I’m excited about today because it marks the start of a foodie journey that I’ve not done before and you’ll get to come along with me I’m afraid, I hope that’s OK?
We’ve been weaning the babies, slowly, since they were about five and a half months. Starting with fruit purees and progressing to ‘Stage One’ pouches. Now we’re on to ‘Stage Two’ pouches. The twins love them and are doing really well. But the pouches are expensive. They range from about 98 pence to £1.50 per pouch. And as I’ve got two mouths to feed and two babies who love their food I’ve found myself looking at the ingredients and thinking “I could make that myself and it would cost me pence not pounds”
So I’ve started making my own purees and I’m going to be sharing them here for any parent who’d like to try them.
Today I’m starting with a Sweet Potato and Pear baby meal. I can’t really call this a puree as it’s thicker than that and my feeling is that it will work best on children who are between seven and eight months old. Sweet Potato is thicker and has more bulk than other vegetables, which is great as it is also slow release and is very healthy, but I’ve had to bear in mind the size of the babies when I’ve been feeding this meal to them. For example Anaïs is bigger than Ned in every sense and she copes with Sweet Potato just fine. Ned is smaller and I believe he has a smaller throat so he struggles with food that is this bulky right now. He has also had his first really bad cold the last two weeks and being all blocked up has hindered his eating so he’s had a lot of very smooth easy food. This is fine though as it means that I am able to come up with baby recipes that are for younger and older babies at the same time and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you. I’m enjoying experimenting with children’s food as much as I enjoy messing about with adult recipes and I hope this is helpful to anybody who wants to have a go at making their own.
In case of allergies please check with your GP or health visitor before trying these recipes
This will make between 3-4 individual meals for a baby 7+ months.
What you will need for this recipe:
- 1 large sweet potato or 400g sweet potatoes peeled (before boiling)
- 2 medium sized pears or 200g of pears peeled (before stewing)
- Pinch of cinnamon – PLEASE check with your doctor before giving your children Cinnamon, as although it’s rare allergies can occur. If your child is not allergic to Cinnamon it is a wonderful way of flavouring baby food without the need for added sugar and is very good for the tummy.
- A food blender
Peel and slice the potatoes, then boil on medium heat until soft.
Peel and slice the pears and at the same time you are boiling the potatoes, (and on another hob) stew the pears on a low heat in 1-2 tablespoons water until soft.
Drain the potatoes and add them, with the pears to the food blender. Add a pinch of cinnamon and blend for approximately one – two minutes until the ingredients are blended
Serve immediately if it is not too warm or store in an airtight container until your are ready. This meal should keep for at least twenty four hours if airtight and stored in the fridge.
This recipe also freezes well if stored in an air tight container.
Anaïs liked this meal almost as much as she likes wearing her bib on her head. She too has been hit by The Snot but seems to be coping.
I see she’s taken her bib off. Hmph!
Oh.
Hmmmm! I can tell that she’s trying to think of the next thing to fiddle with.
Aha! I’m not kidding, the frill on this skirt kept her going for at least twenty minutes. And feet! Don’t get me started on feet. Ned will chew on his for an age!!
Have a wonderful day. I love you and thank you, again and always, for reading.
Cherry x
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Purees are incredible, thanks for the awesome article. Keep up the good work.
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Wow! Lots of responses! Anais is just too cute fiddling with her clothes. I am glad that you are making them their baby food. It’s so much better for them and you are right, so much less expensive. There is a little grinder thing that I had for my babies. It’s got only two parts, you open it, put the food in, close it, turn the handle and the ground food comes out some little holes in the top. Can’t think what it’s called right now but I bet you already have one. I would even take it along on the rare occasion that we ate out and could puree a little of our food for the baby. So easy!
Hey Cherry! Our youngest is 38 years, but I made all his food, froze it in ice cube trays, and had bags full, his fave was peach chicken, peas, and apple all at once! Couldn’t feed him fast enough! Now he’s 6’2″! Loved bananas and apples together, just mixed everything all together. It’ was really fun.
Hi Cherry! I think you are going to need a LOT of bibs for the babies very soon. I´ve made quite a lot for baby showers for my friends. There is a very easy tutorial that you can find here:
http://www.purlbee.com/liberty-bibs
Or this lovely idea:
http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2009/10/bibs.html
I strongly recommend that you use terry cloth for the back, that way the food or spills won´t go to your babies clothes. I still remember a very tiny lovely shirt that had a terrible beet stain. I couldn´t get it out with anything.
You can use very fashionable lovely fabrics and a binding for decoration (who said that bibs had to be boring?) or use a snap fastener or velco.
Have fun!!
Anais looks like she’s saying ‘Peace Out Mum! Digging my purees!’.
Our little ones are so precious aren’t they. I made all CH’s food and my weekly veg box from Riverford was a charm. We both had great fun working out which mixes worked or didn’t work and I’m sure its helped her appreciate seasonal and diverse food which is full of flavour.
I have to say I wasn’t too sure on baby led weaning prior to feeding CH but on her very first day of food (baby rice) she turned around in her BumBo and helped herself to a ripe plum from the fruit bowl in the kitchen and was happily chewing/sucking/eating it so from then on it was natural for her to have some suitable food in one hand and a baby spoon in the other whilst I fed her the puree. I actually think this also attributed her to learning to use her spoon/fork much quicker than the other babies we knew because she quickly learnt what they were for and that if she aimed right she got more food in her mouth than down her clothes!
