Real Babies Eat Real Food

Chicken Soup for My Boychick's Soul

2013-06-13T09:36:00.002-04:00

It's that dreaded call from daycare smack in the middle of a busy day, your child is sick. You leave work to pick him or her up and your heart just melts. That's unfortunately what happened to me yesterday, my boy had a low grade fever, which has slowly climbed a little higher and has stayed put. My playful little boy is currently a miserable little mush (although in the greatest care of his nanny and aunt)! He doesn't really want to eat, he is drinking fine, so what to do to make my little boy feel better?

Chicken Soup for the Babies Soul (9m+)

1 Chicken Breast, chopped (raw)
2 Carrots, Peeled, chopped
1 Celery, chopped
1/2 onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 inch ginger
3-4 cups of water

Put all ingredients into a pot and bring to boil. Simmer for 1 hour until everything is cooked. Strain out the onion, put into a blender and puree. Alternatively, you can strain everything and pour the flavored broth into a bottle.

I hope your little one, and mine feels better soon!!

Now, as I have been doing lately, as a mom who loves to save money, I have been sharing with you some great deals. Here is another one from Tiny Prints! I love them btw!

Think for a second...who do you need to say "thank you" to?

There are probably a lot. So, if you're going to write them thank you notes (and you should) and your list is long, saving money is a good idea.

For one day only (today!), you can get 50% off thank you cards from Tiny Prints!

Beginning at 10:00 AM PT today through 9:00 AM PT tomorrow, their custom thank you cards are half off with the promo code DEAL0613.

Creating custom thank you cards is easy:

1. Visit their Deal of the Day Page and click through to the thank you cards.

2. Choose from hundreds of designs. Pick the one that best fits your personality.

3. Customize the cards. Pick your own fonts, add pictures to some designs, choose your favorite colors, and play with the design. Make it scream "you."

4. Double check your design. Make sure it looks like you want it to.

5. Checkout. When you checkout, use the promo code DEAL0613 for 50% off.

That's it! Super simple, but you have to act fast.

They'll be to your door in about a week and all you'll need then is a good pen and a thankful heart.

It's Grilling Season!

2013-05-28T10:14:00.003-04:00

I hope that everyone had as great of a Memorial Day weekend as I did. My sister visited us for the weekend, and it was so nice! Not to mention how nice it was to sleep in :)

We had a weekend full of cooking, my husband did most of it though. However, on Sunday evening my husband went to the movies so it was just my sister, myself, and my LO for dinner. For my sister and I we made ourselves turkey burgers on the grill. The obvious question for my non-meat eating son was what would I grill for him? He is teething very badly right now so he will only eat crunchy food. So I had to make him something crunchy and meat-free. That is when the endless hours of foodtv came into play and we thought of the greatest idea for him, grilled polenta! He had never had polenta before so I was a little nervous, but it was such a huge success.

2 cups cornmeal

5 cups water

1 Tbsp. butter

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

salt, pepper to taste

Bring water to a rolling boil. It can't be just starting to boil, but the full blown rolling boil. Once that is boiling, add the cornmeal and stir, and I do mean stir. You will get a good arm work out. Keep stirring until it is very thick. At that point add the butter and cheese and seasonings and stir it together until everything melts.

Pour the cornmeal onto a rimmed baking sheet. Put the baking sheet in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Once the polenta is firm to the touch take any cookie cutters you want and start cutting out the polenta. We just did simple circles, but you can do whatever you want. Make this fun for your kids!

On a hot grill, brush your polenta with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Grill for about 3-5 minutes per side. Once the polenta circles are nice and crisp put a little Parmesan cheese on, close the grill, let the cheese melt, and serve!

These were so good and you can really season polenta any way you want.

Father's Day is quickly approaching and I saw this really cute deal that is good for today only (5/28). You can personalize your own father's day card for the great father in your life FOR FREE!

Simply, go to FREE Father's Day Card from Treat, design your card and use the coupon code TREATDAD. The card can be shipped directly to the dad you are sending this to. This would be an especially cool card for dad's serving our country. So go ahead, TREATDAD!

Enjoy!

Guess who is making their own baby food?

2013-05-10T09:39:00.000-04:00

When I first decided I was going to make homemade baby food for my son the reactions I got were extreme. My mother, sister, and husband all said that they give me a few weeks until I am done and start buying jars. My father made a face and asked why. My sisters-in-law all said I was out of my mind, would never have the time. Friends of mine told me there was no need. I made all of my son's food, I am so happy I did, and I will do it again for the next one in a few years. But this post isn't about me, it's about celebrities. Yes, gossip!

Shape Magazine did an article about 6 celebrities that all make their own baby food, and are as passionate about it as I am! I was so excited to see this, I felt like I could relate to them. It made them less "celebrity with a nanny" and more real to me. That my sound silly, but that's just me.

So here is the list (and their favorite recipes, maybe one day a Real Babies Eat Real Food recipe will be featured :) ):

1) January Jones (Mad Men)- Black Bean Banana Mash for her son Xavier

2) Denise Richards- Pureed Roast Chicken dinner for the whole family!

3) Tori Spelling- Roasted Butternut Squash for Hattie! Tori is a super busy mom of 4, go Tori!

4) Jessica Capshaw (Gray's Anatomy) - Muscle Man Stir Fry, another treat for the whole family to enjoy!

5) Of course this list would not be a DIY mama list without having Jessica Alba on here. The founder of The Honest Company, Jessica loves to make Haven Lentils

6) Last on the list is the founder of SpokesMoms and TV host, Ali Landry. Her favorite recipe for Marcello is Pear Puree!

Check out the full article at Shape Magazine

Go try one of these celebrity favorites for your little one. Enjoy!

Yummi Pouch Dilemma

2013-05-06T11:17:00.001-04:00

I have been having a dilemma about writing a product review. I received Yummi pouchs to review, and I tried them and have been torn. Is it really ok for me to write what I really think, and then decided yes. Yummi Pouch did not pay for advertising, they were kind enough to send me 6 pouches for me to try. I am so so sorry Yummi Pouch company, I just really did not like them. I found them difficult to clean, messy to close, and my son couldn't get used to the spout being on the side.

