Feeding the critter

I make Lucas his food. We buy all organic, lovely produce and meats. It's important that he eat well; that is, until he discovers Cheetos and we start wondering why we ever shelled out billions for organic free range chicken in the first place.

Like every parenting book and website out there suggests I would make a bunch of food, store it in mini containers and pop it in the freezer to use in the oncoming days. No more! Critter McG does not like previously frozen food. He only eats freshly made food, which makes food shopping and cooking just that more time consuming.

Like a fool I used to throw everything in a pot of water and let it boil up together, then purée it with an immersion blender. No more! I started reading online that a lot of the essential vitamins and nutrients of food are lost in prolonged boiling. (Which makes sense.) So now I only boil the meat. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc, go in the oven with the skin on, other veg gets steamed... God, how much time do I spend on critter food?!? Well, a lot. At least he eats it happily. It would be another story if most of it ended up on the floor or something.

These are two good websites for baby food ideas, tips, recipes, etc:

http://www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/babymenua.htm

Feeding time at the zoo

Feeding the monkeys and pandas might be neater that what goes down at our house during meals.

We let Lucas feed himself. He loves it, and he gets about 85% of the food in his mouth. We move things along with a long handle spoon, getting a few mouthfuls in there. This also works well for us, giving us free hands to eat ourselves.

Lilsugar posted research that shows that letting babies feed themselves develops hand eye coordination and works towards a developing a healthy relationship with food.

Lunchtime becomes a happy event for everyone, albeit insanely messy. But that can be cleaned up... over time.

Making baby food

I make Lucas his food. We buy all organic, lovely produce and meats. It's important that he eat well; that is, until he discovers Cheetos and we start wondering why we ever shelled out billions for organic free range chicken in the first place.

Like every parenting book and website out there suggests I would make a bunch of food, store it in mini containers and pop it in the freezer to use in the oncoming days. No more! Critter McG does not like previously frozen food. He only eats freshly made food, which makes food shopping and cooking just that more time consuming.

Like a fool I used to throw everything in a pot of water and let it boil up together, then purée it with an immersion blender. No more! I started reading online that a lot of the essential vitamins and nutrients of food are lost in prolonged boiling. (Which makes sense.) So now I only boil the meat. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc, go in the oven with the skin on, other veg gets steamed... God, how much time do I spend on critter food?!? Well, a lot. At least he eats it happily. It would be another story if most of it ended up on the floor or something.

These are two good websites for baby food ideas, tips, recipes, etc:

http://www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/babymenua.htm