Cooking for baby

It's raining once again. Weather forecast is simply what it is, a forecast ! I should know to always have a plan B ! and my plan B for today is to stay at home :-)

Today I will be making another batch of food for Kaila. I remember when I first started cooking for her, I got so many advices from friends, relatives, and strangers on how I should cook Kaila's food ! But they go in one side and out the other ! As a first time mom, I like to follow the book, or in my case, new mom's website ! I followed the instructions carefully but after 2 weeks I give up. It was asking me introduce Kaila to individual food each week ! to me that's crazzzzzzzzy talk ! I know they want to single out food that she might be allergic to but man, do they know how many types of fruits, veggies, grains, roots are out there ?????? I decided to brave it and follow my heart, my head, my common sense, and make Kaila food the way I think is healthy and would like to eat - minus meat and seasoning off course !

I think anything that is in it's natural state is good for baby. No additives, no preservatives, no salt, sugar, etc. So fresh produce and whole grains are what I like to cook with. Here are some ingredients I used often: yam, squash, sweet potatoes, barley, spinach and carrot. I would cook them all in a turkey or chicken broth that I made in advance. When the roots are soft to the touch of a spoon, I use a hand blender to blend them all up, then let it boil for another 7 or 8 min. to soften them up some more. I noticed that if I put in lots of yam it will sweeten up the food and over power the other flavor ! which is a good thing.

I normally make her food in a med. sized pot then divide them up into those baby cubes and store them in the fridge. They lasted about 3 or 4 days. You don't want to keep them in there longer than that as they will lost their freshness.

Kaila loves eating them ! She eats them 3 times a day and licks her spoon when done. As for me, I feel less stress cooking for her ! I enjoy cooking more when I can do it without following instructions :-)

I suggest you make your own turkey or chicken broth because the store brough ones are loaded with salt and preservatives. It's really easy to make ! you can use turkey/chicken bones, breast or thighs with bone in. Wash then put them in a pot and filled with water. Bring to boil and then lower the heat to med. and let it simmer for about 1 hr. Let it cool then store in the fridge over night. Take it out the next day, remove the white hardened fats on top and you are left with clear tasty broth to cook with !