Baby food: sweet mashed potatoes with cinnamon.

I think the easiest and most convenient way to make baby food is to use ingredients you are already using for dinner.  Now, of course, we've never eaten sweet potato, bean, and quinoa burgers before- but we're trying to eat less meat during the week. It works because it makes it more affordable to eat organic (& I get to try out new and different recipes).  So for dinner, I was already chopping and steaming sweet potatoes, so baby got some mashed sweet potatoes:

probably yields 2+ servings for a 6 month Little Mister or Baby Beauty.

A few cubes of steamed sweet potatoes, no skin. Maybe a 1/4 cup. 

2 Tbsp prepared quinoa (quinoa is highly nutritious and considered a non-allergenic food, perfect for babies)

A 1/2 ounce heavy cream or breastmilk or water

A dash of cinnamon

Mash ingredients together or purée until the consistency is to your baby's liking. The older the baby the less mashing required. 

Not pictured: cooked quinoa (it was a last minute addition)

Our burgers were phenomenal and extremely filling and the baby food tasted great (my husband and I both sample it bc I always make too much and it always looks so tasty!) 

From this day forward, 

M. 

*please use caution when introducing new foods to your baby. Talk with your pediatrician and follow all guidelines of introducing solids to baby. 

Baby food: cauliflower with cilantro.

We had leftover 'riced' cauliflower from this pizza crust

 

so we decided to make some baby food!

Cauliflower 'Rice' Cereal 

1. About 1 cup riced cauliflower (remember it was just leftovers).  Rice it by pulsing in the food processor or grating the  cauliflower.  steam lightly.  you can also puree the cauliflower, but I've been experimenting with textures for this little mister.

2. A few leaves of cilantro, de-stem and chop or rip into small pieces.  Herbs have many benefits for infants and they taste great too! no more bland baby food.

3. 1 ounce of heavy cream (ped's orders to fatten him up, but breast-milk or water will do)

mix all ingredients together.

He loved it.  I'm not sure how long it will stay good for because of the cream, so I plan on giving him the rest by tomorrow.  Also, hubby and I tasted it AND IT WAS SUPER DELICIOUS.  I'm going to use this recipe in place of mashed potatoes or rice as a side dish- I might even try it with some broccoli too!

Add caption

From this day forward,
Mac-chef

Funny Friday

AJ at his 6 month, well check-up!  We were having  a great time waiting for the doctor.  He grew a 1/2 inch since last month and gained almost a pound.  (13 lbs...and counting).

She wants more solid foods, I don't want more because the mess going on in those cute Gdiapers is a whole new level of ICK!  BUT he has been enjoying some peas & brown rice, pears, bananas, spinach & potatoes, and lots and lots of avocado. 

This weekend, Hubby and I are going to make some sweet potatoes, cauliflower, and squash for baby A! I'll keep you updated on how the Baby Bullet works out.  Still kind of wishing we had the Baby Beaba for its all in one steaming to pureeing features, but we got the bullet as a gift (and I've heard great things about it!) Also, we plan on steaming our veggies and just using a small portion of those as AJ's dinner. That way we are all eating generally the same thing.

Has anyone tried the Baby Led Weaning approach to solid foods?  We are super interested in trying that out as well.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend.

From this day forward,
M

36 weeks

I have yet to be hit with the nesting bug...does this mean I still have weeks left before the arrival of baby Aiden? Or is it just that I'm not a cleaner?  I think (hope) the second is more accurate.  BUT let me clarify, my house is not messy, not even dirty really.  When I first lived on my own, I would just fill the tub slightly & dump bleach into it and let it sit for 20 minutes. I'd do the same thing to the toilets and sinks.  I hated doing it because within a few hours I would feel nauseous for the rest of the day, sometimes even into the next day.

Over that past few years, my husband and I have slowly become more aware of non-toxic living.  We've cut out laundry detergent that was giving us both the itchies, cleaning supplies that would bring on an asthma attack, even most processed foods, poisonous Cat flea medication.  And instead have started using detergent without any chemicals (works just as well, and our clothes are just as soft), we clean most everything with white vinegar, baking soda and most recently lemon juice (it acts like a bleach, but smells nice!), we cleaned our freezers of Hot Pockets (sad face) and non-organic meats, and we use an all-natural, essential oil-based flea medication for our cat (this smells pretty strong, but like peppermint and eucalyptus, rather than ick). 

We are still guilty of drinking bottled water (we buy a gallon jug and keep it in our fridge) because our tap water isn't drinkable, we still like love McDonald's sweet tea and chicken sandwiches, we on occasion still use the lotions and soaps that are full of chemicals (but smell sooo good).  But our main goal is to use/ingest all of these things in moderation, to set an example for our son and show him that natural (less toxic) living is easy and healthier to do!

With that said...36 weeks has been...

Awkward.
getting up from any sitting or lying position is awkward.
belly bumping into everything from my counters to strangers is AWK.
burping without warning, anywhere is funny, but Awkward.
my belly button is super sticking out now and everyone wants to poke it- AWKWARD!

Uncomfortable.
sleeping- HAHAHA, what's that?  it's all about that 30 minute nap in corners of comfy couches.
waking up at 4:30 AM, slightly hungry, mostly annoyed.
even my coveted yoga ball isn't as comfortable as before.
bras. underwear.  clothes in general.

Excited.
Baby's room is pretty much ready.
Hospital bag is ready to be packed (clothes and whatnot picked out, but not physically in a bag yet!)
Spending these last few weeks celebrating with family & friends.
that is hasn't been extremely HOT (i'm still awkwardly hot & sweaty, but i know how much hotter and sweatier i could be!)

I'm guessing (hoping) I will have this baby by next Friday. Saturday or Monday. (Sundays are no good for me because I enjoy doing nothing, and labor and delivery doesn't sound like a super Sunday to me. **wink wink**)

From this day forward,
Mac-donald's sweet tea fanatic (for only $1, you can't go wrong!)