Baby Food Making- Day 4 - Bananas

Oh Bananas...
 I feel bad devoting a whole post to this but...


Bananas truly are the easiest to make(next to avacados).
You really dont even need a blender when your child gets a little older. But here it is!

1. Peel
2. Puree    (don't forget to sniff and enjoy the beautiful scent you have just created)
3. Store

(* the only unfortunate thing is that frozen bananas will brown.)

Thinking about bananas I remember i used to not be so fond of bananas. Then one day my husband bought some organic bananas and told me I HAD to try some. It rocked our world. They were so much more tasty than the gross ones I had been used to eating.

I don't blame people when they say they don't like bananas, all I used to taste was an unripened banana PEEL not the fruit that is supposed to be inside!

As I am always telling my students and non vegetable eating relatives... Just try it!


You might just like it better than you thought you would!

Baby Food Making- Day 4 - Pears

First of all let me say how much I love pears.

Last year about hits time and earlier we (I the pregnant one) would go through about 8 pears a week. Maybe that's why I knew the Shenandoah would just eat em up! So when I got ready to make pears I knew they would be a hit even though I would have to NOT eat the pears so that I could make baby food with them.

So I went to the store to get an apple corer/wedge because after my APPLE experiences I knew it would make things go alot smoother!

1. Now with the appropraite tools in hand I washed, peeled, and cored the pears.
2. I then placed them in a baking dish with a small amount of water, covered with foil and baked for about 20-30 minutes.
3. When they had thoroughly steamed and gotten very tender, out of the oven and into the blender.
4. Puree.  With pears, because they are so juicy you may not even need any of the remaining water from cooking to thin out your baby food.
5. Place in containers and store.
6. Enjoy!

Baby Food Making- Day 5 - Carrots

And so it began... My attempts at making baby carrots which I am proud to say was not that hard nor was it really that time consuming. After trying some myself I will be making carrot popsicles in the future. I thought they were just delicious! I would much prefer my carrots frozen and on a stick than in cooked pureed form!

So Shenandoah and I set off... her with her teething ring in hand while I scrubbed the beautiful bounty of carrots which I have been drooling over for days. We began and the beautifully fresh organic carrots were smelling lovely. (I wish I had taken a picture of the carrots before I broke them from their stems and greenery!)

Now they were scrubbed, prepped, and ready for cooking!

I added about and 1/2 in of water to the bottom of my pot sliced the carrots fairly thin (so the would cook faster) and added it to the water. They steamed for about 20-30 minutes on high heat until they were very tender.

Shenandoah says... that was quick!

Mmm, my kitchen now smells delicious!

 All of the materials you need to make baby food out of your carrots are pictured here. Fancy baby food makers are nice but really my experiences with my blender have been super easy. 

I added the carrots to the blender and I added about a 1-2 cups of water (or breastmilk) small amounts at a time. (this will depend on the "stage" of baby food you desire to make and also how much water is already in your carrots.) 

I found much of my information about carrots and other baby food here... http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/nitratearticle.htm

 Once I blended the carrots well I alternating adding water and more carrots until I reached my desired consistency.

Since my food here is "1st" foods consistency, all i had to do is pour the food into the hard plastic ice cube trays and guide with a spoon.

Once all of the trays are filled give the tray a little rap on the counter so that they settle. (I advise against the cheap plastic ice cube trays. They are a pain to get the food out of and not to mention for repeated use the type of plastic DEFINITELY matters!)

As far as storing your freshly made wholesome baby food, most guidelines say frozen baby food can be stored between 1-3 months. If you are going to use it sooner, refrigerated baby food should be used within  a week.

Bagged and tray baby foods! (and a lasagna)

Then all that is left is finding room in your freezer and letting the set overnight! The next day I pop them out of the trays and put them in ziplock bags and label them. 

Next time I would love to find the right type of peas to make with my carrots!!! Mmm.. peas and carrots!

That was a lot of description but all in all it is not that hard. 

For all the concise folks here is your "recipe" for success!

Now that all the work is done... I think its time for a nap!

1. Clean (peel carrots if not organic) & chop carrots

2. Steam carrots until tender.

3. Puree carrots and water or breast milk until desired consistency achieved. 

4. Add to desired containers.

5. Store
6. Enjoy!

Paternity Leave, Maternity Schmleave

After reading this article (linked below) I began recollecting what I knew about maternity leave in modern society, in particular my own experience with what seemed a very unfair process.

Most doctors/midwives will recommend a leave from work for at least 6 weeks maybe more if cesarean was involved/twins/complications... a "babymoon" if you will, for both mother baby and hopefully even dad to learn new things about each other.

In my personal experience as a school teacher, I was quickly introduced to FMLA. awesome in theory so if something does happen not allowing you return to work quickly you wont loose your job over it. "GREAT," I thought.
Then when I started speaking with fellow mothers they mentioned that they hoped I had been saving vacation days for my maternity leave.

What in the world? Was I just really naive and inexperienced or had things changed since they had their children 20 years ago???

After further investigation it was true. I had luckily not taken but two sick days in my 2 years of teaching and had almost enough days to take a full 6 week leave... almost.
Then I remembered a male co-worker whose child was born last year. He mentioned to me that he was given 3 "freebie" days which do not count as sick/vacation leave but are typically used for bereavement, jury duty etc. He was given 3 days of what I like to call "Paternity leave" where I was given no days except what I had earned.

I'm not saying he shouldn't have been given those days but I guess my naive self assumed the American society had grown a little more female-friendly especially in a career industry dominated by WOMEN!
I know I may seem a little frivolous but three days of pay makes a difference especially when your spouse is unemployed and you are trying to pay hospital bills on a not so great health care plan.

So when people asked how much "Maternity Leave" did i get/take, I tell them none.
I took a 6 week babymoon out of my vacation days. Now with no more vacation days the entire rest of the year healthy living is no longer a wish but a necessity.

--> (dad and baby on our familial babymoon!)

And now... looking down at my healthy 4 month old napping in my arms while I type, I realize she is so alert, happy and cute DESPITE all negative factors around her. She has loving, positive parents who care about raising a mindful member of society who thinks.

We are still so new at parenting but I believe that we are doing a pretty good job at it so far!

1. Babymoon