In order to test these I decided to try just applesauce. The opening is on the top and has a Ziploc type seal with a fill line. If you fill above this line when you close it, it will spill everywhere. I made this mistake.

I found the material to be just too easy to throw away, especially the caps. They are the same caps as on the store brand throwaways, my son put some in the garbage, he would throw them into a pile of his gooey mess.

When washing it it took multiple washes to really get it clean, especially the valve.

This is tough, I am sorry Yummi, I just am not a fan.

May the Fourth Be With You!

2013-05-03T09:56:00.000-04:00

I am back! Yes I have returned. I know I took a bit of a hiatus but I really needed to gather some thoughts about the direction of this blog now that my son is no longer eating puree. Actually I can't even get him to eat soft food at the moment, if it doesn't go crunch he isn't going to eat it. I think he is teething really bad right now, getting in his canine teeth finally. His new teacher at school suggested I try crunchy foods for a little while, and it seems to be working.

She also told me about these really cool labels (I am one of those moms that gets yelled at for not labeling everything, so I went out and got these on her recommendation and they have been awesome! So much easier than a black Sharpe because they will not come off in the dishwasher! They are called Mabel's Labels. The force is strong with this offer because for one day only, on 5/4, Mabel's Labels is offering 50% off Robot and Rocket Sticky Labels in honor of May the 4th be with you! May 4th celebrates the Star Wars Trilogy that has entertained thousands of fans from all over the world. Don't miss your chance to shop this great offer!

I have started couponing, not like the crazy people on TV, but just enough to try and save my family some money. This means i have been having my husband buy some new and different things, one of those things is canned pineapple. I got an great deal on canned pineapple and now they have been sitting in my cupboard while I figure out what to do with them. I don't eat ham, so the traditional ham covered in pineapple rings is not going to happen in my house. After staring at the can for a while I decided to experiment, and then bring my experiment to the office for the guinea pigs to try, and the container was gone, so I am going with they were good. The idea for this came from those new Chobani Bites, they are really good and only 100 calories, they have different flavors and one of them is pineapple caramel. yum! So here it goes

Carmel Pineapple Rings

One can pineapple rings, drained

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cinnamon

half a stick of butter

___________________________________

In a deep skillet melt your butter.

Mix your cinnamon and sugar together until combined with a fork.

Dredge your pineapple rings in the cinnamon sugar on both sides.

Place your pineapple rings in the skillet and cook about 2-3 minutes per side. Then flip. (be careful, sugar burns easily!!!)

Once you have done this to all your pineapple rings you will notice that your pan has created this nice caramel looking syrup. Guess what, its Caramel. Place your rings on a plate and pour that caramel goodness on top, and if your trying to be fancy add a dollop of whipped cream.

These taste better hot, they are honestly not good at all cold, so serve immediately. This is a great BBQ recipe for company or a treat for your toddler! A sticky messy treat but a treat nonetheless.

ENJOY!

Peaches!

2013-04-05T09:11:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the very long delay, I have been dealing with some personal issues, but I am back!

Passover always has been a near and dear holiday to my heart, it reminds me of the importance of family and how much mine means to me. I always spent passover with my grandparents, so the association was always there, which is why it completely devastated me when my grandfather died during passover 5 years ago. This post is dedicated to my grandparents.

When i was a little girl my favorite dessert was peaches! My grandmother would buy the baby food peaches jars and that would be dessert, and i loved it! I decided to make a version of this during passover. As you know, peaches are a Summer fruit and we are still in early Spring although Spring seems to have forgotten what it is supposed to do. This is where frozen fruit becomes totally appropriate. Frozen fruit is not preserved in sugar like it's canned distant cousins and is a great substitute for fresh when your wallet doesn't allow for it, or it is off season.

All I did was take a bag of frozen peaches and thaw them out a bit by leaving them on the counter for a couple of hours. Simply add to blender and puree with some yogurt. I gave it to my son and it was all gone. He loves when i make him smoothies in his pouch.

If you puree this without the yogurt and add some formula this makes a perfect starter food for your little one!

Enjoy :)

Cottage Pie

2013-03-18T11:52:00.000-04:00

Hi All,

Sorry for the long delay in a post. I have been brainstorming and testing some recipes out. In honor if St. Patrick's Day I decided to make Cottage Pie. After I made it and my husband praised its goodness, I realized that it is a perfect food for a Stage 3 or 4 eater! It is chunky enough for them to chew and smooth enough with the potatoes so you don't have to puree it! Viola! Unintentional Baby Food :)

1 LBS Ground Beef
1 Packet of onion soup mix
11 oz frozen peas and carrots
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
salt
pepper
chicken broth
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cayanne pepper
2.5 Lbs red potatoes
1 cup warmed buttermilk
4 TBSP melted butter

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Preheat the oven to 375.

While you are waiting for the water to boil, add onions and garlic to a large sautéed pan. After about 5 minutes add the ground beef. Break it up nicely using a wooden spoon. Once it is broken up, add the onion soup mix and all the spices and frozen veggies.

By now your water should be boiling. Add the peeled potatoes and cook until tender, about 15 minutes.

Back to the beef. Cover the beef mixture with chicken stock. Cover your pan, bring to boil and simmer until more than half the liquid is dissolved. This should take about the time it takes you to prepare the potatoes.

Once the potatoes are done bring them to a mixing bowl. Either using a stand mixer or hand mixer beat the potatoes. Add the buttermilk and butter. Beat until fluffy and season with salt and pepper.

Pour your beef mixture into a prepared baking dish. Cover the beef with the potatoes.

Bake for 25 minutes and serve!

This is great for the whole family as well.

I have been playing around with different purees to send to daycare with my son. I plan on posting one here this week, super easy peaches!

Hope everyone has a good first day of spring!!

