Yesterday, my little sister Sydney came over and spent the day with us. She is 12. She saw my babycook and decided that she wanted to make some babyfood. I bought my babycook on craigslist, so it didn't come with any instructions so we just had to guess how to use the thing. It turned out to be pretty simple, actually. After watching a youtube video of someone making baby food, we decided to make our own how-to video, but Logan cried the whole time and you can barely hear what I am saying, so we aren't going to post that :) We ended up making carrots, bananas, and apples. Heres how you do it:
1.) Wash and peel your fruits or vegetables. Even if they are organic. You never know who has touched them.
2.) Cut the vegetable/fruit into bite size pieces and put them into the steamer basket.
3.) Fill the container up with water to the appropriate mark. Generally, the harder the vegetable, the more water you will need. So for potatoes, you would want to fill it to the 3. But for softer fruits, such as pears, you don't need as much.
4.) Pour the water into the reservior at the top of the machine.
5.) Attach the container to the machine and insert the steamer basket. Place the lids on both the main container and the reservior at the top.
6.) Switch the front dial to the left to steam. The picture looks like a little cloud.
7.) Wait 15 minutes for the food to steam.
8.) Remove (carefully!) the steamer basket from the machine. There will be some water left in the bottom. Reserve this cooking liquid so you can add it to the pureed veggies to achieve your desired consistency.
9.) Put the veggies into the blender part of the machine. Put the lid back on and switch the dial to the other side to blend. You may have to add some of your cooking liquid to get it to the correct consistency. I had to do this with the carrots, but not the apples or bananas. Especially since Logan is just starting out on baby food, I wanted it to be very mushy and not have any chunks in it.
10.) Spoon your baby food into portioned containers labeled with the name and date you made the food OR portion the food into ice cube trays or other baby food freezer trays and freeze for up to 3 months. It is recommended to freeze the food and then put the cubes into a heavy duty freezer bag to keep them fresh.
Logan really liked the food we made. He actaully doesn't really care for the Earth's Best apples that we have been feeding him because they are very tart. I used an organic Gala apple, and he seemed to really like it. I still have about 20 jars of first foods left in the pantry, but I am going to use them for travelling.
Some good choices for baby's first foods:
Vegetables- Peas, Green Beans, Squash, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Pumpkin, and Zucchini
Fruits- Avocado, Apples, Bananas, Pears, Prunes, and Peaches
