Easy Homemade Baby Food

I have to say, when I see a mom whose cart is just full of baby food at the store, I just cringe. Homemade baby food is one of the quickest, easiest and most inexpensive things you can make so why spend hundreds of dollars buying the little jars? I’ve had four kids and bought a total of about 20 jars of baby food. Most of those jars of baby food were for trips.

Here are a couple quick and easy ways to make baby food:

Steam vegetables or fruits in a small amount of water. You can start with peas, green beans, apples, peaches, pears or sweet potatoes.

For meats: boil in some water until tender. Chicken is a good meat to start with.

Cool. Puree with water or breast milk in a blender or food processor until smooth. I just use a hand blender and I have baby food in about 30 seconds. Just rinse off the blender and you’re done!

Freeze the baby food puree in ice cube trays.

 When frozen, place your homemade baby food cubes in a freezer bag.  Take as many cubes as you need for a meal. Simply defrost and serve.

The Fast and Easy Homemade Baby Food Method

When I’m in a hurry, I just open a can of vegetables or fruit and puree it right in the can with my hand blender. It’s quick and easy. I drain off some of the juice but not all of it. 

Of course, you can always just open a jar of applesauce and give it to them.

If you are on the go: You can store homemade baby food in small half cup containers that are easy to grab and run.

Using Food From You Dinner

You can always use leftovers from your dinner to make baby food, too.  Just puree and freeze it as above.

If the leftovers have seasonings on them, I just rinse them off before pureeing.  Tawra

photo by: lovelihood,   shell_belle, chronic-shock

Related Photos

S’mores Tips

S’mores are amazing things. They can be eaten all year round as snacks or desserts and lots of people, young and old alike, love them. These tips are especially good to keep on hand when the kids want some s’mores and you don’t have a piece of chocolate in the house.

Here are some modern day twists on an old time favorite snack.

• Use chocolate chips or leftover Easter bunnies in place of the candy bar.

• Forget the chocolate altogether. Spread a graham cracker with strawberry or raspberry jam, add a roasted marshmallow and a slice or two of strawberry (or even a slice of banana).
• Spread cinnamon graham crackers with softened cream cheese and fruit.

• This isn’t a s’more idea but I love to spread butter on a cinnamon graham cracker, top it with a second one and dunk it in my coffee for breakfast.

• Chocolate graham crackers are also great spread with peanut butter and slices of banana.
• Cook the marshmallow over the stove. I just put knife in the middle of the marshmallow and then toast it over my electric stovetop.

Here is a good summer S’more dessert you can make and keep handy in the freezer:

Ice Cream S’mores

9 graham crackers, broken crosswise in half to make 18 squares
1 cup hot fudge sauce
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 pint (2 cups) chocolate ice cream, softened

Place 9 graham crackers in a foil lined 9 inch square pan. Spread with half the fudge sauce, sprinkle with marshmallows, spread with ice cream and the rest of fudge sauce. Then cover with the rest of the graham crackers. Freeze overnight or for several hours. Take out of the freezer 10 minutes before serving. Then cut into squares.

photo by: hlkljgk

Related Photos

• Make breakfast go more smoothly and faster in the morning by not giving your children too many choices. Have only 2 boxes of cereal to choose from at a time or have the same thing each morning, like oatmeal on Monday, pancakes on Tuesday, etc.

• Save time at the grocery store by getting in line where there are several men. Men tend to be impatient shoppers so they sometimes help to pack their own bags to help save time. They also rarely use coupons, unless they are well trained by their frugal wives. Just a little joke for our guys out there.

      -Jill

Related Photos

Never Fear — Peanut Butter is Here!

It’s 6 a.m. Once again you spread peanut butter and jelly on your child’s sandwich. Guilt pours over you. You should send a little variety in his or her lunch but at 6 a.m., how can your sleeping brain cleverly whip up a Turkey Club sandwich with freshly fried crisp bacon, turkey you roasted the night before and lettuce and tomatoes picked from your garden that morning. Top that with 5 fresh rosette shaped veggies along with compote of passion fruit, mango and star fruit.