Stage 3 Foods

2013-03-08T10:25:00.003-05:00

Hey mamas and papas!

The weathermen were so clearly wrong with their forecasting! They said I was going to get 1-3 inches, well I nearly crashed coming home last night and we are on about 6 inches and I see no sign of stopping.

I am going to answer a question here that I got asked recently and that is about transitioning between the "stages". Commercial baby food is grouped by stage, ranging from smoothest and thinnest, to chunky and thick. This allows babies to get used to textures. The question being how do I transition my child when I am making my own food.

I am going to focus on "Stage 3" foods because that was the actual question. I found that the food processor became my friend when I needed to add texture to my son's food. You have a lot more control over texture.

Also, a great little tool that you all have already... wait for it... thats right a fork. Mash your babies food up with a fork or a potato masher.

Do not use as much liquid when thinning. Add a very little amount.

Be prepared for your baby to gag when you are adding texture to their food, it is their natural way of protecting themselves from choking. That is why it is best to introduce texture slowly. Start by pulsing it a little less than normal, and eventually leading up to a thick chunky puree, and eventually non puree food. When you are starting stage 3 foods you can with the approval of your doctor begin to introduce cheerios and puffs (they melt in their mouth)

A mashed up banana is great first stage three food because it is soft, there is little choking hazard and you have the ability to make it "chunky" or creamy, as desired.

Mashed potatoes come in great here as well. You can add things like ground beef, peas, carrots, broccoli, really anything and it will add texture but give your baby the ability to get use to the texture slowly.

Here are some of my recipes that I think are great stage three recipes to try with your little one:

The First Peas
Chicken Pot Pie
Minestrone

Also a great thing to start doing is to give baby a little bit of what you are eating. Follow your baby's cue. as you introduce table foods you are going to see how much of a change your baby's pallet will go through, but remember a little at a time. If you go too quickly then they will refuse food all together.

The Honest Toddler

2013-03-05T14:03:00.002-05:00

The Honest Toddler is a Montreal based mom who thought it would be funny to tweet what could be going through a toddler's head. She started it for fun, and out of frustration and it is really funny! Definitely check her out!!

I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts...

2013-03-05T13:14:00.001-05:00

Spring is so close I can feel it, but of course Winter has one last storm for us in the Northeast this week, possibly. With Spring here my husband and I are itching to go out on a date, and finally folks, after 18 months we finally got a babysitter that isn't a friend or family member!! (Everyone cheer for me, this is huge :)) A friend of mine recommended I check out Sittercity to find a babysitter, so I did. They are running a great special so if you need a nanny or an occasional sitter like I did or a really any domestic help click the link below and use the coupon code LUCK40. They run all the background checks for you it takes the work out of finding someone reliable and safe. I cannot wait for my dinner date!

I have been trying to come up with the perfect way to introduce coconut to my son. I knew it would be something he will like, I just was unsure the best way to give it to him. Coconut milk is great for building up your immune system, preventing heart disease, and keeping your hair and skin looking great! As with other foods I have tried with my son, and this is a great way to introduce new foods to your own kids, is to add it to something they already like, in this case I added it to mango and carrots.

This was so easy, this recipe filled one Fresh Baby Tray and one large Silli Squeeze Pouch. On a side note I am testing a different set of pouches with my son this week, so stay tuned for my review.

6 Carrots, washed peeled, chopped, and steamed

2 mangoes, sliced
Since my son eats SO many mangoes I decided to get a mango gadget, best thing ever!

1 cup Coconut Milk

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Prepare the carrots and steam in a steamer pot for approximately 15 minutes. While those are steaming prepare your mangoes. Put all ingredients into blender and puree until desired consistency is reached.

ENJOY!

AND THE WINNER IS.....

2013-03-01T08:41:00.006-05:00

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER OF THE FRESH BABY CONTEST:

DEBBIE REED PERKINS!!!!

This contest was run using a random number generator to determine the winner.

Thank you all for entering!

1st Birthday Nostalgia

2013-02-28T12:34:00.000-05:00

One year ago I started this adventure of Real Babies Eat Real Food because I was making homemade food for my son and posting what I was making on Facebook. I kept getting questions about recipes and thought it would be easier to just put them all in one place and to share it with the world. So thank you readers and followers for sharing this place with your friends, your pediatricians, your parents, your children, your grand children, thank you for making homemade food and for allowing me to continue to share things with you. Also thank you to my husband, my carpool (he is a friend too, but he gets his own shout out), my family, and my friends.

I can honestly say that I never in my life said to myself "hey maybe I'll be a baby food guru when I grow up". When I was younger I wanted to be a lawyer... then I worked for lawyers, now I am edging towards Accounting, but the bigger this gets, the more followers I get the more I want this to be my future. Through this place, through my son, through you, I have found something that I am passionate about. I really am a full-time working mom, working to pay my bills for my family just like the rest of America. I work 35+ hours a week, sometimes even 60 hours a week, but this was just something I always made time for.

I started making my son's food because of economic reasons going back to the fact that I was unable to breastfeed him due to a medical reason that would pass through my milk supply, so I was paying an arm and a leg for formula and couldn't afford another cost. I also thought to myself, well I can't breastfeed, let me give him something else that I can do for him, and that was make his baby food myself. It turned out to save me a lot of money, and as I said above, has turned into something I truly love doing. Now my brain says "How can I make this into something for a baby?". Or I will read something and think to myself "man I cant wait to share this with Real Babies Eat Real Food."

Every family needs to do what is best for them, and just because I do something, and write about it here does not mean that it is best for you. If you feel that way then by all means do what you need to do. The first year is hard, you are tired all the time and you cannot think how you will squeeze in just one more thing to do. I remember it very well, it was not so long ago. In fact my 18 month old still doesn't sleep through the night. So if you feel that way, no one is going to yell at you for not making your own baby food, babies who eat commercial food are fine, just like the ones who drink formula, they are all fine, so long as they are loved. You know what is best for your child and never let anyone tell you otherwise.This blog is meant to share with those that want to know.

