Gopher Guts- An Avocado Recipe

Soooo...A couple of weeks ago we decided to introduce Avocado to The Boopster...EASY! YAY! We love easy recipes. This was my first time experimenting with avocado...I use to eat it all the time when I was just a youngin'. My dad was a big fan of it..so I wanted to eat it just like him.  I was a daddy's girl for sure. Anyway...Every time I looked at the finished product..a song that I used to sing and LOVE, might I add, when I was just a wee one..." Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts" kept playing thought my head...over and over...It was quite pleasant...Anyway...that seemed to be just right for the title of this recipe..since this is pretty much what I have imagined Gopher Guts to look like..hopefully this tasted better....

Gopher Guts



Ingredients:

3 VERY Large Avocados

4 oz of Baby Pear Juice

What I did:
1. Roll Avocados around on counter top (supposed to make it easier to peel)
2. Cut Avocados in half...removed pits...and peel.
3. Toss in food processor
4. Add pear juice.
5. Spoon into trays.
6. Freeze or Serve
7. After freezing place in labeled Ziploc bags.

How long it took: About 15 minutes

How Easy was it: Probably one of the easiest thing I have made so far..I would say...A gopher without Guts could do it!
How much it made: 2 (1oz serving) trays.

Boopee Tested-Boopee Approved.. She really seemed to like the texture of this...I think she would give it a 4.5 out of 5!

What I'll do different next time...MAKE MORE!

Smashing Pumpkins

Well...Today was an adventure....If I had any pent up anger...I suppose I managed to get it out...With the whole persnickety pumpkin process... I had no idea that pumpkins could be quite so tough...I had never cooked one before...And well it was time to introduce a new food to the Boop...so well....with Pumpkins in season...It seemed logical...From what I have read...research says you can introduce pumpkins to your little pumpkins around 6 months.. .We are only a couple weeks shy... so anyway... When I first decided to do the pumpkin thing...I also decided to introduce some mild spices...so you will see those in the recipe below...anyway... I thought I was going to name it "Smells like Thanksgiving.." but after the confrontation....with said pumpkins....this morning...I changed my mind... Soooo...just so you know... I tried the entire set of Calphalon  knives... NONE were sharp enough to cut the little devils...After trying to saw through the pumpkin...I finally just stabbed it and whacked it on the floor as hard as I could and TaaaaaDaaaaaaa! Perfect! Split right in half...thus it inspired...
                                 
                                                Smashing Pumpkins

Ingredients:

4 Small(esh) Baking Pie Pumpkins - Total of 8 lbs

Dash of Nutmeg (About a 1/4 Teaspoon)

Dash of Cinnamon (About a 1/2 a Teaspoon)



    What I Did: 

1. Washed the Pumpkins...

2. Stabbed the Pumpkin and whacked them on the floor until the split in half... Enjoyed it.

3. Proceeded to De seed pumpkin....and then quartered them...

4. Placed pumpkin pieces face down in about 1" of water in a large baking dish in oven for about 1 hour at 400 degrees...

5. Removed and let cool.

6. Scooped out the gooey... and slapped into the food processor...

7.   Pressed Go...

8. Added Nutmeg and Cinnamon...Pretty much eyeballed it...

9. Spoon  into freezer trays.

10. Freeze...then place into Labeled Ziploc bags or Serve. 

                           

How LONG it took... WELL... It didn't take long once I figured out how to smash the pumpkin...I wasted about 30 minutes trying to saw into it... NEXT time...I'll go with the smashing method... Sooo... It probably would have taken me...About 25 minutes in the kitchen on my feet....Since I had 4 pumpkins...

Bake time was 1 hour.

How Easy was it... Really easy....Except for the Cutting of the Pumpkin... Heavy Sigh....A Box of Orange Juice could do it if it had mechanical hands...

