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Earlier this week I gave you a basic explanation of how I make Orion’s daily meals, and now, as promised, I offer up some of my fave prepared foods. I’ll always prefer to feed Orion real, homemade food, but sometimes when I’m short on time and can’t make his food, or traveling, or just want to offer him an easy snack, these are the brands I reach for.
Sprout Baby is hands-down my favorite prepared baby food. Not only is it organic, the flavors are fantastic—roasted banana and mango, baked sweet potato and white bean, and peach rice pudding (and others) taste like fresh(ish) gourmet fine dining compared to other prepared foods on the market. The best part is the packaging—BPA-free foil pouches that are great for traveling. I just throw them in my luggage and have total faith they (and the other contents of my suitcase) will come out unscathed. My only complaint is that the selection is relatively limited, and I wish they’d branch out into products for older babies as well.
Sprout has also made it a priority to create the least amount of waste possible; to that end, they’ve teamed up with eco-innovators Terracyle to upcycle used Sprout wrappers into cool new items like tote bags and flowerpots. I like a company that walks their talk.
Earth’s Best is pretty much the gold standard of organic baby food, boasting a wide range of products, from jarred puree, to cereal, to snack foods and more. While I do have a small stockpile of Earth’s Best (along with Sprout) in my pantry in case I run out of my homemade fare, I gotta admit, their jarred food (although a healthful choice) tastes pretty BOR-ING. However, I’m a huge fan of their barley teething biscuits, and have even been known to occasionally nom on them myself. Commence judgment. I don’t care.
HappyBaby is responsible for my son’s current obsession, HappyMelts, aka little freeze-dried yogurt blobs, aka BabyCrack. Seriously, if I carry some of these in my purse, Orion will dig through the depths of my huge mama bag to unearth the HappyMelts and wave them in my face until I open the package and give him some. He’s also enjoyed their HappyBaby Puffs and HappyBellies DHA + Probiotic cereals. They also make some frozen meals but I can’t vouch for those because I’ve never tried them.
These are all fine, healthful choices for feeding your ‘lil imps, but nothing beats the real thing!
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Happy 14-month birthiversary, little fella! Wow, you’re making some amazing changes lately. You’re standing up on your own, you know the sign for “more” and use it to ask for more food and more hugs, you’re a pro at drinking out of a straw, you wave hello and goodbye (only you do it about a minute too late), you high-five the babysitter, you love kitties and going to the park and wrestling on the floor and giving fabulous slobbery kisses. In a nutshell, you’re the most fun I’ve ever had, and your dada and I love you tremendously.
No more paparazzi, please!
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Purple potato with carrot and edamame
I’ve made Orion’s baby food from scratch from his very first meal, only resorting to jarred organic baby food when I’m traveling or otherwise in a pinch for food.* I’m always a little blown away that some people are amazed I do this. They think that it’s somehow a very difficult, time-consuming task or that mega agribusiness folks know more about how to feed our children than we parents do. Seriously, this couldn’t be any easier. If you have ever made a smoothie, you can do this. It’s a similar concept—take fruit/veggies, and throw them in the blender. Done and done.
Here’s a step-by-step how-to for one of Orion’s favorite dishes, orzo with veggies and cheese (which isn’t what’s shown in the above photo, but I forgot to take a pic of this particular finished product). This takes about 20 minutes for a week’s worth of fresh and yummy homemade baby food. (I swear to you, it’s good enough for adults to eat. If it weren’t, you know, blender-ized into oblivion.)
First, I round up the ingredients: broccoli and carrots (both from our farmers’ market), goat cheese and whole goat milk (Erik and I are sensitive to cow’s dairy and therefore assume Orion will be, too. Cow’s milk is actually very hard for human’s to digest while goat dairy is much gentler on the system.), whole wheat orzo and a mild white onion (not pictured).
Forgive me for my ugly kitchen. It’s the one room of the house that has yet to be remodeled.
Check out how amazingly gorgeous these heirloom carrots are. One is highlighter yellow and the other is deep purple on the outside and bright orange on the inside. If you have access to a local farmers’ market (and don’t already know how awesome they are), please, please check it out! The food you’ll find there is so much more fresh, nutritious and interesting than what’s in the grocery stores. I could go on and on about this but I’ll get back to the topic at hand for now…
Next, I chop the veggies to prepare them for cooking. For this batch of food I chose to steam the veggies, but you can bake or broil or simply keep them raw, depending on what you’re making. Steaming veggies retains more nutrients than the other methods of cooking, but sometimes the flavor of a roasted veggie is nice, too.