Let’s not even talk about preparing it or convincing your child to actually eat it. Well ladies throw that guilt right out the window because my motto is "never fear-peanut butter is here!" In my wise old age I have concluded that children go through stages of eating just like crawling, walking, the terrible 2′s and teen-age. Each stage has it’s challenges but parents and children alike actually survive them all.

First milk, then mushy stuff, followed by the "I want" stage, when no matter what it is it’s going in my mouth. That includes potting soil and toilet water but not anything on a plate set before them at the table. This stage lasts a very long time, but some golden day they move to the next stage: the peanut butter & jelly stage- (and you thought the other stages were bad).

For three meals a day they dig in their heels and want nothing else. It’s what I call a no brainer menu with little effort to fix and very little clean up. Eventually guilt will again overcome us insisting that we must teach them proper eating habits. When that happens, try this recipe for something that they may actually eat rather than trade or throw away.

Apple Oatmeal Bars

1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 1/2 cups apples, chopped or 3/4 cup apple butter (omit cinnamon)
1/2 cup sugar

Combine the first five ingredients, and pat half into an 8×8 inch pan. Layer apples and sugar. Crumble remaining mixture on top. Bake 35 minutes at 350°

Photo By: kalleboo

Related Photos

Popsicle Paradise!

Remember when you used to sit on your front steps on a hot summer day eating a popsicle? It was usually red or purple and on special occasions you got a fudgesicle. Remember how you tried to lick the drips faster than the sun could melt them? Sometimes the drips would roll down your fingers, forcing you to make the mind numbing decision whether to lick your fingers or the new drips forming on your popsicle. Every once in a while a few drips would get out of control and fall on your bare toes. Remember how your dog’s tongue felt like sandpaper when he licked the sweet gooeyness off of them?

It’s funny how we try to make drama and expensive memories for our children when it’s the simple everyday things we remember the most. Try some of these ideas to keep the kids entertained this summer:

To find popsicle molds, look at discount and mail order stores or garage sales. If you don’t have any molds, use small paper or plastic cups. Put a wooden stick or plastic spoon in the center.

For mini popsicles, pour orange, apple or grape juice or flavored drink mix into ice cube trays. Partially freeze and then place toothpicks in the center of each cube (or place plastic wrap over the top, secure and insert toothpicks through plastic wrap).

Making your own popsicles can give great variety and keep your kids cool this summer!

For non-traditional popsicles:

* Freeze applesauce in popsicle molds.

* Mix fruit or jam into yogurt. Freeze in small, snack sized Ziploc bags for frozen yogurt on the go. Cut a hole in the end of the bag for easy access/eating.

* Mix gelatin and freeze. Add gummie fish or worms before freezing for added fun.

* Freeze syrup from canned fruit.

* Add food coloring or sprinkles to yogurt or softened ice cream for added pizzazz. Then freeze in popsicle molds.

* When you have leftover jam or jelly, put ¼ cup of hot water in the jar and shake well. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze. * If jelly or jam doesn’t set up well, use for popsicles or add more water, boil and make syrup.

* Make a batch of pudding. Add coconut, nuts, marshmallows, crushed cookies or sprinkles if desired. Pour into molds. Freeze several hours until firm.

* Stick a toothpick in the center of blackberries, strawberries, raspberries or sliced bananas. Dip in chocolate if desired. Freeze on a tray. Once frozen, store in freezer bags.

* For easy snow cones, freeze orange juice (or any other flavored juice) in ice cube trays. Store frozen juice cubes in a plastic bag. Blend 5 cubes in the blender until they have a shaved ice consistency. The shaved ice will keep its consistency if kept frozen in a container.

* For watermelon popsicles, blend one cup each watermelon chunks (seeds removed), orange juice and water. Blend well. Then pour and freeze into molds.

* For strawberry popsicles, blend 2 cups strawberries, 1 cup vanilla ice cream or yogurt, 4 cups orange juice and 2 tablespoons sugar. Blend smooth. Pour into molds and freeze.

* For banana popsicles, dissolve one 3 oz. package strawberry gelatin with one cup boiling water. In a blender, mix gelatin, 1 banana and 1 cup yogurt or ice cream. Blend well and pour into molds.

