One of the nice things about vacationing in Baja when your little one is just starting solids is that she begins her foodie career early. Aside from a few weeks of cereal at home as her tummy was getting used to solid food, she hadn't tried much else before we went on our trip. But after two weeks there she was eating avocado, beans, zucchini, papaya, chayote, banana, and mango. It must have been a downgrade for her when we came home and she was forced to eat things like carrots, parsnips, and pears.
I am going to try and not turn this into a lecture about making your own baby food. I will only ask this: why wouldn't you? Sure, it takes a bit of time and a bit of freezer room. But other than a blender, food mill, food processor, or a strong arm and a fork there is no special equipment required. For me, convenience of a jar does not outweigh knowing what is going into my kids mouth. Let me, then, explain our philosophy. Philosophy? Maybe it would be better to simply say this is our approach and why we do it, it seems less pretentious that way.
First, we make all our baby food. Okay, I do concede to buying rice/barley/oat cereal until she is old enough to eat oatmeal.
Second, we try to do absolutely everything organic. I've been accused to being snobby with this insistence. Maybe, but my thought is that organic food generally tastes better and my biggest concern, aside from nutrition, is developing her palate. If an organic pear has a better taste than a supermarket one, then that's the one that will teach her what a pear should taste like. There is also the environmental benefit, of course.
Third, we generally cook in season for ourselves and so we do for her. That means she is eating a lot of root vegetables that we get locally from storage. It also means a splurge on the so not local fruits like oranges, mango, and papaya, but they are in season in the Southern Hemisphere. As her capacity to chew develops and she ages she can then enjoy strawberries for the first time right out of the garden, the first rhubarb, and sweet peas right out of the pod. it also means I am cooking for all of us, and not just her.
Fourth, what I can't get fresh I buy frozen and still make. Peas are a perfect example, as frozen are as close to fresh you can get. I also have fruit from last summer which I froze whole -like peaches and raspberries - that I can easily puree for her.
Finally, I am still breastfeeding. That means meal time is about exploring new tastes and textures, as well as sitting down together as a family. She is getting a lot of her nutrients from me, and supplemented by the veggies, fruits, fish, and meats she is trying out. I must admit, though, that one of the main reasons I am breastfeeding is that I am too lazy for bottles. My plan is to get her to take a cup so that when it comes time to wean in a few months she will be on a cup and I can avoid bottles all together.
Don't waste your money on fancy kits or cookbooks. Even if you aren't much of a cook, this is easy to do. Really easy to do. Just do one food at a time. As they develop and you feel confident you can try mixing flavours. I always go for things I would generally eat myself - squash with apples and maybe some chicken, beets and oranges, beef and broccoli. And a kit? Just fancy ice cube trays and a special DVD. Read below and email me and I'll get you going.
All that being said, how do I get a load of baby food made and in the freezer with a toddler on hand and a busy schedule?
One thing that has definitely helped has been teaching the toddler how to peel veggies. To be honest, I'm a little afraid that she'll slice herself with the peeler. But I held it with her the first few times and now she is a pro. She asks for help on the end bits, knowing that she could hurt herself. She's tough, but not stupid. While the little one naps The Monster and I will stand and peel veggies. It's a great a activity for both of us. And the pride she has when she sees her sister eating the food she made is enough to make a Mama Foodie cry.
One thing that has definitely helped has been teaching the toddler how to peel veggies. To be honest, I'm a little afraid that she'll slice herself with the peeler. But I held it with her the first few times and now she is a pro. She asks for help on the end bits, knowing that she could hurt herself. She's tough, but not stupid. While the little one naps The Monster and I will stand and peel veggies. It's a great a activity for both of us. And the pride she has when she sees her sister eating the food she made is enough to make a Mama Foodie cry.Smilosaurus (aka Little Miss Sunshine) has now tried most veggies and fruits available to us. That means we can make big batches now. When I first introduced a new food I only made one or two servings. That way I wasn't stuck with a huge batch of cauliflower if she wasn't going to eat it (although you can easily throw it in a cream of veggie soup or macaroni and cheese for yourself). I would simply put a few florets or tablespoons aside from whatever I was making for the rest of us.
Baby Food Making Supplies
Vegetable peeler
Sharp knife
Pot with tight fitting lid/ Steamer
Water
Fork
Food processor/blender/food mill
Ice Cube Trays
Plastic Bags or plastic containers
Wash and peel any vegetables like carrots, parsnips, beets, squash, sweet potatoes. Trim the ends of beans and zucchini. Peel all fruit (except berries).