The title of this blog, Real Babies Eat Real Food came to me after playing around with different titles. There is a lot going around about "Real Food" and what it is, knowing where your food comes from, eating as few processed foods as you can, things that many adults try and do, so I wanted to take that concept that is so familiar to so many adults and show that it is applicable to babies and children as well. I remember being pregnant and seeing a can of cheese, yes a can, at a chain pharmacy and the first thing I said to myself was "why would you give your kid a can of cheese, its cheese, go to the grocery store and buy yourself a block of cheese". I then looked at the shelves at other stores and realized that many of these commercial baby food makers think that we do not have the ability to know what to feed our children. We turn to them to find out when the right time to feed them is, what to feed, how much to feed, but they are not our childrens' pediatricians or parents, they are big companies that want your money. Commercial baby food started out as those jars for babies and now has grown into products for children ages 2+. They are convenience foods, they are good for on the go, but these companies would like to see you feed them to your kids everyday. You are your childrens' role models, so teach them that an apple is real food, that apples do not come in flavored rings all the time. Make it fun, get them in the kitchen.

Lastly, our First Lady, regardless of what you feel about her husband, Michelle Obama is an amazing First Lady. She gets out there and shows America what it is to eat Real Food, to get active, to grow a garden, have as few steps from ground to your mouth as possible. I was so excited as you recall when her cookbook came out I got it immediately. I am so inspired by her actions and her speeches. Thank you Mrs. Obama for striving to make our children healthy.

I hope you continue reading and following Real Babies Eat Real Food as I have big plans for the second year. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for supporting me on this adventure.

To get your mouths drooling by the way I am working on a new puree of Mango, Carrots, and Coconut milk... I am tweeking it before I share it with you so it is just right for your little ones. The winner of the Fresh Baby Contest will be announced tomorrow morning. There is still time to enter. Good luck!

Hillary

Reminder Post

2013-02-28T10:57:00.001-05:00

This is your last day to enter the Fresh Baby Contest! So if you are checking Real Babies Eat Real Food, first thank you and secondly go enter the contest :)

Say Yes to Your Kids and Let them Play with the Dough

2013-02-26T11:03:00.001-05:00

There are days I miss babyhood. Yes it was exhausting, but there was no constant use of the word "no, don't touch that" "no don't eat that" "no our hands are not for hitting", as babies turn into toddlers the use of the word "no" becomes more frequent. So I started thinking of ways to say "yes". What can I do for him that will make me be able to say "yes sure its fine if you eat that, even though its not actually supposed to be eaten" "yes you can play there".

When I was younger my mom used to make our play dough whether it was for economical reasons or for the fact that my younger brother put everything in his mouth and she wanted to be sure he would be safe, it didn't matter. She did it so there was always a ton of play dough to be had.

This is a fun recipe for homemade play dough- so it is ok if they put it in their mouth (just don't intentionally feed it to them for dinner)

2 cups flour

2 cups water

1 cup salt

4 tablespoons cream of tartar

2 teaspoons vegetable oil, olive oil or baby oil

food coloring of your choice

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat when dough forms a ball. Once the dough begins to come away from the sides take it off the heat. If you overcook it it will become crumbly. It is still going to look "wet", but it is ok.

Dump it onto your clean counter and start kneading (like you would bread) and it will form into a ball, and there you have play dough!

You still have 2 more days to enter the Fresh Baby Contest !!!

Pinapple, Spinach, and Banana Puree (less than 5 minutes)

2013-02-25T12:39:00.003-05:00

I do a lot of green purees, with my child I almost have to. If I let him eat fruit for 3 meals a day he would, happily, that and crackers. My child is obsessed with crackers. So I will buy spinach, kale, chard, different greens to try and make some delicious purees for my little boy. Here is a quick one that I wanted to share with you:

1/2 cup chopped pinapple

1 cup spinach

1 banana

1/2 cup milk, formula, breast milk, or yogurt (I used milk)

Simply put all ingredients into your blender and hit puree!

This is a very quick puree and it will freeze nicely in freezer trays. I would suggest this for a 8 month old as pinapple can be difficult on their delicate little tummys. Add this to oatmeal for a filling and nutritious breakfast!

Cookery For Children

2013-02-24T20:44:00.002-05:00

I was just playing around online and found something pretty cool. What did mom's do before the invention of Gerber baby food? They made food for their babies naturally, but they did not have the resources we have today, nor did they have a baby bullet, Beeba, or baby bullet. They used the resources and food available to them to nourish their children. So what is it that I found? I found a book The Ladies' New Book of Cookery which is a cookbook published in 1852, and in this book is a chapter on how to make baby food!

If you take a look you will find that many of what we are told now still applied back then, such as a newborn being breast fed should eat every 2 hours, do not over feed your baby because you will create bad habits for the future, and that food has health and healing properties. It seems that a young child's diet until the age of 3 was primarily milk, mild vegetables, and bread. It then indicates that after that their diet should be proportionate to the amount of exercise they do. It also repeatedly said not to give a child hot bread, that seems odd to me, any ideas? It even gives a recipe for what seems to be the beginnings of formula (DO NOT FEED THIS TO YOUR NEWBORN!), indicating that this should be utilized until the mother's milk comes in.

The book indicates that infants were given food starting at age 6 months, just like we do now. The first suggested food was Thickened Milk, milk, water, and flour. However the recipe that intrigued me the most was peas, potatoes, mint, and sugar! Similar to the recipe I made last year for my son!

Well I don't want to tell you everything, especially when you can read it yourself at the link above.

Don't forget to continue your entries for the Fresh Baby Contest you must comment on that post to gain entry. The contest ends 2/28/2013 at 11:59 pm EST!

