Cooking Pesto Pasta with tiny hands

At the age of two, my firstborn became fascinated with the process of preparing and cooking food. I only wish he extended the same enthusiasm when it came to consuming food. Feeding a picky-eater is frustrating; time and energy consuming.

One evening, after agreeing to finish his dinner as long as I let him cook it himself, I let him experience cooking for the very first time. Of course it had to be his favorite: Chicken Pesto Pasta.

He didn't have the patience to wait for the chicken to defrost, he was only two years old after all; we went ahead and cooked pasta with pesto sauce.

INGREDIENTS:

Olive Oil

Garlic

Tomatoes

McCormick Pesto Sauce Mix

Pasta

STEPS:

First, cook the pasta.

Wash the tomatoes, peel the garlic and chop them up.  I handled the slicing part; he washed, peeled and nibbled on tomatoes & garlic.

Saute garlic in olive oil, over medium heat. The garlic got burned a little since he had trouble moving the turner.

Add the tomatoes

Add McCormick's Pesto mix and water. I took care of this part since we couldn't afford to spill the pesto mix all over the place.

Let it simmer for a few seconds and you're done.

Sprinkle in some Parmesan cheese. He really enjoyed this part.

Mix sauce with pasta

Pesto Pasta prepared and cooked by a 2-year-old boy.

Cooking with a toddler is not tedious as long as you prepare everything beforehand. Keep the items needed within your toddler's reach to avoid things from tipping over. The stove has to be right for your toddler's height to avoid accidents and ALWAYS be a step ahead of your little one.

Now at 5, he still dreams of being a chef one day. His dream might change as he grow older, but until then, I am proud to have him around as my Sous Chef.

baby food: roasted carrot sticks

Boiled carrots, again? Not for this little boy. Time for some roasted carrots!

No need to elaborate, this recipe is pretty easy, even my toddler could do it (and we will) but since I don't want this post to look bare, I might as well include the steps:

        1: Cut the carrots into strips
        2. Boil carrots until tender
        3: Arrange and sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil
        3: Leave pan in the oven toaster for 10 to 15 minutes (or for a longer period of time until they've caramelized)

Let your baby savor the combined natural flavors of sweet, caramelized carrots and extra virgin olive oil.

The first time I made this, I didn't boil the carrots. Big mistake. The strips tasted really good, but they were too hard for my little boy that I had to chop and mashed them all up for him. So much for his first finger food.

Please refrain from using salt or sugar to "add flavor" to this dish. You may sprinkle a little bit of black ground pepper or cinnamon if you feel that this dish is too bland (hard to believe), but please, don't use salt or sugar. I don't think your baby's kidneys would appreciate the amount of sodium you would be putting into your little one's body.

baby food: pasta vegetable soup

When pressed for time, I serve whatever mashed vegetable I have left stored in the freezer or in the fridge. But when I checked the fridge and found nothing but uncooked carrots, squash and meat, I decided to give vegetable soup a try.

Grabbed 1 onion, 1 small potato, 1 carrot and chopped them all up. That didn't seem enough so added about 50 grams of uncooked pasta, broken into bite-size pieces. Feel free to add more vegetables, I would have done that, except my littlest one was already in his high chair, impatiently blabbering, asking for food.

Place a pot or pan filled with water on the stove (over medium heat). Toss in the carrot and onion. Add the potato and pasta. Let simmer for 10 minutes or until pasta is cooked. I sprinkled black ground pepper for added flavor (it's safe to add herbs and spices to your baby's food once they've turned 6 months) but NEVER add salt. Your baby's tiny kidneys are not yet equipped to process high amounts of sodium.

  

PASTA VEGETABLE SOUP IS READY!

 

The rest were stored in the freezer. Following the storing process, I let the soup cooled down before transferring into a lidded freezer tray.







Preparing breakfast the next day only took minutes, just popped out three sticks of frozen soup...








and thawed on the stove (on low heat).














Trust me, cooking for your baby is such a rewarding experience.

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homemade baby food: storing methods

Cool pureed food as quickly as possible and don't leave it sitting for more than 2 hours since bacteria grows rapidly at room temperature. You may choose to store  your homemade baby food in the refrigerator (you will have to do the task of making food every other day) or in the freezer (a time-saver).


In the refrigerator

• Food should not be kept in the fridge for longer than 48 hours.
• Use BPA-free plastic containers.
• Don't feed your baby directly from the jar/container and use a serving spoon.

In the freezer

• Baby food can be stored for up to 3 months. To maintain it's nutritional value, consume food within 1 month after freezing.
• Freeze food in individual portions to avoid having to thaw the entire container and refreeze the whole batch every meal.
• Use freezer-safe containers. Glass jars that are not manufactured to withstand freezing temperatures can burst or chip once the food starts to freeze and expand.

I use my Sensible Lines milk tray to freeze pureed food. Popping the food out is pretty tricky, but I don't mind the hassle.

Ice cube trays works just as well, just cover it with food-safe wrap, NOT FOIL. Each cube is about 1 ounce, so you get to monitor the amount of food your baby is eating. Probably the cheapest method as you only have to shell out cash for food-safe wrap.

Baking or cookie sheet method is also being used by other parents. Just drop spoonfuls of pureed baby food onto a cookie sheet or baking sheet, cover with food-safe plastic wrap and freeze. This is going to be a problem if  you don't have enough space in the freezer for the trays.










Once frozen, transfer the cubes/chunks into labeled and dated  freezer bags.











