fawn&forest

Part .06  Garden Fresh Dip & Sauce.

No need to banish the Beaba Babycook when baby outgrows the puree.  The Beaba also makes great fresh veggie dips & sauces for the children.

Garden Fresh Dip & Sauce
This recipe is more of a concept, as any veggies could be added. This is what I used:

1-2 tomatoes (depending on size), cored, seeded & chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 big handful of clean spinach
1 clove of garlic, sliced

other ideas:
1 carrot, chopped
sweet potato, chopped
swiss chard, chopped

Follow the Beaba instructions for adding water & layer all veggies into the steamer basket. Steam until all veggies are sufficiently mushy, about 10 minutes.  Remove excess liquids from the base of the steamer & empty veggies into the chopping bowl. Blitz until you reach the desired consistency --chunky to smooth.

For sauce:
At this point, you have a healthy sauce for pasta, rice, quinoa, lentils etc. To create individual portions for a quick lunch, freeze single size portions (in the Beaba multi-portions or Fresh Baby food trays, shown above). Suitable for children who have already eaten each included veggie separately.

For dip:
I'm fairly certain every kiddo loves dip! Cool the puree in the bowl, then add cream cheese. If not using cow's milk, soft goat cheese is a great alternative. The amount of soft cheese needed will depend on the amount of veggies you have made. It's best to incorporate small amounts at a time, until you reach the right texture.

Depending on the age of your child, this would be great for dipping fresh or steamed carrot sticks, broccoli or for spread on crackers or a turkey sandwich.

To read more 'My Life with the Beaba Babycook', click here.

Part .05 Organic sweet potato finger food

If baby is starting to karate chop the spoon, perhaps finger foods are up next on the menu. One medium size sweet potato makes a heaping cup worth of finger food.

1. Wash, peel + dice 1 organic sweet potato. The size of the dice depends on how swanky your babe is.
2. Steam the chopped sweet potato in the Beaba by following these directions. I steamed for 4 minutes, so the chunks were soft but not falling apart.
3. Your baby will be all over feeding himself, so go ahead and give him a handful on his tray or loosely freeze in the sections of Fresh Baby Food Trays.

Ugh! Maybe i don't have time to make finger food?
It is faster to make your own finger food than buckle a baby into a carseat: 30 seconds to peel, 2 minutes to chop (small dice) and 4 minutes to steam. Presto.

Other finger food ideas?
Organic carrot (diced + steamed)
Organic potato (diced + steamed)
Organic apple (diced + lightly steamed)
Organic banana (small chunks)
Organic avocado (diced or small chunks)

For baby food recipes with some fun flavors (cardamon!) read Chowmama.

Read more of... My life with the Beaba Babycook.

Part .04 Organic Mango

Mango is one of those foods that does not need to be steamed/cooked for baby. They can certianly eat it fresh. So you can puree fresh:

1. Wash, peel + chop the flesh 1 organic ripe mango.
2. Skip the steam function of the Beaba Babycook and place the chopped mango in the beaba bowl + puree smooth or chunky.
3. Feed fresh mango puree to baby or freeze in Fresh Baby Food Trays.

Or you can steam:

1. Wash, peel + chop the flesh 1 organic ripe mango.
2. Lightly steam the chopped mango by following these directions. I steamed for 4 minutes. Then puree.... smooth or chunky.
3. Feed fresh mango puree to baby or freeze in Fresh Baby Food Trays.

 

Mixing food is fun :: foods to mix with mango
banana
peach
yogurt (if baby is old enough)
oats, quinoa, millet

 

To read more about mangos and babies, click here. View the Beaba Babycook!

Part .03 Organic Butternut Squash

1. Wash, peel + chop 1 small organic butternut squash.
2. Follow the directions on how to steam + puree using the Beaba, here. Super simple.
3. Feed fresh butternut puree to baby or freeze in Fresh Baby Food Trays (shown above, right).

I was always a bit nervous when making my 1st son baby food. Back then, these were some of my questions + concerns:

What foods do I start with + how often?
A few good resources: 
Dr. Greene (scroll down a bit)
Dr. Sears
Kellymom
Fresh Baby -- make of the Fresh Baby Food Trays (shown above, right)

I have been mixing the fresh purees with oats + grains that baby O is ready for. For a pre-made baby version, I like Happy Baby.

Read more of...... My life with the Beaba Babycook.

