Today’s blog is a guest blog by my beautiful wife, Lindsay. Every Sunday I make most of our food for the week and she makes our daughter’s food for the week. I will let her explain the rest.

Any time spent with our daughter is a great time. She is just over 7 months old and she is the light of our lives. She was born 11 weeks premature and has grown from 2lbs 6oz to an amazing 13lb baby. At her 6 month well visit with the doctor, we were given the okay to start solid foods. I knew from the beginning I wanted to make her baby food. We registered for a baby food maker and saved it for the day we could use it. It’s so easy and I love knowing the food we give her is made with love and full of the vitamins and minerals she needs to keep growing. So far I have made her sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas, green beans, apples, and pears. She has loved them all and I love feeding her. It’s such a great bonding time for the two of us. In a few short months she’ll be feeding herself, so I’m soaking up all of our mommy-daughter time now.

Here are the steps to preparing your own baby food. I use the same steps for most of the food I have prepared for her.

Step One: Pick out the fruit or vegetable of your choice. This week Julia will be having her first fruit blend. Apples and Pears.

Step Two: Wash, peel and cut up the fruit. I used 4 small organic Gala apples and 4 small organic Bartlett pears. Honestly, I don’t make the same amount each time. I eye ball what we need then freeze any leftovers.

Step Three: Boil apple and pear pieces until tender. 

Step Four: Place in blender and add about ¼ cup of water. You can add more or less depending on how you want it for your baby, then blend until the consistency of your choice. This depends on where your baby is in the food eating process. Julia still gets her food pureed. Eventually we will puree less and go with a mashed consistency. Sometimes I have to re-blend food if it’s hard for her to eat.

Step Five: Portion your food into the containers of your choice. We store Julia’s food in 2 ounce containers. We only keep 4 days’ worth in the fridge and we freeze the rest and pull it out as needed.

The first few days of Julia trying a new food I mix it with a little bit of breast milk. When I warm up food from the fridge I place the food container into a bowl of warm water and stir the food as it warms. Warming food or bottles in the microwave is not advisable, as it can cause hot spots.

A few food safety tips: once the spoon goes into your baby’s mouth it has germs on it. Any uneaten food should be thrown away. The germs from the spoon can be transferred into the food. The spoon is only meant for your baby’s mouth. You can test the temperature of the food using clean hands.

We introduce a new food each week. This allows us to ensure that she isn’t allergic. It is very important that new foods be introduced using certain precautions. In our family, my husband and I are the only ones allowed to give Julia new foods. We do this so we are aware of the foods she is eating and we ensure we are there for the initial introduction of new foods.

Thanks as always for checking out the blog, share with your friends and come back soon for more recipes.

Lindsay, Dave & Julia