First Trial - Carrots

Day one of carrots today!  Jake gobbled up the first little teaspoon I gave him.  He was super happy today.  I found some really yummy soft pears and cut them up in very tiny pieces today.  He occupied himself while I made dinner.  A few actually made it into his mouth and he was so excited!  I pulled him out of his high chair later and found tons of pear bits in his chair. He may not have ate a lot of the pears, but he got some good practice with his pinchers. 

I love to cook and take pictures, but I'm not a great chef or photographer.  However, I thought it would be fun to put up a little tutorial of how I make my baby food.  I had fun making it for Big Bro Z and Big Sis N, I naturally planned on making it for Jake.  I feel better knowing EXACTLY what he is eating now, especially with his FPIES.  The store bought food can have lots of extra ingredients added. 

1. I picked out some pretty organic carrots from our grocery store

2. I peeled the outer layer off.  Lovely aren't they?  Bright, orange, smooth.

3. I roughly chopped the carrots and put them in my handy dandy Pampered Chef steamer.  Oh how I love this thing.  I use it almost daily.  I have a bigger one I found at a garage sale for $2.00.  I jumped up and down screamed and felt guilty for taking change from my $5 bill.  I ran the heck out of there.  I felt like I was stealing.  If you are not as lucky to have a $2 Pampered Chef steamer from a garage sale, any microwave safe bowl and lid will work.

4.  I put about 1/2 inch of water in the bottom, put the lid on and put it in the microwave.

5.  I pressed this button.  If your microwave doesn't have this button, microwave about 5 minutes on high (maybe a little more if your carrots are a little chunky like mine are).

6.  Once the carrots are tender and easy to pierce with a fork, place them into a blender or food processor along with the water.  I used this cheapy food processor that has two settings, Lo and Hi.  I chose Hi.  I have no patience.

7.  After a few seconds on Hi, it looks like this. Yum!  Orange!  Puree!

8.  Next spoon the yummy orange carrot puree into an ice cube tray. There is no way to make this look pretty.  No matter how good the lighting is!

9.  After a few hours, the carrot cubes are frozen.  Twist and turn your tray and pop out your carrot pops.  I've found they equal about a tablespoon each.  Place the carrot pops into a labeled freezer bag.  Next time you want to serve up some carrots, pop them in the microwave for 45 seconds.  Your baby will thank you!