Making Purées for the Tiny Human

It turns out I REALLY like making food for the tiny human. There is something so exciting about developing food combinations for this person whose world is just now being opened to the joy that is food. My husband and I both love food, and in fact connect over food regularly. We cook for each other and occasionally together; we love eating out and finding the best local versions of our favorite meals. And so of course we were looking forward to introducing Charlie to the foods we love—perhaps too much. 

His first taste of food was mostly a disaster; it did not live up to my romantic ideal—one that we were celebrating. (There were a few friends over, and a half birthday hat involved).

We waited until Charlie was six months to give him solid food (this was our choice based on plenty of research and conversations with our doctor) and we wanted to start with a vegetable rather than something sweet. Again, there is intention here. Certainly every child is different (as are their parents). I’m not sure it will work, but if there is a chance, we’d like to raise an adventurous and mature eater, so we’re resisting adding fruit or sweet food to the majority of Charlie’s meals. His sweet tooth will have plenty of time to develop later.

Charlie turned six months old in November, so I though pumpkin would be the perfect fall food. I roasted and purée a sugar pumpkin my father grew in his garden (again, ideal) and was excited to feed him. He did NOT love it—or really any solid food for over a month.

I didn’t do the best job feeding him that first taste. I should have thinned the pumpkin so that is was more liquid than purée, and we should not have tried to put this brand new taste and texture anywhere near his mouth when he was tired. Whoops. 

He made faces.

He gagged.

He cried.

It was pretty funny, really, but I was disappointed. Of course he didn’t like the pumpkin—the entire concept of food was foreign to him and he had no idea what to do. Now I understand that.

While I can, I’m trying to make as much of Charlie’s food as possible. I like the idea of knowing exactly what he’s eating, and I just plain enjoy the creative process. We started with simple, single fruit and vegetable purées, and now that he has had several single foods (we're paying close attention to the foods he’s eating and looking for any sign of reaction), he’s ready for meals. 

A few weeks ago I had a marathon food making session; Charlie complied by playing in a laundry basket on the kitchen floor for a good part of the food frenzy.

I bought eight ingredients to cook, combine, blend, portion, and freeze.

My raw materials: spinach, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, pears, lentils, quinoa, and ground turkey.

My process:

I roasted squash in the oven.

I steamed spinach and pears.

I boiled both types of potato.

I cooked quinoa and lentils.

I browned turkey.

And used all of the pots and pans we own. 

Prepping quickly, cooking in two batches (we only have four burners on the stove), and washing dishes as I worked, it took about three and a half hours—not bad for food that will last several months. When cooking the food, I try to use as little water as possible for steaming and boiling, and I use the cooking liquid in the purées to maintain as many nutrients as possible. 

Once the ingredients were prepped and cooked, I portioned them into jars to blend with an immersion blender. Twenty-four ounce Ball jars worked perfectly—they’re big enough to hold a good amount of food and the blender fits all the way to the bottom of the jar. 

The immersion blender is fast, makes a fine purée, and the best part: it cleans quickly and easily between batches.

After blending I portioned the food into ice cube trays and labeled them (keeping track of the batches is simple, but important—Post-It labels on the jars and masking tape on the trays worked like a charm). Once the trays were frozen, I just popped the cubes into labeled  freezer bags. A shelf in our basement freezer is now dedicated to baby food ice cubes.

The child now loves food. For the last month he’s delighted in eating everything we give him--so much that he often says "mmmm" when taking a bite. I’m not sure how that happened really, but we were persistent and didn’t force him. For over a month he gagged and made faces with almost every bite we offered. Baby oatmeal and prunes he accepted after about a week, but everything else he refused (all of those first purées I made) and we offered every day. Eventually he ate one or two bites of his carrots, then pumpkin, and then he suddenly changed his mind about food in general and loved green beans, beets, sweet potatoes, and peas. He even sucked on a pickle without making a face. Somehow, our kid has turned into an eater, despite those first bites.

I made eleven purées that day:

Pears.

Pears with ginger.

Pears and sweet potato with cinnamon.

Lentils and squash.

Quinoa and squash.

Spinach and potatoes with cumin.

Spinach, potatoes, and turkey.

Turkey, quinoa, and squash.

Turkey, spinach, and quinoa with garlic.

Turkey, quinoa, and lentils with garlic.

Turkey, squash, and lentils.

 Beets. They're delicious.

 Which combinations of foods are favorites for the kids in your life?