How Much it made... 8 Trays... (1 oz cubes...)  A total of  80 OZS!!!!!! YAY! for only $5

Boopee Tested....Boopee Approved...I think she would give it a 4.9 out of 5..Absolutley NONE ended up on the Bib! So she must have liked it...Maybe it's the spices? hmmmm?

We are also planning on mixing it with a cube of our Slapples! yum! 

Give "Peas" A Chance

Woops....We Forgot one... Our classic Simple pea recipe... As I mentioned before....Peas Aren't Boopee's Fave...however....she seems to like these pretty good...The first time I tried to give Boopee peas...they were store bought...and she was not having it...AT ALL! So I am glad that she likes Mommy's peas...even if they aren't at the top of her list!

Give "Peas" A Chance

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Sweet Peas

4 Oz Baby Apple-Prune Juice

What We Did:

1. Steamed Peas on top of stove in our handy dandy royal prestige steamer! Took about 15 minutes!

2. Placed in Food processor.

3. Pressed Go.

4. Added Juice...Blended some more.

5. Spoon into trays...

6. Freeze.

7. Remove from freezer and place into labeled Ziploc bags or Serve!

How Much it Made :  2- 3 Trays (1 oz cubes)

How easy?  A Head of Lettuce could do it...If it had arms....and hands..and fingers...and a small brain..

How long did it take? The steaming...About 15 minutes.... Actual time spent on my feet in kitchen...About 10 minutes!

Boopee Tested....Boopee Approved! I think she would give it about a 3... She isn't crazy about peas...But HEY! At least she eats them..When I tried her on the store bought...I thought she was never going to eat peas....However...She slurps them up when we mix them with sweetsations...or other cubes...SOOOOO...Mixing is a GOOD thing...Sneaky...perhaps...but good. =)

Not So Secrets...

Sooooo... Just a quick little scribble here.. As we have been brewing and bubbling our concoctions in the kitchen...I am so glad I have chosen to go down this path and make Boopee's food. At first I was a little nervous about it all....I was always pretty confident and comfortable in the kitchen....but BABY food...It just seemed....I don't know...Like there should be some kind of  Magic baby ingredient...and that's why you have to buy baby food in the store...It just seemed to good to be true to be able to make it myself and for it to be cheaper..AND for her to like it...AND for it to be healthier!  It has really been a great experience so far...And super easy!  And I love knowing WHAT is going into my little girl's belly!  Soooo... Anyway...here are a couple of the little tid-bits/ random information concerning our baby food experiments...

1. The great thing about the Ice Tray Cubes....Boopee Eats 3..That's right Three at a time...(Gerber's jars of 1st step baby food are about 2.5 oz)  Only once a day... Sooo the really cool thing is... Each one is 1 oz... So you can mix the cubes... We do it all the time with previously introduced veggies.. For instance.. When we were trying peas... and she wasn't super crazy about them.. I would do  2 cubes of  "Ode to Peas" and 1 Cube of Sweetsations....Now we mix and match all the time!

2.  To Serve the food...I have found the best way to thaw it...Is to put it in a little bitty corning ware dish...they are super fancy cute! And put it in the microwave on defrost...instead of microwave...So it doesn't actually cook it...=)  In our microwave...it takes about 90 seconds to defrost 3 cubes...

3.  Juice... Juice is awesome for thinning and changing textures...or for helping "things" move along more naturally... And if you accidentally push the wrong button on the microwave....it cools things down...really quick.. =) still check for hot spots in baby's food....we don't want to burn little one. =)

4. Formula....I don't add formula to my purees before I freeze them... however... after they are thawed...and I am ready to serve... added mixed formula....makes things creamier... and can help cool things off too.

5. Fussy when eating...All of a sudden.... a Couple of weeks ago...Boopee suddenly started fussing everyday while she was eating... I couldn't figure it out... then I noticed she was eyeing her bottle... Found out...she is like her Mommy...she HAS to have sips of her drink between bites... Soooo...If your little one suddenly starts fussing...Who knows...maybe???