Please do have a camera ready and at hand (I’m sure you do anyway) for all those lovely foodie candid moments. On CH’s 1st birthday I made a photographic collage of her fabulous foodie moments in her 1st year which is currently on our Fridge door. This brings me joy everyday with those precious reminders of the fun we had and how it all went by soo quickly.
Fabulous post as always Cherry. You never fail to raise a smile and always encourage fond memories to pop back into the forefront of my mind.
Thank you
Kxx
I did the baby-led weaning that Emma mentioned, it’s brilliant – I hadn’t realised that babies just don’t need all the extra pureeing, and it’s amazing to see a toothless 8 month old (my daughter didn’t get teeth til over a year old!) munching through a whole pear without help! All they need is plenty of time (no rushed meals!), observation (obviously, cos of bits and choking etc, but it’s no greater risk than with spoon feeding), and a LARGE space because of all the mess!
All those wonderful meals you make for yourselves – just leave out any ingredients you don’t want the babies having (salt etc) and give them a bit on their trays.
RE the sweet potato – I love baking them, cutting in half, and just squeezing out the innards like toothpaste, comes out all soft already and much easier than having to peel and chop.
I do love the frills – how on earth do you keep them clean?!
Love to see baby eating home made food. She looks adorable there, even with the snotty number 11 running onto the top lip!! hehe
Anais looks great with her bib hat and those frilly tu tu tights are the cutest thing ever. I wish they’d had those when my girls were little. I did get my mum in law to knit a hat with ears though so I was ahead of my time there.
As the Mum of a big grown boy of 10, who eats every veg known to man, I can only encourage those of you who are weening your babies to keep keeping on with preparing your own baby food. Not only is it cheaper, more healthy due to lower sugar and salt content, it also allows you to slowly introduce new tastes. Oscar adores sprouts, brocolli and his absolute fav is turnip/swede with nutmeg.
As ridiculous as this may sound, I’m grateful you’re launching into this topic not so much for my future children’s benefit, but for my own! I’m going to be having jaw surgery sometime in the next few months and will not be able to chew for a few weeks during recovery…and I was wondering what on earth I’d be able to eat besides soup and milkshakes. You may be saving me from malnutrition! Thanks as always.
Thank You Thank You….I’ve been contemplating making my little Sadah homemade baby food or store bought. I think u have help me decide, looks yum oh…..
P.S. Anais looks like a little Hummel figurine with her bib as a hat! So cute.
Love the ruffles. What kind of high chair is she in?
Hi Vicki, Anais is in a Baby Dan high chair in the photo’s.
x
Yahooey! I LOVE making purees for my little granddaughter and never thought to boil a sweet potato. This combination sounds yummy! We buy the organic pouches which are new on the shelves and they aren’t cheap by any means, but such a higher quality than the jarred baby foods. Very much looking forward to your baby recipes. Also, this would be great for an elderly person who is infirmed. When my dad was home with us on Hospice I had to puree all his food and simplify the ingredients. The Cuisinart Mini processor became my best friend. He had Alzheimer’s and the happy smile simply flavored purees brought to his face instead of the protein shakes was a delight to see.
I love making food for my baby. I like your recipe her and will try this one on Oscar Jnr.
Fern from Hampstead, London.
Dear Cherry,
As a day-dreaming mumma-to-be, this post was perfectly timed. I love your website, and will explore everything as soon as maternity leave starts!
I think you are a wonderful role model#
Tammy x
Oh I love the frill on her skirt, I would play with it for an age too!
This sounds yummy and so much cheaper than the pouches (why oh why are they so expensive?) I shall be storing up these ideas for when we have a little mouth to feed.
Incidentally, I’m not sure if you’ve tried this yet, but one of the things the babies in my previous nursery loved most on a hot summer’s day was frozen peach puree… we’d open a tin of peaches or get fresh ones, mash them up and freeze in small amounts and then take them out in the morning to let them begin to thaw so they were like a natural fruity slush by the afternoon snack time. So easy and yet so loved by the little ones!
Lovely post, Cherry & will be very useful to other Mums. Avocadoes were an absolute godsend to my sister with her 3 too…but she does live in Australia where they’re super good & cheap as chips! I was just listening to Woman’s Hour on R4 about women in business (excellent) and heard the girl who started Plum babyfoods phone in – she’s just sold her company for £10 million!! So who knows….Cherrybaby is a GREAT name! xoxo Love to you and your cuties
I’m an advocate of homemade baby and toddler purees. Looking forward to making this recipe. Sx
I was about to say ^just^ the same thing myself!
Sorry, that was to Emma, WRT the comment below.
If Anais loves her food, why not try giving her some wedges of sweet potato (roasted in the oven or steamed) as finger food to chew/gum herself? I bet she’d love it! Baby Led Weaning is so much easier than purees and you can still think up lovely interesting combinations (I might make sweet potato and pear soup for tea now!) you just don’t need to blend them. There’s more information here http://www.babyledweaning.com/
You have beautiful children, you must be very proud.
gosh, could have done with this 4 years ago! I relied on Annabel K, who helped so much with the weaning stage. It’s hard work, but fun. You are bringing back some cherished memories.
Love the picces of your little lady, snotty nose and all!
x
Cherry is there anything you don’t make? Purees are genius. I started making mine too. Our babies are so previous we want only delicious goodness going into them. Judging by the photos of Anais I’d say she agrees.
Jx