Sweet potatoes, carrots and chicken



This little guy loves his food. We have come a long way in the past month since starting on solids. I have been making most of his food. I did end up buying some baby food to have for convenience purposes, and to take with us when we went camping, but that is another story. :) Also, while I'm sure it is possible to make prunes into a baby food, I don't feel quite that adventurous. So I intend on feeding him store bought prunes ever so often to help with, well, you know.

So far I have made peas, apples and sweet potatoes. He enjoyed all except the peas, though I don't blame him. I have tried everything I've given him (okay so I did not try the prunes, or the store bought peaches simply because they smelt awful. And since his poop after having the peaches smelt more like a peach than the food did, I don't think I'll try that one in the future. And you can bet I won't buy it again either.) The peas were made from canned peas that I rinsed really well, I will try making them again with fresh peas, and probably mix them with some carrots.

Here are a few things I've learned about making homemade baby food:

• A Vita Mix is essential for ultra smooth puree. (Though I'm sure you could get by with your run of the mill blender or food processor)
• While adding breast milk instead of water to the purees provides more calories and nutrients, the convenience of heating the frozen food up in the microwave trumps the higher calorie count. I figure he can just have fresh breast milk straight from the source instead. ;) (If you are new to this, breast milk cannot be heated in a microwave or on the stove; also you cannot use frozen breast milk and then re-freeze it.)
• You cannot put sweet potatoes on the stove to steam and then take a shower. When the water evaporates the sugars from the potatoes burn on the bottom of the pan, creating your own little smoker. And even though the sweet potatoes are perfectly steamed, they now have a distinctively smoked taste to them.
• It is incredibly cheaper to make baby food at home. It is $1.08 (plus tax) for a two pack of baby food. If I mix it with rice cereal, I can get two servings per pack. One sweet potato (which costs on average $2) makes about 12 or more servings, which is a difference of $0.10 per serving.
• If you don't have an ice cube tray (you should get one to freeze the food into perfect portions), you can scoop the food onto a cookie sheet lined with foil. Do not use parchment paper (because the food sort of melts into it) or waxed paper (because if the food is warm, it will melt the paper).

Are you still there? :D I'm getting a bit long winded, so I better get to the whole point of this post:

I read somewhere that breastfed babes stop absorbing as much iron from the breast milk when they begin solids. So, in an effort to increase his iron intake, I decided to introduce meats. After reading up on this, I found that meats are usually best mixed with veggies. Too much protein isn't good for the little one's kidneys. Also the veggies help to mask some of the taste. So after looking around I came up with this recipe. And as you see from the pictures, it was a hit. :D

Sweet Potato, Carrot and Chicken Puree

Ingredients:

1 large sweet potato

1 large carrot

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast; trimmed of fat and tough pieces

1 cup water

1/2 cup apple juice (no sugar added, not from concentrate, pasteurized)

1. Chop up the potato, carrot, and chicken breast.

2. Mix ingredients together in pot.

3. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

4. Spoon out potatoes, carrots and chicken and place in a blender. Add about half of the liquid. Blend. Continue to add liquid until desired consistency is met. I ended up using it all, but needing no additional liquid.

5. Freeze food in baby sized portions.

As you can see, babies aren't the only ones that enjoy this yummy puree. ;)





Chili Tortilla Bake

I wasn't very prepared today. Thursday night Mr. Riley decided he wasn't going to sleep well, so mommy didn't get very much sleep prior to working a 12-hour shift on Friday. He has a sensor that tells him when mommy will be going to work. That means I get about 4 hours of sleep prior to working. And that isn't a continuous 4 hours. So, as you can imagine, I end up needing to recuperate the next day. That brings us back to today. Instead of planning dinner and getting something out of the freezer, I spent my time napping and playing with Riley.

I got online and googled "casserole recipes" and eventually found this one. It was one of the first I looked at, and amazingly enough I had all of the ingredients. Well, sorta. We both liked it, and I will be making it again someday. That means, I will be sharing it with you all, so that you might enjoy it as we did. :D The original recipe can be found here.

Chili Tortilla Bake
Ingredients
-1 pound extra-lean ground beef
-16 ounces canned tomato sauce
-1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
-1 cup frozen corn (I drained an 8 ounce can of corn, since I didn't have frozen)
-1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
-2 tablespoons dried minced onion (I chopped up a quarter of an onion, since I didn't have this)
-2 tablespoons chili powder
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
-Dash of cayenne pepper (I added this to give it a kick)
-6 whole wheat tortillas (8 inches) (I used regular tortillas)
-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat (with chopped onion if you are using fresh onion like I did) until no longer pink.

2. Stir in the tomato sauce, beans, corn, green chilis, dried onion (if you didn't use fresh), chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, and cayenne pepper until heated through. Allow it to simmer for a couple minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. The original recipe calls for an 11-in x 7-in baking dish, but I have a Corningware 2-1/2 quart round casserole dish that fit the tortillas perfectly, so I used that instead. Coat whatever dish you decide to use with cooking spray, then layer the beef mixture, tortillas, and cheese until you have no more room to layer. I ended with a tortilla with a sprinkling of cheese on top.

4. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350. Serve with sour cream if desired.

Take my word for it...

I have a sitter. (I do have pictures, but alas I am that lazy.) It was amazing how fast it happened. One day he had to be supported while sitting all the time, then he was able to sit for about a minute by himself, until now he can sit for several minutes before he decides to reach for something really far away and ends up on his stomach. He also will occasionally fall backwards, but that doesn't happen as often.

Today Riley and I went to Heaven Sent, a children's consignment store. It is in Federal Way, and I forgot all about it until today. I went there way before Riley to visit a friend of mine who worked there. I walked away with a never used grocery cart cover, a barely used board book about trucks, 3 fabric books (one that krinkles which is his favorite noise) that look like they were never used, and 4 pairs of pajamas. All for $25. It was a wonderful day. I was super excited about the books because Riley kept stealing one from my friend's baby the last time we were together. He was also excited about them. :D

I am making dinner right now, so that is it for now.