Homemade Baby Food… Sweet and Savory

When it was time for my firstborn little love to start eating solids, Chris and I had the excitement of kids buckled in the car and already on the way to their favorite amusement park, summer vacation had begun! During the months where my belly grew just as quickly as my anticipation to meet this little one I’d spent my time loving from the outside-in, we scoured stores for the best baby-products, stayed up late into the night guessing what her personality would be, imagining what her sweet little voice would sound like, and planning her first meals… which we would prepare ourselves.

And we did it, and she loved it.  Every little morsel, she ate it up.  We were so proud of ourselves, and of course, we were proud of her.

So this time around, when our little studmuffin was ready for food, I hopped right back on that horse. This time, I spent my time picking the biggest and prettiest fresh vegetables from our garden. Yellow squash was the veggie of choice, since that’s what was ripe and ready for the pickin’. I knew it wouldn’t have the extra velvety sweetness of acorn or butternut squash, a couple of big sister’s favorites, but with it being still attached to the earth and living just moments ago, I knew that the taste wouldn’t compare with store bought varieties… or so I thought.

And even though my excitement and planning of this second long awaited vacation of sorts was through the roof, his first real meal was a flop. And by real meal, I mean something other than cereal, which he loves, probably because I make it with hard-earned breast milk, and he’s already earned himself the title of boob-man with his zealous love of all things mommy-milk.  And by flop, I mean after his first taste, he wouldn’t open his mouth again for another bite… the few different times we tried it.

He didn’t like it.

And I’ll be darned if this summer vacation isn’t as glorious as the last time, with my baby loving every ride of flavor and enjoying every penny game of airplane… so back to the kitchen I went.  This time making something magnificent for my little man who sports a more refined palette. And this time, making something that I love the taste of.

So this time, I started with a dish of peeled and cored blush apples, very lightly sprinkled them with cinnamon and stuffed them with prunes, and then made a second dish with a few more apples and sweet baby carrots, with a teensy sprinkling of pink Himalayan sea salt.

Once everything was baked (at 350 degrees for about an hour, the carrot dish took a little longer) and soft, I blended it up to a smooth pureé… adding a little bit of water when necessary.

The result?

He loved it! It looks like we’ve hit successful summer vacation status after all.

In fact, he loved it so much that to set a dish in front of him and not bring a spoon with it, but bring a camera instead, it was torture.

And though I made a couple of large batches, put the leftovers into ice cube trays to freeze and then tossed those cubes into large ziplock bags to store in the freezer, those extra servings may not last all that long.  Every time I prepare a dish for Brayden, big sister is under my feet, asking for her own bowl of sweet and savory.

And I have absolutely no problem with that, because I know exactly what’s in the food I’m giving them, I know how healthy it is, I know there are no additives or hidden yucky things, and I know they love it.

And I know that I love them.

My own little mix of sweet and savory.