Birthday Cakes

2013-02-23T23:04:00.001-05:00

Birthdays have come a long way since I was little. The first birthday cake I remember was a Rainbow Brite birthday cake and all I wanted to eat was her belt. Somewhere there is a picture of that, maybe my mom has it. Cakes have come a very long way since the 80's, with the cake trends being shown on Cake Boss and Charm City Cakes, parents are trying to go above and beyond with their little ones, especially for the first birthday party. I was playing around online and well.... look at these cakes!!

For my son's first birthday my sister made a Lion King cake for him. It was extremely well done. I spent hours on Pinterest figuring out just the right cake, the perfect theme. It was all for this moment...

He enjoyed every last drop of cake! So if you are creative in the kitchen, or have someone to make an awesome birthday cake like one of those, or go to a bakery, I say go for it. Your little one only has one first birthday. It is a celebration for everyone, that you survived the first year of midnight feedings, sleepless nights, messes, spit up, explosive diapers, labor, you survived it all and your little one has grown at a magnificent rate, went from a little little one who has achieved amazingly accomplishments including rolling over, crawling, walking, eating, smiling, laughing, sitting up, things we now take for granted. The first birthday is a celebration for everyone!

Now on a side note I am seeing that a lot of people are reading about the Fresh Baby Contest . Keep entering, the contest ends February 28, 2013 at 11:59 pm EST. As stated in that post, in order for your entry to count you must comment so I can track you and verify. Simply liking or sharing is not an automatic entry.

Have a good night folks!

Fresh Baby Contest!!

2013-02-20T12:09:00.002-05:00

I am so incredibly ready for spring, and I think my little one will agree with that. He loves to go outside, but unfortunately in the Northeast it is the dead of winter and bitter cold, so going outside is limited right now. His new found freedom is fun and exciting for both of us! Sorry to start off so randomly, but he is just so darn fun!

I have been receiving numerous questions lately from readers and friends of mine about freezing baby food, and the best way to do it, and how long it is safe in the freezer, so I decided to take this opportunity to try and review a product to help just with that. So let me tell you a little bit about Fresh Baby. Fresh Baby is a company started by a mom with products for moms. They have many products that help parents make homemade baby food for their infants and have recently expanded into the toddler and whole family line. You can read all about their story here.

I took the opportunity to try their “So Easy Baby Food Kit”. Included in the kit is a How-To DVD, a Cookbook, two Freezer Trays, and a Tip Card. The claim is that you can make homemade baby food in as little as 30 minutes a week. This is a totally accurate claim and this kit shows how easy and quick it truly is to make homemade food for your little one.

Allow me to start with the Tip Card. I found this card to be great! I have been making baby food for a year now every week and found it to be incredibly useful. It is double sided and jam packed with great information including a quick 5 easy steps to making baby food, serving tips, foods by age.

However, the thing that I loved the most was the “Common Baby Ailments and Foods” and “Best Sources of Nutrition” sections of the card.

The Common Baby Ailments include remedies for problems such as sleeping, diaper rash, teething, runny nose, constipation, and diarrhea, and what to avoid and what to give your baby when he/she is experiencing these problems. This section can be especially helpful for first time parents, who experience “new baby brain”. My son had stomach problems when he was an infant and would you believe I called the doctor and asked what I could give him to relieve constipation and naturally, he said prune juice. Something everyone “knows”, but when they are a new parent or a parent of many and just have too many screaming kids, this quick reference will definitely come in handy. I also really loved the Nutrients section which is great if your child has any sort of vitamin deficiency, or you just want to make sure he/she is getting enough of what they need from food sources.

I watched the How to DVD and read through the So Easy Baby Food Cookbook.

I really liked the format of the cookbook, it made it personalized and interactive. There were note sections for moms and really great information about what you need to start making your own baby food, how much to feed, how to start feeding and signs your baby is ready, baby book like pages to remember your baby’s first foods. I also really liked that on the bottom of each recipe there was a note section, so if your baby didn’t like it one way, you could try another. Each recipe had different ways to make the recipe by using add ins and combinations. What I did not like about the cookbook was that almost every recipe insisted on using the microwave for cooking for your baby. The reasoning behind the microwave makes sense to me, most moms don’t have the time to make their own baby food, let alone start with putting it all in the oven or the stove top, but I think there is a flavor and texture difference. The book promotes choosing one cooking method and sticking with it. This may be the quickest and easiest as you master a cooking technique, but do you cook all of your food in the same way? No, sometimes you grill, sometimes you boil, you sauté, you roast, and sometimes you microwave.

The book is broken into sections and one section was how to use homemade baby food when traveling. This is a very common question, and something I struggled with myself. I ended up freezing the cubes and putting them in cooler packs with me when traveling, by the time it was time for my little one to eat, the food was thawed. I also simply brought food with me to restaurants, no big deal. The book suggests bringing a mini food mill to restaurants, asking the chef to steam some veggies or fruit for the baby and then pureeing it yourself at the table. While this is the freshest solution as the food is made right there, I thought this was a little far fetched, and while enjoying a dinner out, the very last thing I want to start doing is making baby food at a restaurant table. I did like their other travel ideas, about how to plan ahead.

The last thing I did not like about this book was that it does not recommend making meat for your baby because it is time consuming. When it comes to making meat purees for your baby it is simply easiest to puree whatever it is you are making for yourself. If you are making a chicken breast, make one for baby as well. It is no more time consuming than making yourself dinner. If your baby wants to eat meat then by all means, puree away!!

As a whole I thought the cookbook was great and informative and you should definitely pick up a copy. I found the DVD to be very informative, it shows every step of the way for making homemade baby food, all the way to serving. This was great because I cannot tell you how many YouTube videos I have watched because I need to see someone doing something, even if the instructions are clear as day. I even watched a YouTube video for how to change a Diaper Genie bag, so this was great! A must watch for any new baby food makers out there!!

