Super Baby Food Ruth Yaron

[Anais Wachowski]

1Fully cook or steam the vegetables.

2. Puree the vegetables in a blender. Remove any stringy or solid pieces. You want the food to be super smooth.

3. Pour spoonfuls into an ice cube tray. Each cube is a serving.

4. Cover tray in tin foil and freeze.

I have a son who is 11 months old that I am going to make some homemade baby food for the first time. I have always bought the Gerber baby jars and since he is my last baby, I want to at least try to make it once!

I did homemade baby food from the very begining I just got my ideas of the jars I saw at the store and then prepared it at home. I also had a food processor but mine was a special food grinder for baby food. My dad got it 20+ years ago and I have no idea where. But when preparing food for our family I just made theirs too but since I was preparing I could leave out sauces or other things that they were not physicaly ready to handle

Mikayla wanted to make it fresh, so she focused on Yaron's book, underlining tips and advice for various eating stages in a baby's first three years. Especially helpful, she said, was the part that explained when to introduce certain foods.

At 6 months, when Ilia was ready to start solids, Mikayla pumped up the nutrition by adding her own breast milk to the easily digestible first foods like mashed sweet potato and pured bananas. She stored pures in ice cube trays. "Each cube was one serving," she said. When Ilia was ready for a meal, she put the cube in a small zipper-top bag, soaked it in warm water for a few minutes, then cut the end of the bag and squeezed the food into a bowl. "It was easy," she said.

When Ilia was 9 months, the couple introduced their son to "super porridge," another Yaron recommendation. They ground up brown rice and other whole grains and cooked that with beans. "He loved it" and ate it daily for breakfast.

"We learned that we could mix and match grains, and we began to use flax seed," Borislav said. They also added the flax to their own meals. "Ilia changed our diets. Before, we didn't think too much about what we were eating." Making baby food "made us eat healthier," Mikayla said.

Their second child, Evela, now 21 months, didn't go for the pured foods as much as Ilia, she said. So they adjusted to suit her needs. "We found there is really not a right way. You just do your best" to make sure they get the nourishment they need.

Melissa Williams learned this the hard way. She is the mother of 7-month-old Adrian and also three other boys, ages 14, 9 and 7. She began reading food labels more closely a couple of years ago and buying more whole foods and organic foods to improve the health of all her children. "Before Adrian was born, I began to think about what goes into a new baby's body" and how it affects development later.

And it is easier these days to find organic ingredients. Williams remembers when she had her third child more than seven years ago, there were fewer organic options at grocery stores. "I think it is easier to be healthy these days," she said.

Williams, 34, and her friend, Shanna Watson, 35, met at a prenatal yoga class last year. "We discovered we had a lot in common," Williams said, including how and what they would feed their babies, born just 20 days apart. The women did some Web research and last month started making batches of fruit and vegetable pures in Watson's kitchen. Now they schedule weekly play dates for Watson's daughter, Maya, who is 6 months, and Adrian. And they set aside one date a month to make baby food.

Recently, this became apparent at the Williams home during nightly family dinners. "Adrian wanted to nurse as soon as we sat down to eat. His sense of smell was kicking in, and digestive juices were flowing," Williams said. Rather than disrupt or skip out on family dinner time, "I started setting him in the high chair at the table." Now "he is in on the family dinner," happily eating his pured meal.

When Williams and Watson made plans to make their own baby food, they decided they wanted "to make sure the food was clean and/or organic," Watson said. Williams discovered the "Dirty Dozen" and the "Clean 15" fruit and vegetable lists, which were compiled by the Environmental Working Group, an organization that gathers data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The annual results are based on the amount of pesticide residue found in non-organic fruits and vegetables after they had been washed. The Dirty Dozen contain the most pesticide residue, so they buy organic if the fruit or vegetable is on that list. They buy non-organic if it is on the Clean 15 list.

Last week, Maya and Adrian watched their moms peel cooked sweet potatoes and organic Fuji apple pieces. The moms took breaks to change diapers or nurse. At one point, Williams put Adrian down for a nap while Maya ate and smeared sweet potato pure around her face and arms.

After they made applesauce with the apples, adults and babies were eating it. The food processing and clean up took more than a couple of hours, but they both said it is well worth the time. And they are busy. Watson works full time as a financial adviser, and Williams is busy with the activities of her four boys.

Wash and dry sweet potatoes. Prick them with a fork. Bake in 400-degree oven for about 25-30 minutes, until soft. Cool. Remove peels. Blend with pan liquids to proper consistency. Store in ice cube trays, silicone trays or freezer bags. Once the potatoes are frozen, you can transfer cubes to a large bag to free up the ice trays and save freezer space. Date and identify the food in each bag.

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