Slapples

Our Latest Experiment in the kitchen...Apples...I had no idea...Seriously...I have personally never been a HUGE apple fan...However...after this apple adventure...well...I am considering making apple pies...apple turnovers..Carmel covered apples....or just helping Boopee eat her apples...We have been taking our time with introducing the veggies....I wanted Boopee to have lots of Veggie experiences before we started fruits...Sooo...now that we have tried sweet potatoes, squash, sweet peas, carrots, green beans...I thought it was time for a little dessert... After doing some reading..I decided to Steam the apples...instead of baking...it seems that steaming is the best way to lock in those nutrients! And
we want to hold on to as many nutrients as we can! I wasn't really sure about how the whole steaming of the apple situation was going to go down... I figured steamed apples ...hmmm....doesn't sound to tasty....Well....I was super duper WAY wrong... I have never tasted anything soooooooo naturally sweet! Oh My! They were scrumptious! I had to stop myself from eating them all...We decided to name them Slapples...since they were so good they almost make ya wanna slap ya mama! ohhh..and lets not even talk about how they smell....it could totally have been bottled up and sold at Yankee candle or as a wall flower fragrance....Yum.

Slapples

Ingredients:

2 Red Delicious Apples

2 Golden Delicious Apples

2 Fuji Apples

What We Did:

1. Wash Apples.

2.  Cored Apples using our handy dandy Kitchen Aide Apple Corer... Then peeled the skin off...and cut apples into smaller pieces...

3. Placed into our lovely stove top steamer....

4. Steamed for about...20 Minutes.

5. Dumped Apples into food Processor....Enjoyed the Aromas...yummmmmm...

6. Pressed Go.

7. Spoon into Freezer trays.

8. After Freezing...place in labeled Ziploc bags or Serve!

How long it took:  About 20 minutes to steam...And About 30 actually spent in kitchen working......Peeling apples takes a while...

How much it made:  2 Trays ( 1 oz cubes)

How easy was it? Um...I think that a Walrus could do it if it had real hands!

Boopee Tested...Boopee Approved! I think she would give this one a 5 out of 5....Not one drop has ended up on the bib...it has been super slurped...

What I have learned about apples....

1. They smell super good when they are being cooked....

2. They taste really good when they are fresh....Way better than any applesauce I have ever tasted...or any other apple product...for that matter...

3. They are sticky. Really sticky.

4. They help with PicInics. =)

5. Get lots of apples....For a couple of reasons...once you core them and peel them....there isn't a whole lot left....and once they are steamed they will be even smaller.... and you might want some for yourself... =)

Crazy Carrot~ "Butt Stain"

Soooo...As we have created our potions over the last few weeks...we have finally decided to try carrots... I was a little hesitant because of the whole concern of nitrate poisoning.... so I discussed it with Boopee's pediatrician... and she said no worries... To give the baby some carrots! SOOOO. Carrots...Stand back! Here we come... They were super easy... And Boopee seems to love them! However... Talk about making someones Butt stained ORANGE! OH MY! were we in for a surprise! If you didn't know...know you know...or you will know soon enough if you try them on your little one... what goes in Orange...comes out orange...and what stains the bib...Stains...the Butt! Sooo that sort of inspired the title of this one to be...probably rather a little unappetizing...but we think memorable and appropriate...
                                                         Butt Stain

Ingredients:

3 Pounds of Carrots

4 oz Baby Apple-Prune Juice

What We Did:

      1. Washed carrots. Placed in handy dandy Royal Prestige Steamer pot on top of stove... Steamed for nearly an hour... THEY TOOK A LONG TIME.

2. Place in Food Processor

3. Pressed Button.

4. Added Juice... Blended a while longer... until consistency was smoother.

5. Spooned into Freezer trays.

6. Freeze.

7. Remove from freezer and place into labeled Ziploc bags or Serve.

How Long did it take?  The cooking of the Carrots took a while...about a good 40 minutes...but I probably spent about 20 minutes in the Kitchen working...