Then I put the veggies in a steamer basket, and steam them on the stovetop for 10 minutes or so.
I also chop a little onion and sauté it in some olive oil in a cast iron skillet. Orion’s at the age where he enjoys a little more flavor (and will show his distain for flavorless mush by smacking my hand away when I try to feed it to him), so he can handle some onion, garlic, herbs and spices now. I’d recommend keeping your cooking pretty mild for younger babies, at least until you know they can handle more exciting flavors.
After the onions are sauteed and the veggies steamed, I dump them into the food processor, add a little milk and cheese for smoothness and consistency (as well as yumminess, of course), and…
…give it a good blend. Since Orion is an older baby now and can handle textures, I leave the veggie mixture a little chunkier. Then I add the cooked orzo. This is what I get as a result.
As a final step, I spoon the mixture into ice cube trays and freeze. Later, after they’re frozen solid, I’ll take them out of the trays and store them in airtight Mason jars in the freezer (any kind of storage container will work, I just prefer glass, because I know it’s BPA-free).
And that’s it! It’s super simple to make your own baby food, in less than an hour or so a week. I usually make a bunch of different kinds at once, including a fruit blend for breakfast (which I mix with baby cereal or mashed rice) and a couple veggie blends out of whatever is in season from my local farmers’ market. (I’ll also throw in some edamame, lentils, tofu or chicken for protein, too.) I set up my operation assembly line-style and bang it out all at once. And then Orion is set for the week—sometimes two, depending on how ambitious I’m feeling. (And P.S. I rarely, if ever, use a recipe or measure quantities. I just throw together whatever is in my fridge that sounds good!)
You can do it, too. I know you can! It’s so easy to make your baby REAL food, at a tiny fraction of the cost of buying the processed stuff. Happy pureeing!
*I do like some pre-made baby food products, which I blog about here.
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After the 1,280th comment on how crazy Orion’s hair is (“He sure has interesting hair!” “Time for that first haircut, eh?” “Wow, he looks like Rod Stewart!”), I decided it was finally time for a long overdue trim. Behold the “before” pic.
And now for the “after.” (Anyone who’s ever had a toddler knows how hard it was for me to get this photo. The kid will NOT SIT STILL.)
Everyone always asks if it’s his first haircut, but actually it’s his fifth. Seriously, the kid’s been sporting a full head of dark, commanding, politician-style hair since birth, and it’s just been exploding out of his head ever since. See for yourself.
Hi! I’m three days old!
Hi! I’m six months old and I still have a ton of crazy hair!
This cut is his shortest ever by far, and he officially looks like a little kid, which makes mama’s ovaries start to quiver for baby number two.
And he doesn’t just look like a kid about to ask to borrow my car keys, he’s acting like a big kid, too. This week he’s mastering the fine art of standing from a squat—totally hands-free—and does it over and over again, shrieking with excitement each time. Beware: this video might just cause your heart to melt.
I love the primal scream after each successful attempt! YEEEHHHAAAWW!!
He’s also learning sign language. He now knows the sign for “more,” and uses it frequently. He even signs when we’re nursing and I run out of boob juice, which just slays me every time. (I wish I could make more milk on demand, kid, but alas, at almost 14 months the supply is starting to dwindle.)
It’s so bittersweet watching him grow up, and the changes are coming fast and furious these days. I’m treasuring every moment with my little snuggle monkey, and I’m so happy and excited to see what comes next.
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This past weekend was a momentous one, indeed—it marked our first-ever camping expedition with Orion. Destination: Joshua Tree National Park. We were avid campers pre-baby, but since his arrival, we’ve (read: I’ve) been nervous about taking the plunge into extended time in the great outdoors. Happily, not only have we lived to tell the tale, but we had a fabulous time and feel confident about our future treks into the wild.
The key to camping with babies is to think like a Boy/Girl Scout and be prepared, i.e. bring a ridiculous amount of stuff with you. Since we were camping in the desert, this meant we had to bring clothes for all types of weather, ranging from light clothes and sun hats for the heat of the day, to super warm clothes and knit caps for night after the sun’s warmth fades and the cold winds start blowing. Sunblock (preferably of the skin-friendly variety) was another necessity, which we marinated in from sunrise to sunset.
