Homemade Baby Food

The little one is sleeping and so I'll take this chance to write about one of my favorite hobbies as of late, making baby food. (I know that sounds weird, but it really is fun.) Ever since a Best of Enrichment at the beginning of this year when I learned about making my own baby food I have been excited about it. It's easy and saves money. Instead of spending about 55 cents on a container of baby food, (which really begins to add up when baby is eating 2 to 4 jars a day!) that same amount can go a lot farther when making your own baby food.
Here are some of the basics for making baby food at home:

What you need:
-a blender or food processor, or food mill
-fruits and vegetables (and later meats and pasta) Good fruits to start with include apples, apricots, bananas, blueberries, mangoes, peaches, pears, plums, and prunes. Vegetables to try include asparagus tips, avocados, carrots, peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squash. You can use fresh, frozen, and even canned, although fresh or frozen is preferable.

How to do it:
-Bake, boil, or steam the fruit of vegetable until soft.
-Place pieces in the blender and use water from the cooking in the puree.
-Blend to the desired consistence, as you baby gets older you can blend for less time and allow the food to be chunky.
-Pour into an ice cube tray to freeze.
-Once frozen transfer to plastic baggies in the freezer. (bought a few of the Gerber baby foods when we went on a trip and saved the containers, so I now put a few ice cubes in each container in the freezer, which works great.) Fruits and Veggies frozen like this will last 6-8 months.
-When ready to serve dethaw in the fridge, on the counter, or in the microwave. (I usually take what my son will be eating the following day out of the freezer each night and put it in the fridge.)
-When serving you can mix with formula, breast milk, or baby cereal to the desired consistency. Make sure to test the temperature of the food if you dethawed in the microwave!)
-Wait 3-5 days after introducing a new food to make sure baby shows no signs of allergies.
-As baby gets older you can combine foods into purees, such as mixed veggies, rice and bean, chicken and potatoes, etc.

So why do I love it?
-I can feed my baby a variety of foods that he other wise would not get in commercial baby foods, I can make the food to fit his needs regarding consistency, it costs less, I enjoy shopping for deals on produce, and the food looks and smells better than commercial baby food! :)

Some great resources:
"Blender Baby Food" by Nicole Young- a great book that I love! I checked it out from the Provo Library and it is full of 125 recipes for making baby food in the blender.
Daily Baby Food Recipes: just hit refresh each time you want a new recipe!

PS: If you live near a Sunflower Farmer's Market I totally suggest that you go...their produce is amazingly cheap. Like this week they have avocados 3 for a dollar!

Pudding Fingerpainting! And More...

Finger painting with pudding combines the joy of painting with the fun of playing with your food! Just mix a package of instant pudding according to directions and then paint on paper, cookie sheets, wax paper, paper plates, or a washable table cloth. If you use vanilla pudding you can color it with some food coloring. You might want to dress the kids in old shirts as this activity tend to get rather messy!

Some other types of fingerpaint you may have around the house:
Kool-Aid Finger Paint
What you need:
-2 cups flour
-2 packs unsweetened Kool-Aid
-1/2 cup salt3 cups boiling water
-3T. oil
What to do:Mix wet into dry.

Jello Finger Paint
What you need:
-Any kind of flavored jello
-Boiling water
What to do:Mix jello into boiling water until it is a goo consistency for fingerpaint. Use normal fingerpainting material or glossy paper. Kids love the smell and feel of it.

Plastic Canvas

Oh the joys of plastic canvas! It can be used to make so many things, and works well for toys for kids because it's durable (if 4 ply (or thicker) yarn is used to hold it together.) You can make doll furniture, blocks, cars, boxes, picture frames, bags and purses. I even saw a pattern for a lunch box. The possibilities are endless! You can make up a pattern yourself, or find printable ones on the Internet or in books.There are lots of free links on the Internet. Here are a few I liked:

Making baby blocks with plastic canvas? Here's a link with directions on how to make these simple toys (the bell inside is sure to be a hit!).

Freepatterns.com has lots of downloadable patterns for kids using plastic canvas. (You have to be a member of this site to get free patterns, but membership is free.

One last site you might want to look at is this one from allcrafts.com offering more free patterns from everything from tissue box covers to ABC magnets.

Have fun stitching!

File Folder Games

My sister-in-law emailed me about file folder games: activities that kids can do (mostly independently, depending on their age) that are contained in a file folder. How neat! There are lots of resources on the Internet, and many cost money, but I tried to find a few that are free. If you're really into them you can find ones to purchase and print online or books also (I'd check the local library first- Provo City has a few "Vanilla Manila Folder Games for Young Children" is one). And once you look at a few you just might come up with some great ideas for your own file folder games.

File Folder Games from MormonChic: Noah's Ark, Dress the Bear, Family History, Flower Garden, and a few matching games.

FileFolderHeaven: They have free games and ones to purchase.

Positively Autism: Scroll down for a few printable games

These are just a few of the many resources out there. If you find a site you love, please let us know!

Playdough!

Here are two recipes for making playdough. The first is a classic, and the second is edible!

Playdough

This is a great recipe and the playdough doesn't dry out easily.
4 c flour
2 c salt
1 small can cream of tartar
9 Tbsp oil
4 3/4 c hot water
Mix together in a large pot. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until it forms a ball. Add food coloring and knead until cool.

Peanutbutter Edible Playdough

1 cup peanutbutter

1 cup corn syrup

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 1/4 cup powdered milk

Mix all ingredients together and then have fun playing and eating!