How Easy Was it? Pretty Dag Gum easy.

How Much did It make: 4 Trays ( 1 oz Cubes)

Boopee Tested. Boopee Approved.. I think she would give it a 4.7 ! She seems to love carrots so far!

Only bad things about carrots:  They stain..Clothes... and Baby butts. AND they seem to give her gas... So I end up giving her a couple of drops of mylicon... I hope that gets better after she eats them a few more times...because she seems to really dig them.. and they also help her "PicInic!"

Sinfonia in "Pea"

This...This is a combination of stuff that is green..and yellow...I suppose you could say its a blend of three independent voices... Hence the name Sinfonia...  It's actually got a couple more things involved...but we will just call that developmental material... =) Sooo Without further ado...

Sinfonia in "Pea"

Ingredients:

1/2 pound of Green beans

3/4 Cup of Peas

1 Butternut Squash

1 Acorn Squash

2 oz baby apple juice

2.5 oz of baby pear juice



What to do:

1. Cut Butternut Squash Lengthwise, remove seeds,  and place face down in 1/2 inch of water and bake on 400 for about an hour...

2. Stab Acorn Squash a Sit on a foil covered pan and bake on 400 for about an hour...

3. Place Green Beans and Peas in Steamer...(on top of Stove preferably to retain more nutrients) and STEAM! (took about 20 minutes)

4. When Squash, are done... Remove from oven... Scoop out the yumminess and slap up into the food processor...

5. Add Steamed green beans and peas...

6. Puree Away...

7. Add Juices....

8. More Pureeing...

9. Spoon into freezer trays...

10. Freeze..

11. Remove from Freezer and place into labeled Ziploc bags or Serve.

How much it Made: About 6 Trays ( 1- oz cube )

How long it took:  Cook Time was about an hour

                              Actual Time Spent on my feet in Kitchen Working...About 30 Minutes...

How Easy Was it? Pretty Easy!  Just more time consuming when you add more prep of the extra veggies..

Boopee Tested: Boopee Approved... I would say she gives this a 4 out of 5. It still has peas...but they are disguised pretty good by some of her other favorite veggies!

Goin' Green

So after the hesitation with sweet peas...I wasn't so sure that Boopee was going be exactly diving into the green bean concoction...Well...I was WAY wrong...She seems to take after her daddy more everyday...( Although I am pretty sure her Mimi said her daddy refused to eat them when he was a little boo! )....She loved the green beans...I didn't even have to trick her by mixing them...However, I did add a cube of something familiar every now and then to make the texture a little less fibery...but she still didn't seem to mind... Boopee has gone Green!

Goin' Green

Ingredients:

1 Pound of Green Beans

3 Ounces of Baby Apple Juice

4 Ounces of Water

* Liquid Helps with the Texture some

What We Did:

    1. Placed Green Beans in our handy dandy Royal Prestige Steamer pot....And steamed for about 20 minutes...Took a few minutes for the water underneath to heat up..

 2.  Placed in Food processor when they were tender...

 3. Pressed GO.

4. Added Juice and Water... Blended a while longer

5. Spooned into freezer trays...

6. Froze...Then Removed from Freezer...placed into labeled Ziploc Bag or served....

How Easy? Super Easy...The only tricky part was worrying about the texture being smooth enough...once I came to terms with the fact that it was going to have more of a fibrous look about it...I was alright...However...as I mentioned before...adding some liquid can help.

How much did this make? About 2 (1 oz cube ) trays

How long did it take? To steam about 20 minutes... Time spent working in kitchen....Maybe 15. or a little more since I fussed over the fibrous consistency for a little while...The next time I made it....I didn't because I knew what to expect.

What I would do different? MAKE MORE... Green beans cooked down a good bit... and Boopee really liked them... I ended up making another batch very quickly.