The last part of the great kit was the set of “So Easy Storage Trays”. When I was making purees for my son and freezing them I went to the store and bought ice cube trays, and covered them with tin foil. While this worked for me it resulted in a lot of spillage and leakage and freezer burn. These trays include a cover and are perfect for making purees or storing breast milk. I even filled my trays up and with the cover on turned upside down and there was NO LEAKAGE! Each cube in these trays is one ounce, so it is easy for measuring and knowing how much your baby is eating. The lids were super easy to get on and off, even frozen. These are a definite must have for moms making their own baby food. When you make your puree simply pour into the freezer trays, cover and freeze. After 24 hours you should have nice frozen ice cubes of delicious homemade baby food, put into a resalable LABELED bag and then make another puree! I absolutely love my new trays and will definitely use them many many times for my son and future children.

Overall I really love this kit; it makes a great gift for a new mom, a great all in one kit for making your own food and gives really excellent instructions. So, naturally you want to know where you can purchase such a lovely product? Why, right here... Their website also has great printable tip sheets and recipe books, including this freezer tip sheet (if you have questions about freezing your baby food, this is the place to look!)

Now for the other great news I have for you. Fresh Baby has graciously agreed to give ONE lucky reader their own So Easy Storage Tray set!!!! WOOO!!!!! So how am I going to pick my lucky reader? Easy, but first the rules, you must be 18 or older and living in the United States (sorry my international readers!!!)

To Enter, simply go to www.freshbaby.com and tell me in a comment which product you would buy for yourself or for someone else to use with your favorite Real Babies Eat Real Food recipe (so your entry must have a product and a recipe from Real Babies Eat Real Food), leave that in a comment with your EMAIL ADDRESS (no email address, no entry, and I promise not to spam you, this will only be used if you are a winner). That is all you have to do to enter. But wait, there is more, you can get more entries by doing any or all of the following as many times as you want for additional entries (more entries = more chances to win):

Like Fresh Baby on Facebook at their Facebook page
(1 additional entry, you must leave a comment stating that you did this and with your name for verification purposes)

Like Real Babies Eat Real Food onFacebook
(1 additional entry, you must leave a comment stating that you did this and with your name for verification purposes)

Follow Fresh Baby on Twitter
(1 additional entry, you must leave a comment stating that you did this and with your twitter name for verification purposes)

Follow Real Babies Eat Real Foodon Twitter
(1 additional entry, you must leave a comment stating that you did this and with your twitter name for verification purposes)

Follow Fresh Baby on Pinterest
(1 additional entry, you must leave a comment with your Pinterest name for verification purposes)

Become a Follower of Real BabiesEat Real Food
(leave a comment with your name for verification purposes)

Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter
(One tweet per day, must leave a comment with a link to the tweet for verification purposes. One tweet =1 entry, so you can do this everyday if you want)

Share this giveaway on Facebook
(One share per day, must leave a comment with a link to your share for verification purposes. One Share=1 entry, so you can do this everyday if you want)

Bottom line, in order to get credit for your additional entries you must comment so I know that you did so

Be sure that you leave your email address in each comment that you leave! This would be a great prize for non-moms to give to new moms at baby showers as well!! Wow that is a lot of ways to enter. But trust me, these trays are definitely worth all the entries!! I am going to be buying myself a second set as well. The winner will be selected via Random Number Generator (Thank you John Jay College of Criminal Justice for teaching me how to do this) and will be notified via email. The prize will be mailed directly from Fresh Baby. The contest ends at 11:59 PM EST on February 28, 2013. Please note that I received no compensation for this review or contest from Fresh Baby, but I did receive a So Easy Baby Food Kit for purposes of this review.

Wishing you all the best of luck! Later in this week I have a really delicious puree to share with you. My son refused to eat macaroni and cheese at daycare yesterday because he wanted to eat this puree instead… so stay tuned!

Back to Basics with a Great First Food

2013-02-08T13:11:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone is staying warm on the Northeast during the snow, and for those in warm parts of the country.. well... enjoy the warmth :). So since I am snowed in I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to talk about a really great first food. I know so many babies right now that are approaching or have recently approached the beginning stages of eating and it is a very fun time for them and their parents. First foods should be easy to digest and very mild, and no combinations. It should be whatever you are feeding them in its purest form. Examples of great first foods are apples, pears, bananas, carrots, butternut squash, pumpkin, potato, sweet potato, peas. Nothing that will cause their little stomachs any gas pain.

Butternut Squash Puree

1/2 butternut squash, skinned, cubed, and steamed

Simply puree in food processor until smooth. You will get a thinner than mashed potato consistency but thicker than standard puree. If this is indeed your child's first food then definitely thin it out with breast milk or formula.

This puree makes 2 cups about. You can very easily freeze your puree in ice cube trays for approximately 3 months. As I have stated in previous posts steaming helps retain nutrition as opposed to boiling. Steaming butternut squash in a steamer basket will take approximately 20 minutes. I hope your little one enjoys his or her first food! You can also combine this puree with applesauce, carrots, sweet potato, pears for a good fruit/veggie combination.

As you know my little one is 18 months old now, so the only purees he really is eating is ones that I am putting in his pouches for him, but this would also make a great side dish on its own for your older baby or toddler or even your family with a little seasoning of your liking. However, as you know I like to transform my purees into something else that my whole family could enjoy. I decided to play around and this is what I got, butternut squash pasta sauce! It would be great over some spaghetti, which is my intention for dinner tonight. If you are intending on making both the puree for your baby AND the pasta sauce, then double the above recipe.

Pour 2 cups of butternut squash puree into a large pan over medium high heat. While stirring, add 3/4 cup chicken broth. Stir until the stock is completely absorbed. Add 1 tsp dried sage and salt and pepper to taste. Lastly stir in 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Stir until completely thickened and the sauce comes together. When you are ready to serve add about 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese.

Lastly stir in 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Stir until completely thickened and the sauce comes together. When you are ready to serve add about 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese.

ENJOY!!!

Red Purees for Valentines Day!

2013-02-04T11:43:00.002-05:00

Happy February! Can you believe January is over? It flew by before my eyes. Now that we are in February I decided to jump on the bandwagon of Valentines day and give you some red purees you can give you little one in the spirit of the holidays.

