Baby Food- Prep Day 2

Since I was off today, I spent a few minutes making some more baby food for Gideon.  I decided to make a few single vegetable purees, as well as some blended fruits.  I'm excited for Gideon to have more variety in his diet; we'll see what foods he likes next!

Prep Day 2
Spent- Approximately $7
Yield- Approximately 50 oz
Time- 30-45 minutes

Green Bean Puree
- Prepare 1 bag of "steam in bag" green beans, puree until smooth, and add water to desired texture.  Place in ice cube trays and freeze.  Yield- 1 ice cube tray

Carrot Puree
-Peel 1 bag of carrots and cut into cubes.  Steam until soft.  Puree until smooth, adding water if necessary.  Yield- 1 ice cube tray
*I'd done some research which suggested that the nitrates in soil could precipitate certain types of anemias in infants who ate home prepared carrots.  My pediatrician didn't seem alarmed about my wanting to prepare my own baby food, and said that this risk was very small.  To make the risk of anemia even smaller, I prepared this recipe with organic carrots, and thinned the puree with fresh water (instead of residual cooking liquid).

Banana-Blueberry Puree
-Cook 1/2 cup blueberries over low heat with a small amount of water until soft.  Puree with 3 peeled bananas.  Yield- 1 ice cube tray.  (These are VERY yummy!)

Strawberry-Plum Puree
-Peel, cube and steam 4 plums, as well as 12 fresh strawberries.  Puree until smooth.  Yield- 1 ice cube tray.  (This makes a very pretty puree, and it tastes very yummy, too!)
*Strawberries used to be a "Forbidden Food" due to the risk of food allergies.  Some recent publications from the AAP suggest that after exclusively breast feeding for at least 4 months, there are no protective benefits from withholding certain foods from a baby's diet (with the obvious exceptions of things that could cause a child harm, like honey).  There is additional evidence that suggests that cooking strawberries reduces their allergenic potential.  Since there are zero food allergies on either side of Gideon's family, and our pediatrician did not suggest that we withhold strawberries until 1 year old, I was okay with introducing them.

Simple avocado puree
-Smush up 1/2 avocado.  Serve.
*I'd read that due to the high fat content of avocado, this puree is nutritionally similar to breast milk.  I know of other mommies who mix avocado with banana.  I know several babies who LOVE mashed avocado; Gideon was less than impressed.

We've also added a new snack food to Gideon's diet- Gerber Graduate Puffs.  He REALLY likes them.  He also tried to steal my Earl Grey tea yesterday morning.

Little boy is growing up so fast!