I thought we would talk about baby food on the weekends. Typically, I make most of Camille’s food on the weekends, and stash it in the freezer for the rest of the week. I took a few weeks off from talking about baby food because Camille had her first illness (not bad for 10 ½ months of breastfeeding!), and during that time, her appetite reverted back to her 6-month days. All she wanted was soft fruits (bananas and spoonfuls of ultra-ripe pear), chunks of cheese (Beemster is her favorite), and veggie purees (carrot + nutmeg and beet + sweet potato). I’m glad I got to re-live that phase again, because it gave me even more baby food ideas for you!
This homemade baby food recipe has grass-fed ground beef, half an onion, no-salt canned tomatoes, rosemary, basil, oregano, bay leaf and garlic. Does it sound weird to give a baby onion? One of Camille’s first purees was potatoes and leeks. She loved it! You guys are requesting baby meat purees, and I couldn’t be happier to oblige. Honestly, we all know how to puree fruits and veggies, don’t we? Meat is hard. It’s been hard on Camille actually, too. I don’t eat a ton of meat, and I certainly didn’t when I was pregnant. Honestly, I believe she never got a taste for it in the womb. And while my appetite soared during the first few months of breastfeeding, it still was meat-limited. So, full confession: the first 4 times I gave Camille the chicken baby food, she spit it out. I knew that since she loves carrots and smoky cumin, it was a texture thing for her. No matter, I just kept trying. I mixed it with mashed avocado, even more mashed carrots, and I also sprinkled cheese on top. She ate it ‘doctored up’ 2-3 times, but still would only eat it if I ‘hid’ it from her. Then, one day I gave up and rolled it up in a tortilla with salsa and ate it myself. All of a sudden, she was interested in it! Monkey see, monkey do. It makes perfect sense. Now? I’ve made that recipe for the third time, and she happily laps up her shredded chicken, plain. It just took some getting used to. I fully expected to have to teach Camille to eat this beef baby food, but I didn’t. She was on my hip as I was stirring it on the stove, and when it cooled, I gave her a little taste. She absolutely loves any ’treat’ she gets in the kitchen while I’m cooking. So, after a little taste in the afternoon, she gobbled it up at dinner that night.
I serve this beef baby food with spaghetti squash just to sneak it another veggie. Whole wheat orzo is a good alternative, or you could just puree the squash. In that case, instead of serving the dollop of full-fat ricotta cheese on top, I would puree it with the meat. We are all about the full-fat grass-fed dairy for baby in this house! And I would be lying if I didn’t say I’m really enjoying it, too. It’s like you think you know yogurt, and then you eat full-fat yogurt, and then life is never the same. As you can see from the photo below, this is everything roughly pureed. I used a stick-blender and gave it a few pulses. Camille will eat it like this, but some kiddos will like it really smooth from a blender. Experiment with it! I consider this a stage 2 meat baby food because you can leave it chunky, but if you want to puree it fully, you absolutely can!
I’m not exactly sure if I’m following the rules here, but I don’t think all babies jive with tomatoes. There might be an age minimum..maybe 8 months? Anyway, I think there’s so much flavor going on here that you’ll be fine. I remember when Camille was 7 months old, she was reaching for a blood orange I was eating. The internet told me it was too acidic and it would hurt her stomach, but she was begging. I gave her some; she was fine. The next day, she ate an entire mandarin orange and was also fine. It all depends on the kid, and you know your babe best.
As for serving size, this recipe uses a ½-pound of ground beef and it made 18 tablespoon-size cubes for the freezer. For us, that’s 18 servings. Camille will hardly eat more than 1 tablespoon of meat at a time, which is age-appropriate for her. The amount of spaghetti squash you get depends on how big of a squash you buy. Keep the baby food requests coming! I’m working on a baby breakfast series in the meantime! I did a little sneak peek on instagram of our matching ricotta breakfast bowls. If you haven’t already, you should really check out my friend Michele’s site BabyFoodE. She’s all about adventurous food for babies and toddlers. I also own her book, and it’s fantastic. I feel like I’ve found my soul mate when it comes to how I want to teach my kids how to eat. And yes, you really do have to teach them. If not, they teach you what they want to eat (and it won’t be pretty).
