Recipes For Home-Made Baby Foods

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You're concerned about what 'additives' might be in commercial baby foods.

Your child has allergies or other special needs.

You have a picky eater on your hands.

You want to save money.

There are all kinds of reasons you might want to make your own baby food. Even if you do use commercial foods, sometimes it's just good to have some recipes on hand in case your baby 'suddenly' decides she no longer likes what you usually serve or you just want to give him something different. If you'd like an idea of what you can serve your baby from your cabinet, here are a few recipes.

Of course, you will want to check with your doctor to see if it's okay to introduce new foods or spices. The age ranges I've given are estimates; every baby is different.

Here's a recipe for baked apples that can easily be adapted for the rest of the family. For everyone else, just skip the last step.

Baked Apples (usually appropriate for 4-6 mos)

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

For each serving, pick a sweet apple. Gala and Red Delicious are my favorites, but you can use any sweet variety. Wash it and remove the core (but not the skin, that comes later). You will want to keep the rest of the apple in one piece, so use a thin knife or melon baller. Now, put the apple on a sheet of aluminum foil and sprinkle cinnamon over it put raisins in the core. Some people add some honey or maple syrup to counteract the tartness of the raisins, but that's up to you. Now, tightly wrap the apple in the foil and bake until tender, about 45 minutes. When you take it out of the oven, let it cool, remove the skin and puree or mash.

Here's a mild and easy-to-make veggie recipe for babies 6-9 mos old.

'Caulitatoes'

3 medium-sized yellow potatoes

2 cups cauliflower florets

1 tbsp unsalted butter.

First, steam the cauliflower until tender, about 5-6 minutes. While that's going on, peel the potatoes and cut into ½ chunks. Then, add potatoes to a pot of water and bring to a rolling boil until tender, about 10 minutes. Then, add the potatoes, cauliflower, butter and ¼ cup of the boiling water to a food processor or blender and whip until smooth.

For your baby's breakfast:

Fast and Fruity Oatmeal (usually 6-9 mos.)

8 fluid ounces (1 cup) of water, milk or breast milk

½ cup oatmeal

½ cup mashed or chopped fruit, whichever your baby likes best

¼ tsp. cinnamon

Put the oatmeal, cinnamon and whichever liquid you're using into a large bowl and microwave until thickened, usually about 3 minutes on High. Mash or chop the fruit, add to cooled oatmeal and stir.

As you can see, it's not very difficult or expensive to make baby food at home. Like I said before, my timeframes are estimates; ask your doctor before starting your baby on a new food.
For more recipes, see http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/index.html and http://www.nurturebaby.com/index.php/recipes.