Boopee Tested...Boopee Approved! I think she would give it a 4.5! So far her favorite GREEN Veggie! 

And a bonus...It helps "things" move along! nudge..nudge...wink..wink.

* If you notice I use a lot of Juice in my recipe inventions... Its because we have had lots of Picinic problems!  ( A Picinic is code word in our house for making a special diaper)  Also In the research I have done...It seems to be a healthy thinner to add as well as tasty...and freezes well... I sometimes have to give Boopee juice to aid her "movements" so I would much prefer it to be mixed in her food then to have to give it to her in a bottle...which from what I have read is very discouraged...sooo... in case y'all are wondering ...Whats up with this chic and all the juice...now ya know!

Your "Roots" Are Showing

We like Squash...We Like Sweet Potatoes...Sooo Let's Put them together... for some YUM!

Your "Roots" Are Showing



Ingredients:

2 Large Sweet Potatoes

1/2 Butternut Squash

1/2 Acorn Squash

7 oz Baby Apple Juice

What We Did:

    1. Wrapped Sweet Potatoes in Foil and baked at 400 for about 45- 60 minutes.

    2. Cut Butternut squash lengthwise in half, scooped out seeds, placed face down in about 1/2 inch of water and baked at 400 for about an hour. (Next to sweet Potatoes)

    3. Stabbed Acorn Squash... Actually sat it next to sweet potatoes...and baked at 400 for about an hour.

         ( when it was done.. cut in half and scoop seeds out.)

   4. When all is baked...Scoop out the yummy goodness and Slap into the handy dandy food processor.

   5. Press GO.

   6. Add Juice...Blend some More.

   7. Spoon into trays...and freeze.

   8. Remove from freezer and place into labeled Ziploc bags or serve. =)

How Much it Made: 4-5 Trays ( 1 oz cubes)

How Long it took: About an hour for bake time- About 20-25 minutes in the kitchen... after all the scooping was all set and done. =)

How complicated was it? Not at All! A Cantaloupe could do it...if it had hands...

Boopee Tested...Boopee Approved... I think she would give it a 5 out of 5 since it contains 2 of her favorite veggies!

Posh Squash

Squash. Squishy Squashy Posh Squash. We love squash. It smells like thanksgiving. I had never prepared squash until I decided to make it for Boopee. I personally love squash..especially squash moussaka ...though I have never tried the other varieties of squash....other than yellow squash.( I guess it's the most common in restaurants...)Well silly me...bought yellow squash to begin with because that was all that they had...WELL needless to say...THAT didn't work. It was all seeds. I don't know why I didn't think of it while I was in the store...I suppose it was just because I had never actually cooked squash before... Anyway.. I returned..well should I say relocated my shopping to the farmers market and found a much better selection of different breeds of squash...where I proceeded to buy a butternut and an acorn squash.

Posh Squash

Ingredients:

1/2 Large Butternut Squash

1/2 Acorn Squash

1 (4oz) Bottle Baby Pear Juice

3 Tablespoons of Baby Oatmeal

What We Did:

1. Cut Butternut squash in half lengthwise and scooped out seeds. Placed face down in about a 1/2 inch of water and baked at 400 Degrees for about an hour.

2. Stabbed Acorn Squash like we were some kind of crazy person out of a teenage slasher movie. Stuck in oven on a foil covered baking dish right up next to the butternut squash @ 400 for about an hour.

3. When the acorn squash was done baking...cut in half...remove seeds... yay!

4.  Scoop all the yumminess out of the squash!

5. Slap into the Food Processor.

6. Press Button.

7. Add Juice.

8. Add Oatmeal.

9. Spoon into trays and Freeze.

10. Remove from trays and place into labeled Ziploc bags or serve!

How much it made: 2 Trays ( 1 oz cubes)

How long it took:  With Bake time included about an hour and 20  minutes...Total time actually spent in kitchen working...about 20 minutes.

