Not-On-Purpose Hiatus (& Baby Food Recipes Galore!)

Well I didn't mean to take a forever hiatus from my blog, but I guess that's what happened. 
Quickie Update:
Mr Winn is nearly 9 months old: He loves sitting, rolling all over the house, has 2 teeth joining the fam, playing, reading, being outside, EATING (duh), laughing, baths, and anything that involves mom. Can't complain, life is good and he's stinkin cute.
I'm still working, Colt's still working, we are loving our new home & neighbors, and we have spring fever. We will be going down to San Diego the first week in May to visit Trent (Colt's dad) and I can hardly wait. Mr Winn will be joining us. 
So I decided a while ago that canned baby food was too expensive and smelled bad. So I tried making my own. Before I had Winn, I had a plan of being this really good mom and making homemade baby food and loving it and Winn loving it too. And then I got 5 months of no sleep and caved and to store bought crap. Well. Not only is it gross, it's expensive! Especially when your baby eats as much as you do. Seriously, kid is already in size 5 diapers people! 
The cool thing that actually happened was that I LOVED IT. And HE LOVED IT. Guys!! It's so much fun. You know exactly what's going into the baby's food, no preservatives, and seriously, it's so fun to feed your baby something you made them. I dunno, maybe that's just me. As I explore new fun mixtures & textures with Winn, I will share them here. I'll try to post pictures too. 
So I started Easy: Sweet Potatoes. 1, because I knew Winn loved these, and 2, because I knew how to make them already. 
With all/most of my recipes, I make them in bulk. Bulk meaning 3-4 ice cube trays of food. This way, I don't have to necessarily make him food every week, if I make a couple batches of veggies, I'm set for about 2 weeks. You could always do a small portion first, to make sure they like the taste before goin all in. But where's the fun in that? 

Just a preface to all my recipes:
--I always freeze my concoctions in ice cube trays. I let them freeze until completely frozen, plop the cubes out and place them in freezer bags, labeled with their name and date they were made. --I keep my food for about a month or two if frozen. --1 cube=about 1 ounce of food. --You can microwave these cubes straight from the freezer, or you can let the cubes thaw at room temperature for a little bit before microwaving, or of course you could place them in the fridge until microwaving. --You could use water, formula, breast milk, or juice to thin any of these goodies. I usually use water. I prefer not to use formula/breast milk just because I think Winn gets a good amount of all that with his bottles, so I like using water. Plus, water is good for the babes, it will help with constipation. If you have any questions, comment or email me! 
courtrogers55@gmail.com

Easy Peasy Sweet Taters:

• 3-4 Large Yams
• Water (Bits at a time)
• Dash of Brown Sugar
• Pinch of Butter

Wash & Peel your sweet potatoes. Slice into smaller bits and put them in a large pot & cover with water. No need to salt the water. Bring to a boil, partially cover and let boil until soft. Depending on how large you leave your potatoes will make your cooking time vary. Once they are easily pierced with a fork, drain the water. Let them cool. 
In a food processor (you could use a blender, or whatever other means of puree-ing you would like) place your yams, brown sugar and butter. Start will a small amount of water and continue adding as needed. I probably used a tablespoon or 2. Make it the consistency which your baby needs. You could leave the butter and brown sugar out if you wanted, but I think it's good to introduce flavor to your baby so they mayyyybe won't be such picky eaters down the road. Pulse the flavors until smooth. Winn still doesn't like to have much texture in his foods, so I pulsed the yams until they were smooth, like butta. Spoon into ice cube trays, and freeze. Once frozen completely, spoon out the cubes and put them into a gallon freezer bag. Label the bag with the name and date!
*Some people say these last frozen for up to 5 months. I say about 1 month is good. Maybe 2. You're the mom, you be the judge! 
When baby is ready to eat, you can seriously just take however many cubes you want, put them in a bowl, microwave and serve! 1 cube is about 1 ounce of food. Winn eats about 5 every meal, but I think a 'normal' baby would do 2-3 ha ha. If I'm taking the cubes directly out of the freezer to eat, I microwave for about 30 seconds, stir, and then for about 20-25 more seconds on 70% power. You could also get them out and let them thaw for an hour or so before meal time just in a bowl on the counter. Or let them sit in the fridge. If you don't think ahead, like me, you can take them straight from the freezer! Enjoy!! 

Pumpkin-Banana-Cinnamon Goodness:

• 1 Can of Pureed Pumpkin
• 2-3 Bananas
• Cinnamon

No cooking is necessary for this gem of a recipe. I had bananas going bad and a can of pumpkin in my cupboard that was supposed to be for pumpkin cookies (like 4 months ago Court) and decided I should give 'em a try. Mostly cause Winn hates bananas and I'm trying to trick him into loving them.
Put all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until desired consistency. Not much water needed here, just add as you see fit. 
Plop the mixture into ice cube trays, freeze and enjoy! 

Sweet Carrots:

• 2lb Bag of Peeled Baby Carrots
• Cinnamon
• Little Butter

Wash your bagged carrots and place them in a pot, & cover them with water. Bring to a boil, cover, and let steam until soft. Drain the water and place them into the food processor when cooled slightly. Add a dash of cinnamon, a little bit of butter and HOLD off on the water this time! Pulse until smooth. I added water at the beginning and realized after that I didn't need to. The carrots have a good water content themselves and this one might not require any additional thinning liquid, so wait until it's mixed to see if yours needs water or not. Place in ice cube trays and freeze! 

Oh Pruney Pruned Prunes:

• 1 20oz bag of Pitted Prunes
• Apple Juice

No Cooking required with this little gem. This recipe is great for a constipated or gassy baby. Just start lightly, they have a powerful effect :)
Combine prunes and apple juice to food processor and blend until smooth. You may need water with this one as well. Place in ice cube trays and freeze!
*This was a difficult one to get a good consistency with. I added quite a bit of apple juice/water and it still was thicker than I wanted it. I decided that all is well and am most likely going to have to add formula to it when I serve it. It remained a thicker paste even with all the liquid added. 

More recipes to come!