Chop the veggies into uniform pieces and place them in a small pot with a fitted lid (what I do) or a steamer. Add about a half cup or so of water, not to cover, only to fill the bottom of the pot. Set it on the stove, with a burner turned to high. Don't walk away and watch TV, otherwise you will boil away all the water and burn your veggies (trust me). Steam the veggies until a fork will go through them easily, adding more water if necessary.
All veggies, barring cucumber, should be cooked. I also cook my pears and apples, essentially making an applesauce. But I do not cook berries, mango, papaya, or bananas.
When veggies/fruit are done, drain them of any water. Reserve the cooking liquids. Put your veggies in your blender/food processor/food mill. You may need to add water to get the desired consistency. To start with you may want quite smooth purees. Unless it is a veggie like a sweet potato or cauliflower you might have to add water to do this. If you run out of cooking water I usually take what's left in the kettle after boiling my water for tea that day. Some veggies have a lot of water in them and you won't need to add any, like zucchini. To be honest, we never went the smooth puree route. From the experience of friends it seems that babies who stay too long on smooth purees have a hard time with different textures - even by a year old. That, and my food processor tends to have a rougher chop unless I add a lot of water.
Do not feel like you are diluting your food if you add water. I'm not a nutritionist, so don't quote me if I say it's okay. But I do know that babies bowels have a hard time with new foods and the little bit of extra water generally helps if they are constipated. It's not like I'm serving her soup!
Once you've reached the desired consistency, pour your puree into clean ice cube trays and freeze. Once frozen you can store in plastic bags or plastic containers. Each cube is essentially one serving. At each meal the Smilosaurus will eat anywhere from 1-5 cubes of food. You can defrost the cubes in the microwave or leave a few in the fridge each morning to defrost. They are easy to transport and you can still feed your kid your homemade love when you are out and about.
I want to make a special note about meat here. Generally I will poach the chicken, or keep a tiny piece of red meat or fish aside for her. No seasonings, but broil it or bake it as I do the rest for the family. You need a good blender to really get small pieces, and I generally have to add water (the poaching liquid). When you are feeding the little one, I find it easier to mix it right in with the veggies, you get a better consistency for them. With fish I don't even bother blending it. You can flake it into small enough pieces that are easy for a babe to eat.
When all is said and done, an hour of work once every week or two will get you loads of food. The next step is encouraging your child to eat and explore food. A few mantras we use around here:
Let them get messy. It sure isn't pretty and it's hard on cloth bibs and clothes. But I'm thankful we have dogs that have learned that the floor is pretty tasty after the girls eat. And I highly recommend bibs that cover the shoulders to save yourself some laundry headaches.
Let them decided how much they are going to eat. We should all eat like babies - they get loads of colour in their mostly plant based diet and they stop when they are hungry.
Let them try new things, even if they didn't like it the first time. I saw some guy on TV once (how's that for a source?) who said kids need to be exposed to something about 10 times before they can truly establish a like or dislike for it. Keep offering it. I still can't get her to eat applesauce, but I keep trying.
One final note. Please listen to your public health nurse or health care provider on the recommended way to introduce food. Certain foods should be avoided in the first year, strawberries and egg whites, for example. I'm only a mom, not a nutrition or health care expert. If in doubt, here is a good resource for additional advice and guidance on feeding your baby solids.
I've had this Dick and Jane fabric for a while. She is obsessed with the Dick and Jane books. Do you know how annoying those are to read and reread to the enjoyment of a 2 year old? Maybe I was hoping that the quilt would quell her desire to hear the stories by encouraging her to make up her own with Dick, Jane, Sally, Puff, and Spot on the quilt. Yeah, foolish thinking on my part.
I'm hoping to keep tabs on things by faithfully reading 
The back was pieced with the few remaining fabrics in large enough quanities. This was entirely stash-built so I wasn't about to buy fabric for the backing. It required a bit of creativity, but I thought I captured the energy of the front on a large scale for the back.
So today I am resting, sipping some wonderful tea from 
Then I got my new sewing machine. Thus started the obession with circles. I've made a whole shwack of circles quilts, all very different. The first one I did is one that still requires a label, but it already keeps Hubby warm on the couch in the evenings. 
Subsequent circle quilts have included pieced backgrounds. This move then got me thinking about different ways to do these backgrounds and new shapes to applique. It's amazing how a simple shape like a half square triangle can look so different depending on what you do with it. Three of my most recent quilts all have half square triangles, but fabric choice and placement change the way they look. Often I cut the fabric first and make the blocks, then worry about placement and setting. Such was the case with 
And I liked the idea of the popular Yellow Brick Road quilts. But again, I couldn't bring myself to buy a pattern for what looked so simple. Rather than try and copy it I drafted my own pattern. When I went to make the quilt I decided I didn't want the look of a whole bunch of squares and rectangles. So I combined the wonky log cabin look with the pattern I drew and came up with this.