Apple Cherry Puree

I know, cherries aren't in season, but that does not mean you cannot use dried cherries. Dried fruit is a great way to use out of season fruits, all you had to do is re-hydrate them. To rehydrate dried food put it in a bowl with boiling water for about an hour, or longer. They will plump up very nicely

For this puree, start by re-hydrating 1 cup of dried cherries. While these are re-hydrating, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Core and cut 3 apples (if baby is younger than peel as well, but my little guy has been eating the peel for some time now so I left the peels on). Lay them on a baking sheet and sprinkle with 1 TSP cinnamon. Roast for about 30 minutes. Your house will now be smelling AMAZING! OK, now fast forward and add your apples to your food processor, along with your re hydrated cherries. Add to this 1 TBSP pure maple syrup (this will add some natural sweetness as well as thicken your puree nicely).

Puree and serve or freeze in ice cube trays.

Cranberry-Orange Buckwheat
This is a great recipe for your little one for breakfast, as something different. I gave it to mine this past Saturday and he ate every bite, no lie! So first of all what is buckwheat? Buckwheat is a fruit (despite it's name), although it is starchy and looks like a grain. There are very simple cooking directions on the package of buckwheat, follow these instructions, but make it on the thinner side. It is like making oatmeal.

1 1/2 cups of Cranberries
1/2 cup low acid orange juice

Boil the cranberries in the orange juice until they begin bursting (careful). Then puree in blender so you get nice smooth sauce. Mix this sauce in with your buckwheat (any extra sauce can bee frozen for a simple cranberry orange puree for your little one). This puree is not smooth as there is buckwheat so this is definitely a stage 3 food, although the cranberry part can be served to babies that have had both cranberries and oranges just on their own.

ENJOY!

Sweet N' Spicy Carrot Fries

2013-01-15T10:48:00.002-05:00

Hi all!

I hope everyone had a great new year and is well into the swing of things for 2013. I am excited because FINALLY we have a walker! My son was a very late walker, I was getting worried I would have to carry him down the aisle :). Anyway so I saw at Price Chopper that a 5 LB bag of carrots was $2, so I couldn't pass that up, and then I had to figure out what to do with all those carrots. Also, my husband and I both just got glasses, so need to turn my son into a beta carotene machine so his eyes stay healthy. My son is a french fry eating machine, if I let him he would eat fries all day long, just like his grandmother. So I decided to try making carrot fries. Same concept of oven fries and oven sweet potato fires but carrots.

Sweet N' Spicy Carrot Fries

Preheat your oven to 375
6 carrots, washed, peeled, and cut into french fry like stripes

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cardamom
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ginger
2 tsp sugar

Cut the carrots and place them on a nonstick baking sheet.

Pour the olive oil on first, and then add the spices. Mix well with your hands so each carrot is coated with the spices.

Arrange the carrots so none are touching each other (if they are touching it will cause them to steam, and not get crunch, we want the crunch).

Bake them in the oven for 35-40 minutes, but keep an eye, they will burn quickly and babies don't like burned food.

Once they are out of the oven transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with salt. The salt will bring out all the flavors we just roasted into these carrots. They honest to god came out tasting just like sweet potato fries, this is also a great healthy alternative as a side dish for your whole family! I know I snuck in a few :).

As you can see my little one loved these!

The cat did not

To make these for a younger baby place into a blender and thin with formula or breast milk and/or a little orange juice. Puree to desired consistency. Please remember that spices are considered a "new food" so remember to wait 3-4 days before introducing a new food.

Last night for a treat I made my son his long time favorite roasted bananas with berries (http://realbabieseatrealfood.blogspot.com/2012/05/roasted-berries-spiced-sweet-potatoes.html), however I added cottage cheese and vanilla extract to boost the protein in his smoothie. It was a huge success, please feel free to try it for your little one!!

ENJOY!!

Ringing in the New Year with the Queen of Green

2013-01-02T09:26:00.006-05:00

First of all I want to wish everyone a happy new year. I am so excited with some of the feedback I have been receiving from readers and people I know, that they are either starting to make homemade baby food or they will be when their babies are old enough!

Real Babies Eat Real Food is now on Facebook! Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RealBabiesEatRealFood

We are going to ring in the new year with a smoothie that I make my son and you can make you for baby 8 months or older with some modifications. The reason I say 8 months at least is because I use pineapple and some babies find pineapple difficult due to the acidity.

Everyone is always remind people to "eat their greens", but not all greens are created equally, and kale is the queen. Kale is high in Iron, Vitamin K, antioxidants, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium, and helps as an anti-inflammatory and with cardiovascular health.

Queen of Green Puree

1 cup Kale, rinsed and chopped
1/2 cup pineapple, chopped
1 Banana, chopped
1 cup vanilla yogurt
Breastmilk/formula as needed to thin it out to desired consistency

Wash and chop your Kale, Pineapple, and Banana

Add to blender

Add yogurt and puree until smooth.

It freezes very nicely into ice cube trays as well!

ENJOY!!! I know your LO will love this one!

Creamy Date Pudding for Baby, Chocolate Pudding for Mommy

2012-12-17T10:07:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the long delay, I have been swamped with holidays, vacationing, and a toddler. Our hearts are very heavy about the Newtown shooting; there are some great articles to guide you about how to talk to your children about it, and to answer any questions they have. http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-to-talk-to-your-child-about-violent-events-in-the-news_3657112.bc?intcmp=Nav_HP_Hero1 Our thoughts and prayers are with those families that lost family members, as well as the entire town that was shaken at its core.

I also want to wish my readers a HAPPY CHANUKAH!

I wanted to share with you a quick food that you can give your baby, your kids, or a guilt-free dessert for yourself also! Yes, you read that right. Sorry for the lack of pictures, we had a coffee poured on phone by toddler incident last night… There are two ways to make this, the first way is to make for your younger baby as a puree, a lunch, a breakfast, dinner, whatever you want.

