Baby Food: A Journey

 I think I just gave up on making baby food for the other kids because I could. I could just run to the store and buy a jar or a pouch whenever they turned up their noses at a homemade offering. I remember telling myself that Cooper liked store-bought food better, even. But I think he was just being a baby, and it takes babies a few tries to like something.

Because we still don't go inside stores, though, there is a delay between wanting something and buying it, so Minnie has been getting all homemade food all of the time. And you know what?  I love making it.

I bought some tiny canning jars, and they are absolutely perfect. I usually make 4 or 5 jars of something at a time and usually have 8-9 jars going in the fridge. I make food every 305 days, depending on her appetite, and we have some Earth's Best baby oatmeal for the in-betweens. She can always eat that with a mashed up banana or some avocado. I have been making regular Quaker oats for her, though, with some sort of stewed fruit, and then I puree the cooked fruit and oats with a few soaked dates and add either cinnamon or cloves.

I make the food in the morning during the breakfast rush, a time so busy I don't even notice the extra work. But yesterday, I made it in the afternoon, and it was a while THING. Weird, huh?

I thought Minnie might have fun  playing with random kitchen clutter in this sheet pan I plucked from the drying rack.

While I made nectarine puree and oatmeal with plums, dates, and cloves.

She is the most patient baby in the world.

Next up: meat and fish, plus yogurt!