When you are looking to break free from patterns and kits, remember you don't have to throw out everything from traditional quilting. It is always still a good idea to use a scant quarter inch seam, press well, and trim your blocks square. You can still take those traditional ideas and make them into something new. Don't be afraid. Just start sewing.
There was the grilled sierra mackerel, dorado, and tuna that you caught that day. Okay, so the boat broke down and Hubby had to drive the boat by literally holding the motor in a straight position. At least you had your fish. Although, that was iffy when the boat and the truck brought down to haul it got stuck in the sand once you finally made it back to the launch beach – and the fish was still on board. The antics of many locals and one wiry American with a winch on his truck just for this purpose finally got things sorted out and we were on our way home with our fish. 
After a quick blitz of garlic, lime, and tequila we grilled filets of all three. My brother made a fantastic salsa with sweet and hot peppers, tomatoes, corn, cilantro, lime, garlic, and tequila. Halfway through dinner we had to throw more fish on the grill because between 11 people the fish was quickly disappearing. That’s okay, it meant I had leftovers to make an improvised fish taco for breakfast the next day. Can I just say that sierra mackerel is my new favourite fish? Light but full-flavoured, oily but just a bit fishy to allow you taste the ocean in every bite. 
Oh, and there was the fish that Hubby caught on his two day adventure to spear fish in the rocks right in front of our place. It wasn’t the big one that almost got away, but was grabbed by a moray eel before Hubby could spear it again. Yes, I said moray eel. He was spear fishing and I was snorkeling, I saw it all. We let the eel have it. Instead, we had to settle for the 8 inch grunt that he first caught. My dad set to cleaning it for him and we grilled it whole. Tasty, but barely enough for more than a bite by the adults in our group. Not bad for two whole mornings spent with the spear... We won't discuss the attempts at surf-casting. 
And then there was the Mexican sushi. Hubby and I went out for dinner by ourselves one night and decided to go to the palapas that had sushi. A risky venture, no doubt. There was no Japanese master behind the cooler of fresh fish, but there was wasabi. The rolls were on par with cheap ones we can get at home – fine, but not great. The sashimi of snapper, tuna, and dorado (all local) was fantastic. The fusion of the fresh fish, decently cut, with a cilantro sauce was spicy, clean, and new. With some of our remaining catch I tried to recreate the dish back at the beach house. I didn’t quite capture it, but my brother said my version was even better.
Serve this sauce with a fresh, sushi quality fish. Preferably you will cut it with a proper knife and not some crappy serrated blade that is all you can find in the rental house. Do not, however, let the fish sit in the sauce for long. There is a lot of lime in it and this will effectively cook the fish like a ceviche. We were also going to try it on some grilled fish, but it didn’t last through the raw stuff. Even my nephew was eating it. Of course, his reaction was only meh after he found out it wasn’t with the fish he caught. 
What? A water-themed slideshow of just pictures of water? That would be pretty darn boring. Oh look, here's some blue water. And more blue water. More water, this time the waves are bigger.
On a calmer day Hubby took Little Miss Sunshine into the ocean for a quick dip. She didn't like it the first time, but was happy the second time we did it. Alas, no photos of the second time because that was after the camera took its own dip in the ocean.
Of course there are lots of fish in the ocean. There were also a lot of these porcupine fish on the beach. These poor swimmers were quite easily tossed up by the waves. This one was still alive so we had a good look at it and dropped it in a quiet spot to hope for the best. My nephew wasn't very impressed.
This was not a good moment. We'd just hooked two dorado and were high on the adrenaline and bruises of pulling them in - and the excitement over good eats for dinner. The captain, Ramone, was rehooking the lines and Hubby was steering the boat. Suddenly he couldn't steer. We were a good 6 miles or so from our launch beach and the steering on the boat broke. For a while Hubby actually steered the motor with his hands, but we couldn't go very fast that way. So Ramone tied a gaffe to the motor and amped up the speed while he and Hubby took turns holding the gaffe. It would be nice if the adventure ended there, but it doesn't. Once we got to the beach both the boat and the truck used to haul it out got stuck in the soft sand. Boy that fish tasted real good when we finally got home!
Finally, no pool is really a good pool unless you cannonball. I snapped this great shot of my nephew just before we began our cannonball contest. No surprise, my 250 pound father won!
If Jane and Michael Stern ever went down to Baja they would look for the place advertising local cheese and selling their homemade sweets, then stop at every place within walking distance to check them out as well. We found El Oasis in our guide book, but could have happliy eaten at the Tienda across the street or the other two restaurants down the road.
Just a quiet beach.
