It’s what I use, just make sure to keep an eye on it! Typically, the food in tupperware will stay fresh in the fridge for about a week or two.
Paying a couple of bucks for these vegetables is so much cheaper than buying the pre packaged baby food and it’s better for your sweet baby because it’s natural. If you bought as many packaged foods as this recipe makes, you would likely spend over thirty dollars, maybe more!
All moms like to save money! Thanks for sharing this homemade baby food recipe with us, Amanda!
Head over and visit Amanda at Much Ado About Mommy and make sure to like her Facebook page, too!
Would you like to get a recipe featured at Mommy of a Monster? Find how how to do it here.
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