Creamy Date Puree (for baby)

½ cup-dried dates, putted, soaked in hot water for about 2 hours

1-2 ripe bananas (brown bananas are sweeter so kids tend to like them better), I used 1 but my husband thought it could use a second banana

2 ripe avocados

1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a food processor add all ingredients and puree until smooth. It will have a very creamy, pudding like consistency.

Now for the rest of the family, to your food processor before you puree ADD ½-cup cocoa powder (not hot chocolate mix, but cocoa powder, the stuff you bake with). You now have incredibly delicious, guilt free chocolate pudding. I made the chocolate pudding version of this for my son last night; he loved it so much it involved an immediate bath after. In fact, it was a two-man job; if you are doing the chocolate pudding, I would definitely use a 2cond banana for sweetness.

I also decided to make this this week because all the ingredients were on sale at my supermarket, so this puree, which got about 5 servings for a baby or 4ish for the rest of the family cost me $4 for the entire recipe. Again, you read that right.

When my son started purees, I found the most economical way to feed him was simply look at what was on sale and make his purees accordingly. Just to give you an example, this week at my supermarket, Avocados were 5/$4, bananas were 69 cents a lb., dates were $2.

I would be happy to help you if you want to email me at realbabieseatrealfoodblog@gmail.com, tell me what is on sale and I can help you with a puree!

ENJOY!

Thanksgiving Day and Leftovers!

2012-11-28T11:16:00.003-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving in my house is always fun, my husband does most of the cooking which means I get a nice break. We were hoping that our son would eat the turkey, but he made a face and spit it out (he is more or less a pescatarian). Instead, he enjoyed the sides, a lot. Our table this year was Turkey Breast Roullade, Mashed Potato, Sausage Stuffing, Brussels Sprouts Lardon, Garlicky Green Beans, Cranberry Sauce, Pumpkin Pie, Apple Cranberry Tart, and Pecan Pie.

If this is your little one's first Thanksgiving and they are old enough to have solids, potatoes are a great way to allow them to share in on the festivities. If they are a bit older they can partake in the whole meal. And, if you are adventurous... yes folks, you can put Thanksgiving in a blender. This can be made any day of the year and it freezes beautifully in ice cube trays!

Thanksgiving
1 Turkey Breast
1 large Sweet Potato
1/2 cup cranberries
Cinnamon
Salt
Pepper
or season as you wish

Preheat the oven to 350. Place all your ingredients, including seasonings on a sheet of tin foil, add a capful of olive oil. Wrap the tinfoil up into an envelope so that it is closed on all sides. Place the foil packet on a baking sheet and put it in the oven for approximately 45 minutes- 1 hr. depending on your oven. Everything will steam up nicely and all the flavors will infuse with each other.

While this is in the oven, heat up 1/2 cup of turkey or chicken stock, breast milk, or formula, your choice on the stove. When pureeing meat it is much easier to do so when all the ingredients are the same temperature.

When your foil packet is ready there is going to be some juice in the foil packet, keep it, that is the flavor! Put all of your contents, including the juice into your blender and puree until desired consistency is reached (depending on the age of your baby), as you are pureeing slowly add in the warmed liquid as needed, it will help to incorporate the baby food.

After Thanksgiving I had decent amount of leftovers, mainly a lot of mashed potatoes. The first night I made potato pancakes with the mashed potatoes, but they weren't going fast enough. I really just wanted to use them all at once. So, my brain though of trying to make gnocchi! How hard could it be? NOT HARD AT ALL! SO EASY!!! Here is all I did:

Gnocchi
2 cups cold mashed potato
1 egg
1 cup flour/gluten free flour (I made them gluten free but your choice)

I put all the ingredients into my mixer and mixed until a dough formed. About 5 minutes. Quarter the dough into 4 equal parts. Roll out each quarter into a 3/4 inch thick log and start cutting into 1 inch pieces. Take each piece and roll it with a fork. I did not cook these right away, I layed them out on a baking sheet and flash froze them for about 15 minutes in the freezer. Once they were frozen and hard I put them all into a Ziploc bag and cooked them when we were ready to eat them (which was last night). Simply boil until they float and add a little marinara sauce or olive oil and Parmesan cheese and enjoy. My son cleared his plate, which lately is a big accomplishment. These are a great make ahead meal and now that I know how easy they are to make, I think they will become a regular dinner in my house. The other great thing about these was that they already were seasoned from the mashed potatoes we ate on thanksgiving.

Well I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving! I hope your babies and toddlers enjoy these!

What's for Breakfast?

2012-11-13T11:40:00.001-05:00

My son loves breakfast, OK, I mean who doesn't? I have been playing around with various breakfast ideas for him and came up with two really great ideas. The first can be given to young babies (just swap the adult oatmeal for baby fortified oatmeal), or can be enjoyed for a nutritious breakfast for an adult! I know these recipes are rather tropical for Thanksgiving time, but I happen to love anything that reminds me of laying on the Shore.

Mango Banana Oatmeal Smoothie
1 Mango, peeled, pitted, & chopped
1 Banana, chopped
1/2 cup of Oats
Juice of 1 Orange/formula to thin if giving to younger baby

Very simply, put all ingredients in your blender and give it a whirl!

My son ate it in his Sili Squeeze and LOVED IT!!

Please remember you can buy your child their very own Sili Squeeze at http://thesilico.com/

Now last night for dinner I decided to do breakfast for dinner, I thought that would be fun since it was just my son and I for dinner last night. I made us Orange Scented French Toast! It was delicious, I can vouch for the taste myself, and there was not a piece left on my son's plate either.

Orange Scented French Toast
4 slices bread of your choice
2 eggs
1 egg white
1/4 cup of milk
1/8 cup of orange juice
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Mix the ingredients together and let the bread soak for about 1 full minute. This gives you the time to get the pan nice and hot. Cook em up like you would french toast, a few minutes per side so they are nice and crunchy on the outside and moist and delicious on the inside. I served this with some sliced banana, but you could do any fruit you want.

ENJOY!!!