Pudding Pops

1 pkg. pudding (not instant*)
3 cups milk
Combine 1 large package of pudding with 3 cups of milk. Mix only enough to blend well. Quickly pour into popsicle molds and freeze. Chocolate and vanilla pudding may be layered for a fun treat. Makes 8-10 popsicles.

*Regular homemade pudding may be used instead of store-bought pudding mix.

Photo By: Auntie K

Related Photos

If it seems like your children are eating 10 times the amount of food in the summer compared to when they are in school, they probably are. For some strange reason most children have a super growing spurt in the summer, not to mention that they are no longer just sitting at a desk all day.Usually, they’re out running or swimming off that excessive energy all summer long. Because of all of this, they really are hungry and use all that fuel quickly.

Here’s an example of a day’s worth of snacks in my daughter’s house:

Popcorn
apples
packages of peanut butter crackers
muffins
apples or bananas.
Prepackage things like cereal or crackers into ziptop bags in 1 serving size.
She also places a bowl in the fridge with cheese sticks, yogurt and other cool foods.

Do you feel if you hear "I’m hungry, what is there to eat?" one more time, you will not be responsible for your actions? Here’s an idea my daughter came up with to help her keep her sanity: In the morning after breakfast she filled a bowl or plate with the day’s portions of snacks and sets one out for each child. When acute starvation hits, they then can just grab something out of the bowl instead of screaming "MOM…" one more time. Stop the snacking about an hour or so before the next meal to make sure they will eat their lunch and dinner.

Jill

 phot0 by: karen 2873

Related Photos

Many of our readers ask, "How do I get my kids to eat? They are so picky and I’ve run out of ideas…"

It’s in a kid’s nature to be picky. It’s funny that kids will frown upon anything new. Our children will eat the same thing almost every day and then one day say, "I don’t like sloppy Joe’s". Our oldest son eats pizza but does not like sausage pizza. One day recently, he tried the sausage and loved it. He said that he loved the little meatballs. When Mike told him it was good to see him eat sausage, he suddenly wouldn’t eat it. Later, we decided it was better to let him call them meatballs if that’s what it took to get him to eat it! Let this be a lesson to you – If you give the kids zucchini bread, just tell them that it is "bread"!

Kids’ eating habits could send a family to the poor house! Between pop-tarts, fruit chews, juices boxes and containers of cool applesauce it would be easy to spend the entire month’s grocery budget in one week. Here are some tips to help you find something they will eat while hanging on to some of that cash in your pocket.

Breakfast:

Are you being squeezed? - The USDA recommends two 8 oz. (1 cup) glasses of milk per day for a child. If you give your kids more than two cups a day, everything over the 2 cups is just calories, and expensive calories at that. The same is true of juice. The USDA recommends 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day for kids.

Did you know that for children under age five, 3/4 cup of juice is one serving of fruit? How often do you fill a glass to the top with juice for your child only to find that the child doesn’t drink most of it? Limit the amount of juice served to one or two small glasses a day and serve the rest of their fruit and vegetables in whole form. Whole fruits are more healthy for them than juice.

French Toast Sticks – After cooking french toast, cut each piece into 4 strips. Kids love to dip these in syrup.

Present oatmeal in a fancy glass such as a sundae dish. Place some homemade granola, fruit, honey, brown sugar or nuts on top.

Stir any of the following into oatmeal:

• sugar
• cinnamon and sugar
• brown sugar
• butter or margarine
• molasses
• maple syrup
• applesauce
• chopped apples
• dried apples
• raisins
• berries
• bananas
• chopped peaches
• jam or jelly
• plain or fruit yogurt
• wheat germ
• dark brown sugar and 1 drop of maple extract makes oatmeal taste just like the store bought instant oatmeal

Snack Ideas:

Have a snack sitting at the kitchen table for the kids when they come home from school. This way they won’t be grouchy in the afternoon from being hungry. This will also prevent them from digging though the kitchen cabinets looking for something themselves and messing up your neat, well-organized pantry. It is also the perfect time for you to sit and visit with them about their day at school.