OR you can purchase freezer trays/container designed for homemade baby food. I browsed around and read through product reviews, these products below delivered what was promised or didn't make the parents go back to the ice-cube tray method:

OXO baby blocks set

BEABA multiportions storage

Baby Cubes

You may also opt for glass jars (keep in the fridge) if your confident that your baby can consume what you prepared within 48 hours. That's what I've been doing with my youngest, he just turned 10 months (and eager to eat table food). I would prepare 3 jars of pureed veggies that he can easily consume in 2 days, no need to freeze and defrost food.









 

Thawing/Heating methods

• Hot water. Place the cubes in a small bowl, then leave that small bowl submerged into a larger bowl filled with hot water for about 15-20 minutes.
• Fridge. Transfer the cubes in a container in the fridge overnight, as long as your baby consumes to food within 48 hours. 
• Stove. Heat food on a stove top, use the lowest heat setting, stirring often. 
• Microwave. Use microwave-safe bowl and set for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

And a little reminder: NEVER refreeze thawed food.



Based on the endless list of baby food making products and tools available, it's clear that more parents are now choosing homemade baby food over store-brought baby food. Maybe these parents have finally realized that baby food made from fresh fruits and vegetables is healthier than starchy, sugary, store-bought baby food. Or could be the effect of having baby food making products available to aid less confident parents. Whatever the reason may be, I like this growing trend.









DISCLAIMER: Some images used in this blog are not mine unless stated.
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homemade baby food: preparation tools

Earlier, I demonstrated just how easy it is to prepare homemade baby food using common kitchen items such as knife, pot and fork. Of course, not everything is as soft and easy to mash like squash, so you might have to ditch the fork and consider these tools:

Oster mini jar

KITCHEN BLENDER - A common kitchen item (yet we didn't own one until recently, thank you, mother-in-law). I gave it a try, but went back to mashing boiled veggies with fork. The blender did its job, but the vegetables that we use for baby food are soft enough that there was no need to use the blender. Anyway, instead of using the original jar, I used an Oster mini-jar (it's an accessory, so it's sold separately). It's easier to wash due to its size and is made for grinding/pureeing in small quantities, perfect for pureeing baby foods. Just attach it to the base and go.



FOOD MILL/BABY FOOD GRINDER - Take a hand-turned food mill and use it to puree baby food... you end up with a baby food grinder. Supposedly, they are two different items, let me show you how they differ from each other:

See what I mean? Anyway, what's great about them is that they're pretty portable and doesn't require electricity to function. Just toss in your boiled veggies and turn the handle a couple of times. I would probably buy one (baby food grinder) for our next baby.


 

Kenwood Food Processor

FOOD PROCESSOR - I can vividly remember my sister-in-law in the '90s switching the set of blades and small accessories that came with her food processor. This went on for a couple of weeks, until she got tired of putting together and taking pieces apart. This equipment can chop, grind, puree and grate - it's perfect. This can meet your grinding... pureeing needs, but to set it up would take extra minutes off your time. Plus, imagine the hassle of washing the accessories and blade afterwards. Not for me.

The First Years babyPro

 ALL-IN-ONE BABY FOOD MAKER - It's just like any typical food processor but with the ability to steam, defrost and reheat food.

Beaba BABYCOOK

Now you're down to the last step: deciding how to store your pureed baby food. Read about storing methods here.







DISCLAIMER: Some images used in this blog are not mine unless stated.
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homemade baby food: the basics

P 200.00 for a jar of Gerber (banana flavor) or spend about P 30.00 to P 40.00 for one kilo of banana? 


Preparing homemade baby food has got to be one of the easiest things I have ever done for my little ones. Plus, I'm not a good cook, so seeing my youngest son enjoy every meal I prepare for him makes me feel like a chef (in his eyes, at least).  And what's so great about making your own baby food is knowing what's in it. It's my babies' first solid food, I wouldn't want to feed them something diluted, sugary and starchy. My little ones' first foods were potato, sweet potato, carrots, squash and banana. Rich in fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium... sounds comforting rather than Tapioca a.k.a. baby food thickener.

When buying and preparing baby food...

• Make sure you pick non-allergenic, easily digestible foods and easy to mash.
• Offer one food at a time and keep in mind  that new foods should be introduced three days apart to monitor any allergic reaction.
• When introducing new foods, I mix them in with familiar ones, which is either breast milk or Cerelac. Gradually decrease the amount of the familiar flavor, until no longer needed. My little ones have come to love the taste of carrot with no added sweetness of Cerelac or banana. 
• No need to add sugar, why would you get them hooked on sugar? Don't add salt either, but you may add a pinch of herbs or spices if you think your baby's food is too bland. 

That's all I could think of right now, it is pretty late.

Anyway, let's get started!

 

PEEL and SLICE into small pieces

BOIL

and MASH

Pretty easy, huh? Of course, doing this every meal time can be quite time consuming, so what I do is let the mashed veggies cool off, store and freeze. It's very important that you store and freeze your homemade baby food properly in order to retain its quality and nutrients. Pureed vegetables and fruits should not be stored in the refrigerator for more than 48 hours. I made that mistake today and wasted away 2 jars of pureed squash and sweet potatoes. In the freezer, frozen baby food can be stored for a maximum of 3 months.

I use breast milk trays (by Sensible Lines). Just pop one out and thaw.

An ounce of squash, carrot and banana

It's fulfilling to see my second child go from consuming 1 stick (ounce) per meal to 2 ounces, and now half a jar of  pureed food!

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