My life with the Beaba Babycook continues. This little appliance really rocks it. I am loving it. My 3 year old calls it the "baby baby cooker" which makes me laugh.

Part .02 Organic Apples 

1. Wash + chop 3 small or 2 large organic apples (above, left). Because organic apples have never been sprayed with nasty pesticides + chemicals, the peels are ok to eat. I left the peels on which gave the puree a nice rosy color. Side thought: non-organic fruit is a really bad idea.
2. Follow the directions on how to use the Beaba, here. Super simple.
3. Feed fresh apple puree to baby or freeze in Fresh Baby Food Trays (shown above, right).

I was always a bit nervous when making my 1st son baby food. Back then, these were some of my questions + concerns:

How much baby food do I make at one time?
Not much. To start, babies do not necessarily eat much - a tablespoon (about 1 "cube") or so at a time. Making your own babyfood in small batches  not only makes it easy on you (you can literally do it while you make your morning coffee) but also allows you to try foods out on your baby to see what he likes. No big commitment to a 5 lb. bag of sweet potatoes!

Thick or thin?
Big decisions, which depends on what stage your baby is in. Once you have reach the pureeing step you can decide how thin (super smooth) or thick (chunky) you want to make the baby food. You can control the texture by using the steaming liquid (water!) in the pureeing process. Which is helpful. 

Added bonus: Instant healthy pasta sauce.

Baby food puree marketed as "sauce" for pasta is a perfect toddler lunch. This is perhaps the best idea i've had in a long time. Here is my brilliance:

1. Toss a handful of fresh (or from the freezer) mini-pasta (like ravioli) into a pan of salted boiling water + cook to the instructions on the package.
2. Defrost a couple cubes (if you use Fresh Baby Food Trays) of sweet potato, butternut squash etc.
3. Once the pasta is cooked, mix the defrosted puree with the pasta and a bit of butter or olive oil.
4. Slice up a crispy apple or grapes and you have a healthy, quick lunch for the kiddo.

I am now seeing the long term potential of the Beaba! Next week my series "My life with the Beaba Babycook" will continue as I bring to you butternut squash. Total excitement. 

The Beaba Babycook is one of those baby gadgets that I thought was slightly ridiculous because why should making baby food require a separate appliance? Some things seem so ridiculous that I have to try them out for myself. Perfect timing: our baby son Owen is starting solids.

This is what i found upon making sweet potatoes for the baby: i absolutely love the Beaba Babycook! It's amazing, right? Even though I am not a first time mom + have made baby food before I found it incredibly.... effortless.

Day 01: Organic Sweet Potatoes
1. Wash + peel 1 large organic sweet potato. Roughly cut into chunks (pictured above right).
2. Place the sweet potato chunks in the basket + follow the simple instructions concerning how much water to add.
3. Put the lids in place + turn the dial so the Beaba can do it's thing.
4. About 20 minutes later, the sweet potatoes are mushy-tender when I poke them with a fork. Good!
5. Carefully remove the "basket" that sits inside the steamer bowl. Hot!
6. Some water remains in the steamer bowl (above, left) so i poured about 1/2 of it out. I knew I will need some of it when pureeing the sweet potatoes.
7. Click the steamer bowl back in place and dump the sweet potatoes back into it, putting the lids in place, etc.
8. Now the fun part: puree! Turn the dial to the right + blitz away.
9. When you reach the desired consistency (slightly chunky to super smooth).... you're done! I blitz the sweet potatoes to super smooth....
10. At this point, the baby food is still warm... feed to your baby on the spot or freeze in cubes in Fresh Baby food trays (above, left)

I was always a bit nervous when making my 1st son baby food. Back then, these were some of my questions + concerns:

What about keeping things sterile?
I was using a pan on the stove to steam + a mini food processor. The Beaba, however, is self-contained. You steam + chop in the same container, and it's only used for baby which seems more sterile to me. Also, clean-up was shockingly simple.

How long does making baby food take, anyways? Ah!
I will admit that people may think you are a super mom if you make your own baby food. It seems time consuming. And, back then, sorta was for me. Not so much the cooking.... but the mess I seemed to make. I have been converted! The Beaba is self-contained and literally took 30 minutes start to finish, including clean-up, even with the "help" of my 3 year old. Most of that 30 minutes was waiting for the food to steam.

I am now a fan of the Beaba Babycook + will continue to bring you my new series "My life with the Beaba Babycook"...!