To discourage bad snack habits, don’t buy unhealthy snacks or keep them in the house.

Present your snacks with a plate, place mat, napkin and maybe a flower from the garden. This way your snacks always look inviting.

Have jars sitting on the counter with sunflower seeds, raisins, granola, prunes or peanuts for the children. If they see healthy snacks they’re more likely to want them.

Try these snacks on your kids:

• Fresh fruit
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Apples, cut into quarters, with core removed
• Popcorn balls
• Popcorn
• Bagels
• Muffins
• Dried apples or bananas
• Breadsticks
• Oranges, peeled and quartered
• Pumpkin bread
• Banana bread
• Zucchini bread
• Bananas
• Crackers and cheese
• Frozen grapes
• Veggies with ranch dressing
• Celery sticks, spread with peanut butter
• Cherry tomatoes
• Cheese
• Strawberry leather
• Cookies
• Puddings
• Yogurt Popsicles
• Homemade granola bars
• Beef jerky
• Pretzels
• Tortillas with cream cheese
• Peanut butter snacks
  
• Yogurt with fruit or wheat germ added
• Milk
• Chocolate milk
• Homemade hot chocolate
• Creamy Orange Shake
• Milk shake
• Smoothies 
• Apples, quartered and cored with 1 tsp. peanut butter on each quarter
• Bananas sliced in half and spread with peanut butter
• Bread or toast cut into quarters and spread with jelly, jam, peanut butter, spiced honey or honey butter
• Crackers spread with peanut butter and jelly or jam
• Place some peanut butter and honey on a pancake and roll up for a snack. This is great for leftover pancakes.

photo by: abbybatchelder

Related Photos

Donna writes:

I am faced with getting two boys to soccer and baseball practices in the evenings. I am hoping to pack drinks and a hearty snack to get them through practice. I leave work at five and practice is often at 5:30. What can I feed the kids that fits the following criteria?

• Can be eaten in the car on the way to practice

• Can be made in the morning and either kept in the car or at my desk
• Will be hearty enough to get them through practice and home again for dinner

Jill: You can adapt most snack foods to take in the car. You can even bring things that need to be refrigerated. Just use a small cooler or lunch box. Even a brown paper sack keeps things nicely insulated. You can buy small ice packs to pack with the food. (You should be able to find them by the coolers and thermoses at your store.) Another good idea is to freeze water, lemonade or some other drink in a plastic bottle. When you pack it in with food, it works as an ice pack and as something cold to drink for the kids. If it is going to be an extra long day, I sometimes use both the ice pack and the frozen drink.

If you can, pack the boys their own individual snack boxes using either small shoe boxes or lunch boxes. They can then hold these on their laps to catch the crumbs and when they’re done, the boxes are a great way to "pack out the trash" so you will not have quite as big a mess in the car!

Keep things as easy as possible. For example: if you are taking oranges, have them peeled and broken into segments for them. This will make it easier for them and reduce the mess in the car.

Keep a running list of the snacks you take each day for a couple of weeks. At the end of that time you will have a list of about 20 to 30 snack items to refer to when you can’t think of what to take.

Without knowing your food preferences, it is hard to tell you specifically what to take but here are some general ideas. Some may be a little messy in the car depending on the age of the children and some may need to be kept cooled (use my ideas above for keeping these cool). To expand the variety, give them different variations of my suggestions. For example, with fruit, give them an apple one day, an orange the next and so on.

Try starting with these:

• Sandwiches(to prevent them from becoming soggy take packets of ketchup,mustard etc. to be put on right before they eat them) peanut butter, cheese, turkey, roast beef, ham, chicken

• Crackers with cheese
• Popcorn or Popcorn balls
• Sandwich bags filled with cereal
• Granola
• Banana bread
• Dried fruit
• Nuts
• Muffins
• Fruit
• Veggies
• Pudding
• Yogurt with fruit
• Hard boiled eggs
• Burritos
• Cheese
• Chips

If your kids don’t mind leftovers, bring that leftover piece of chicken or small container of leftover fruit salad for them too.

Jill

photo by: cowbite

Related Photos