This is the first in a series of baby food menus that will be coming to you geared towards fall foods/harvest. At younger ages, it is harder to have much variety as you are likely still introducing new tastes and combinations. If you are JUST starting to feed your child baby food you will want to start with a basic 4-6 month menu with NO mixed vegetables. That menu should be coming out by the end of next week.

I hope that you and your little one enjoy this fall feast.

Menu

Vegetables

• Winter Squash (Butternut or Acorn)
• Carrots
• Sweet Potatoes
• Sweet Potatoes, Carrots & Cauliflower
• Potato, Winter Squash & Peas

Fruits

• Apples
• Pears
• Bananas
• Avocado Banana
• Pear, Apple, Apricot Puree

Printable Menu

Grocery List

• Included in this spreadsheet you will find a listing of all the items you will need to complete your once a month cooking (OAMC) baby food BIG DAY. For more instructions on how to use this, go here.
• Grocery List

Instructions

• These are the step-by-step instructions you will need to quickly and efficiently approach your once a month cooking (OAMC) baby food BIG DAY!
• Instructions

• These are the step-by-step instructions you will need to quickly and efficiently approach your OAM Cooking BIG DAY!
• Printable Google Docs Instructions

Recipes

Please note that all recipes in this document have been altered (increased quantities) to meet the needs of ONE baby for ONE month. It is indicated on each recipe whether it has been doubled or quadrupled for your convenience. If you are just one person or would like to make less of a particular recipe, you will need to make the adjustments on your own to the recipe and to the grocery shopping list.

Night Before:

• Optional (but HIGHLY recommended) – chop up all vegetables.

Day of:

Carrot Chicken “Chickie” Hash

Yield:

32 oz. / 64 T / 32 cubes

Ingredients:

• 1½ lb. whole carrots (can use baby, but I think whole taste a little sweeter)
• ¼ c. pasta stars (can use macaroni if your little one is good at chewing)
• 2 small frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about ½ lb.)
• water for boiling

Instructions:

1. Give the carrots a rough chop and steam until tender.* Set aside.
2. Fill large pot halfway with water, add chicken and boil for 20-30 minutes until fully cooked. Save 1 c. broth. Set aside.
3. Bring water in medium pot to boil. Add pasta with a dash of salt, stir. Boil until tender.
4. Add carrots to food processor and pulse until chunky consistency.
5. Give chicken a rough chop and add to food processor. Pulse medium consistency.
6. Add 1 c. of broth to help ingredients hash into each other. Pulse once more.
7. Add pasta and stir gently (don’t process the pasta)
8. Put into storage containers and freeze up to 3 months.

*To steam my carrots, I used 2 medium Ziploc steamer bags. I was pleasantly surprised by how efficiently they worked. I recommend cutting the carrots into smaller pieces if you go this route, or you may need to add a minute or two to Ziploc’s recommended cooking time.

I am starting to go through the baby food menus and think a bit about what “works” for a baby food once a month cooking (OAMC) BIG DAY. After 11 months of experience (okay, 6 months of eating) I have figured out a few things that work a little better than others. Considering that we are dealing with a varying timeframe with babies it is hard to do a monthly menu for each time frame. Instead, I am moving to doing a seasonal menu for each of the varying “stages”. For each season, starting with summer, you will see a 4-6 month menu, a 6-8 month menu, an 8-10 month menu and a 10 month+ menu.

I am starting with the 8-10 month menu for summer and will hopefully be able to work the other menus in during coming weeks. So I hope that you enjoy the menus and find them useful.

Menu

Meats/Proteins

• First Chicken Casserole
• Chicken with Potato and Corn
• Baby Beef Stew
• Tasty Ground Meat with Rutabaga & Tomato

Vegetables

• Green Beans
• Summer Squash
• Carrots
• Peas
• Potato, Summer Squash & Peas
• Spinach, Potato, Parsnip & Leek
• Rutabaga, Carrot & Peas

Fruits

• Bananas
• Blueberries
• Peaches
• Pears

Printable Menu

Grocery List

• Included in this spreadsheet you will find a listing of all the items you will need to complete your once a month cooking (OAMC) baby food BIG DAY. For more instructions on how to use this, go here.
• Grocery List

Instructions

• These are the step-by-step instructions you will need to quickly and efficiently approach your once a month cooking (OAMC) BIG DAY!
• Instructions

Thaw:

• Put 13 ounces of chicken will be cooked in the crock pot, it does not need to be thawed before cooking, add 1/2 cup of water and cook for approximately 8 hours on low or until chicken is done.
• Optional (but HIGHLY recommended) – chop up all vegetables.

