Cooking for Carson - Summer Veggie Blend

My husband works in the plant sciences department at a University and so from time to time we are able to get some great veggies to use at home. He brought home some nice looking snap beans the other day and so I decided to make Carson some more babyfood. Now he doesn't like straight green beans so I have to mix them with other stuff. I had zucchini and summer squash at home and I know he likes both of those so I decided to cook them all together for him. In total I believe I used about 3 cups of green beans, 3 zucchini, and 4 smallish summer squash. Just cooked them all in a large stockpot with boiling water, drained off the water and then pureed in my food processor.

Since he is getting older now I'm trying to get him use to more complex flavor combinations than a simple one veggie or fruit puree. He did seem to enjoy this. It made a lot. Enough to fill two ice cube trays.

Cooking for Carson - Zucchini

This was the first thing I decided on my own to make for Carson. At his four month apointment the pediatrician said there were 9 weeks until his next appointment and to give him the following. Two weeks of cereals (rice and oatmeal), then 3 weeks of yellow/orange veggies (squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots) and 4 weeks of green veggies (he only mentioned peas and green beans). I figured since he liked squash that he would enjoy zucchini so I made that. It was super easy to make.

Slice 2 zucchini into thin slices and place in pan with water.


Bring water to a boil and boil cook until zucchini is soft. Drain off zucchini slices and place in food processor. Pulse until desired consistency.


Voila.

Cooking for Carson - carrots

There really isn't much to this recipe just carrots and water. Just take a bag of frozen carrots (I used crinkle cut but it doesn't matter) and boil in water until soft and gummable. Drain and place in blender or food processor and pulse until smooth. If it is too thick then thin with water. If too thin then thicken up with cereal.

Place pureed carrots in ice cube trays. You can freeze them and then thaw cubes as needed for feeding.

Cooking for Carson - Homemade Baby Oatmeal Cereal

Carson had his 4 month appointment yesterday and at it our doctor suggested starting him on cereal. My goal is to make as much of his babyfood at home as possible so that I know exactly what is going into his system. I have found some great recipes at Wholesome Baby Food.

I had old fashioned oats in our pantry so I ground about a cup or so in the food processor until they resembled a powder.



Then I cooked 1/4 cup of the powder and cooked it in 1 cup of boiling water, whisking to remove as many clumps as possible. I took 1 Tbsp of cooked oats and mixed it with about 2 Tbsp of pumped breastmilk and voila. Homemade babyfood.




The problem was that Carson still hasn't quite figured out the whole swallowing thing, plus it is still thicker than store bought oatmeal cereal so I will stick with the store stuff until he is better at eating from a spoon and then give him the thicker stuff again.