Aside from all the other sundry camp gear, cooking supplies, firewood, food, first aid kit (stocked with baby essentials, such as Infant Tylenol), etc., we also brought a hiking backpack for the wee one and a portable playpen—the latter which we never touched. (Next time I will bring a tarp or blanket for playing on instead. Note to self.).
I wish I had taken a photo of our packed-to-the-gills Prius with a full-sized Thule cargo carrier on top, also packed full. Gone are the days of packing light, at least for a while. I’m also a little embarrassed that I’m now longingly eyeing those ginormous family-sized tents that I maybe, possibly used to make fun of back in my carefree childless days. Oh, how the tables have turned.
Although the nights were a little cold (in the mid 40s, which is pretty extreme for us SoCal city slickers), we had a wonderful time and Orion loved spending so much time out in nature. As a former country girl, I’m determined that my children are passionate about spending time outside and have an intimate relationship with nature. Orion is very much an outdoor baby, so I don’t think we’ll have to worry about Nature Deficit Disorder with this one.
And who wouldn’t want to get outside and feast their eyes upon these lovely sights? I mean, really.
My only complaint is that when we got back to the city, Orion didn’t want to go inside the house. A weekend out in the wild apparently turned the boy a bit feral but he’s acting a bit more domesticated now after a cozy night in his own bed.
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Because the tree didn’t want the balloons to get away.
(They weren’t Orion’s, by the way.)
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I’ll be straight with you: although I enjoy—okay, pretty much insist—on using healthy, chemical-free body care products, I have not been a fan of natural deodorants. I’ve tried a ton of them and they’ve mostly been, well, the pits.
That is, with one exception—Lavanila Healthy Deodorant. It’s free of the aluminum and parabens found in most deodorants, contains soothing essential oils and feels soft and glide-y like a deodorant should. (Because who likes dragging a jagged crystal rock across their pits? Not me.) AND! The scents are totally yummy, and—you guessed it—all vanilla-based.
Not everyone’s going to be crazy about the fragrance. But me? I’m in love. Vanilla has been my signature scent since I was 12 years old and dabbing vanilla extract on my wrists before middle school dances. (Oh boy, did I just say “signature scent”? How very Woman’s Magazine of me.)
Barring 90-degree days or super stressful situations, this all-natural deo works fabulously for me. And as a nursing mom, I especially love that my little guy doesn’t get his face and hands soaked in the chemi-laden stuff. Come July I might have to switch back to some hardcore Mitchum through the sticky summer months, but for these mild spring days, Lavanila gets the job done. It’s a bit spendy at $18 a pop (available at Sephora), but the stick lasts me a couple of months. LOVE this stuff!
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We’re pretty secular ‘round these parts, but now that I’m a mama bear I can’t help but want Orion to enjoy some of the more fun holiday traditions, like dying eggs for Easter. Rather than going with conventional store-bought potentially toxic dyes, I thought it would be more fun to make the dyes myself using foods and spices from around the house.
First I collected some chard from the garden (which, if you’ve been reading, you know we have A LOT of).
A beet and some red cabbage from last week’s farmers’ market haul.
And tumeric from the cupboard.
This is just what we had on hand, but there are lots of other colorful food items that will make great dye.
Then I chopped up the veggies, separated the chard stems from the greens, added them each to their own pot of water (the tumeric went in with the yellow chard stems) and boiled for about 20 minutes, then let cool. I added some white vinegar to each dye bath (2 tbs per quart is recommended), dressed up the eggs with some masking tape and white crayon, plopped them in the dye and let them rest for a few hours.
I also plunked an egg in a leftover cup of coffee from breakfast. Why not, right?
This was the result.
I think the colors actually turned out pretty great. Beet = pink, red cabbage = blue, yellow chard stems + tumeric = yellow, coffee = brown, obviously.
I had never tried dying eggs with natural ingredients before so I considered this year’s attempt to be an experiment. I’ll definitely do it again, but next year I’ll actually measure out the white vinegar (2 tbs per quart, remember), because I just eyeballed it this time around and used a bit too much, which apparently makes the eggshell bubble and peel. An overnight soak might yield more vivid colors, as well. I also used the leafy part of the chard to attempt some lovely green eggs, but those didn’t turn out so well. I think I used too much water and not enough greens. Back to the drawing board for that one.
In the end, Orion rewarded all my effort by chucking the eggs into the flower bed, which, naturally, is exactly what I had hoped would happen. It’s his way of saying, “Thanks, mom. These are gorgeous. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to crack them all open and smear them in the dirt.” Happy Easter!
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