Day of:

• Included in this spreadsheet you will find a listing of all the items you will need to complete your once a month cooking (OAMC) BIG DAY. For more instructions on how to use this go here.
• Printable Grocery List

1 large chicken breast

1 lb. carrots, diced

1 Idaho potato, diced

1 1/2 c. peas

1 small yellow onion

Directions:

In a stock pot, boil chicken breast whole and onions with just enough water to cover, until chicken is done and juices run clear. Remove about half of the onions and discard (I did just to be on the safe side-in case the taste was too strong for Carter). Add the rest of the veggies and continue to boil until all the veggies are soft.

Pull chicken breast out and dice. Puree first than add rest of ingredients slowly, adding water until desired consistency.

Yields: 36 oz.

3/4 pound lean cubed beef

1 small yellow onion

1 tsp garlic powder

1 cup green beans

3 Idaho potatoes, diced

1 lb. carrots, diced

Directions:

In stock pot, place beef, garlic powder and onion in water (just enough to cover). Bring to boil. Once meat is cooked through, strain out as much onion as you feel necessary (I took out about half). Add green beans, potatoes and carrots, continue boiling until veggies are soft.

Puree most of the meat first, then add rest of ingrediants, adding the water from the pot as you go until desired consistency.

Yield: 60 oz.

2 sweet potatoes (about 1 pound), peeled and diced

2 medium Gala apples, peeled and diced

1 large chicken breast

1 small yellow onion

Directions:

In a stock pot, boil chicken breast whole and onions with just enough water to cover, until chicken is done and juices run clear. Remove about half of the onions and discard (I did just to be on the safe side-in case the taste was too strong for Carter). Add sweet potatoes and apples to boiling water and continue boiling until the sweet potatoes are soft.

Pull out chicken breast and dice, puree the chicken first, then add the rest of the ingrediants adding the water a little bit at a time until desired consistency. (I ended up using all the water in the pot). By doing the chicken first, you won’t have to over-puree the sweet potato, causing it to get gluey.

Yield: 28 oz

Ingredients:

12 oz. cubed ham (already cooked)

1 lb. of peaches

2 medium apples (peeled, cored and sliced-appr. 7 0z)

8 oz can crushed pineapple IN JUICE

I used frozen peaches, I placed the peaches in a large pan and added water to barely cover the peaches, and brought to a boil. While the peaches were cooking, I cubed the ham then added to peaches.

Then add the apples. Boil until apples are soft.

In food processor, add the pineapples and puree. Then slowly add the ham, apples and peaches until desired consistency.

Yields: 39 oz.

I am going to try out some new recipes this week for Carter. Here is what I am thinking so far.  After browsing the baby food isle I definitely want to try a puree with ham (maybe with pineapple, peach and apple), a chicken with sweet potato and apple (since all of these are on sale this week at Kroger), and possibly another beef dish with veggies (peas, green beans, carrots).

If you have any suggestions or have a recipe that has worked for you, I would LOVE to hear from you.

I will post a new menu by this weekend!!

8 cubes

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado (peeled and pitted)
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/2 scoop formula
• water, if needed
• (or substitute breastmilk for formula)

Directions:

In blender, add avocado, banana, formula. Puree, adding water until desired consistency is achieved.

1.5    c.  carrots
0.5    c.  sliced leeks white part only
5    oz.  chicken breast cut into chunks
1    lb.   potatoes peeled and chopped
1    c.   peeled and chopped parsnips
as much as needed  boiling water

Directions:
1. Place chicken in pot and cover with water. Boil until cooked through. About 20 minutes.
2. Add the potatoes, parsnips, carrots and leeks. Continue boiling for another 15 minutes, or until everything is tender and cooked through. Blend to a puree, adding water until desired consistency.

print recipe

Directions:

Place onions, celery and chicken in a small stock pot. Add water to just cover ingredients. Boil on medium heat for about 30 minutes covered. Strained desired amount of celery and onion out (depending on your child’s taste preferences). I took about half out of both the celery and onion. Add carrots and green beans to boiling water. Continue boiling until veggies are soft – about 30 more minutes.

Strain ingredients and keep the water you used to boil, to thin the puree to desired consistency. Puree ingredients adding water until desired consistency.

Yields: about 39 oz.

print recipe

.8 lb. lean cubed beef

1/2 of a yellow onion chopped in large pieces

4 celery stalks

5 carrots (diced)

2 parsnips (diced)

1 c. peas

2 potatoes (about a pound and diced)

1 c. low salt Chicken broth

Directions:

Place onions, celery and beef in a small stock pot. Add water to just cover ingredients. Boil on medium heat for about 30 minutes covered. Strained desired amount of celery and onion out (depending on your child’s taste preferences). I took about half out of both the celery and onion. Add carrots, parsnips, peas and potatoes to boiling water. Continue boiling until veggies are soft – about 30 more minutes.

Strain ingredients and keep the water you used to boil, to thin the puree to desired consistency. Puree ingredients along with 1 cup of chicken broth.

Add the leftover water to puree to desired consistency. I actually had to add more water than I used to boil to thin it.

Yields: about 56 oz.

Print recipe

So tonight I made the First Chicken Casserole recipe (Karmel, Annabel. (1999). First Meals. New York: DK Publishing).

Here is a run down of how much I spent:

Carrots: 1.5 cups = $0.50 (3 medium carrots)

Leeks: 1 = $0.59

Chicken Breast: 5 oz. = $0.40 ( I had a bag frozen chicken breasts  in the freezer, I paid $4.99 for 4 lbs a few weeks ago)

Potatoes: 1 lb. = $0.40

Parsnips: 1 medium = $0.29

Total: $2.18

I didn’t quite follow the directions in the recipe. Instead I chopped and steamed the potatoes, carrots and parsnips together in my steamer and boiled the frozen chicken breast in water and covered until cooked through—about an hour. I boiled enough chicken for this recipe and Chicken with Sweet Potato and Apple. I then boiled the chicken and leeks together in a small pot for 15 minutes.  Then I pureed all the ingredients together.  I added 1.5 cups of water (I used the water that I boiled the chicken in) to the puree to thin it—I would say about a stage 2 consistency. Being paranoid also, I ran the puree through my food mill, just to make sure my son didn’t get any unexpected pieces of chicken in his mouth.

The puree was tasty, but a little bland.  I think I may add a second leek to the recipe next time just to give it a little bit more flavor.  But we will see how my little man likes it tomorrow.

The above ingredients made 31 ounces: which breaks down to $0.07/oz.  Depending on how much your baby eats at one sitting this recipe will make 10 to 15 meals (2-3 ounces each).

So for $2.18, I made 10 to 15 meals. Not too bad!

1. I will be introducing my son to some simple meat purees.
2. I feel it is important to introduce as many different tastes as possible. With this said, I will have a few veggie purees that have more than one ingredient.  The recipes I chose have more bitter veggies in them (broccoli and spinach mixed with sweeter ones such as sweet potato and carrot), and since I worry about the ratio and my son’s pickiness I thought making them from a recipe would be my best bet.  With fruits, I typically mix equal parts of different fruits since most fruits go well together, but freeze them individually. So this will add a few extra steps but I feel it will be worth it to give my son unique tastes that have been tried out prior to me.

As you will see in my menu I have 3 categories.  With my first son, I always strived to give him one meal a day, typically dinner, that had protein in it.  I must admit, there isn’t any science to back this up, just mother’s intuition.  The other two meals, I kept simple with fruit or veggies. So I will do the same with my second son. So I have planned for 30+dinners with some form of protein, 30+ veggie, and 30+ fruits meals. I am actually trying to plan a little bit more than 30 for each since the recipes may yield slightly different amounts based on unique sizes of produce.

So here is what I will be making this month:

Dinners

• Tasty Ground Meat with Rutabaga & Tomato
• Baby Beef Stew
• First Chicken Casserole
• Chicken with Sweet Potato and Apple

Veggies

• Sweet Potato, Carrot and Broccoli
• Rutabaga, Carrot and Peas
• Spinach, Potato, Parsnip and Leek

The above 3 makes approximately 16 servings.

• A variety of single veggies from the 4 – 6 month menu.  Most likely carrots, peas, green beans and butternut squash (if I can find it), and possibly corn.

Fruits

The beauty of fruit is that most fruits mix well with each other. So I will be making the following fruits individually and mix them day by day.

• apples
• bananas
• blueberries
• pears
• peaches
• avocado

All of these mix well with each other, so one day I might pull out a cube of bananas, a cube of peaches and a cube of blueberries and mix together.

Here is a link to my Google Documents Spreadsheet that has all the recipes that I will be using for the March Menu. Please note that each recipe is on a different sheet and the tabs for those sheets are on the bottom of the spreadsheet.

I will post the grocery list in the next few days with total combined quantities.