Level of Difficulty: Pretty Easy!

Boopee tested: Boopee approved.. =) I think she would give it a 4.8 out of 5. Squash is at the top of her list so far out of all the veggies!



Ode to Peas

Our first attempt to get Boopee to eat peas...This was before I had started making her baby food...was VERY unsuccessful... She was quite displeased...and made it very obvious...However.. I couldn't blame her... when I opened the container...the stench..well...to be honest...smelled more like something that had already been through her digestive system...if you know what I mean...It was a quite offensive smell and overall...putrid and repugnant. Yuck. Still I really want her to have a good variety in her diet and so I tried to think of sneaky ways to get her to eat her peas...so I thought...perhaps mixing them with something familiar that she liked...would do the trick...so I was inspired to create this recipe:

Ode To Peas





Ingredients:

1 Cup of Sweet Peas (Frozen)

1-2 Medium to Large Sweet Potatoes ( Baked)

1 (4oz) bottle of Gerber Apple-Prune Baby Juice

What We Did:

      1.  Baked Sweet Potatoes ( wrapped in foil ) at 400 degrees for about 45- 60 minutes

      2. While  Sweet Potatoes were baking...we steamed the sweet peas on the stove... ( we have a Royal Prestige Senior Steamer. I have also heard of folks steaming veggies in rice cookers...or in the Microwave..although I have read that you lose some of the nutrients so we are tying our best to do things on the stove or in the oven as much as possible. )

     3. When Potatoes were done...cut in half and scoop out the yummy stuff.

     4. Slap the Potatoes and Peas in the Food Processor

     5. Press the Button. YAY.

     6. Add Apple-Prune Juice and blend until mixed

     7. Spoon in to freezer trays.

     8. Cover and Freeze.

     9. After Freezing...Dump into labeled freezer bag..or thaw and serve...

How long it took:

With baking and Steaming included ...About an 1 hour and 15 minutes

 Actual time spent in kitchen working..about 15-20 minutes.

Level of Difficulty...Super Duper Easy!

How Much it Made: Approx. 2 trays of 1 oz. cubes

Boopee's Level Approval: On a Scale of 1-5

I think she would probably give it a 3.5 simply because she still isn't crazy about peas.

Things I will do different next time... ADD MORE Sweet potatoes.

Sweetsations

Sooo..The our first veggie to experiment with in the kitchen with...Sweet Potatoes.. It was also Boopee's first veggie...So we knew we were free and clear of the food allergies...It is also her fave so far.  We call this recipe:

Sweetsations

Ingredients:

2 Large Sweet Potatoes

2 Oz Gerber Baby Apple Juice

Baby Formula (in our case Nutramigen)* upon serving



What we did: 

 1. We wrapped our sweet potatoes in foil and baked on 400 degrees for about 45-60 minutes.

 2. Once the potatoes were done we cut in half and scooped out the yummy part and put in our handy dandy food processor.

 3. We pushed the Button.

 4. They were VERY SUPER DUPER THICK so we added apple juice to thin them some... they were still quite thick.

 5.  We spooned them into the baby food trays. (made 2 trays- each cube 1 oz)

 6. Covered and placed in Freezer.

 7. After freezing, removed from trays and placed in labeled freezer bag... or thawed and served...

 8.  This is were the formula comes in... When serving... they were still too thick for Boopee...sooooo to give them a nice creamy texture we added some of her MIXED formula.

Total Prep time including the baking of potatoes about 60 minutes.

Actual time Spent  working in kitchen... maybe 15. =) ( we worked on other things while potatoes were baking. )

Level of Difficulty: Super Duper Easy..alsmost Mindless Activity.

Boopee's level of Approval.... on a scale of 1-5...I think she would give it a 4.5 =)

It Begins....

Soooo....I have decided to make Boopee's food. I have been doing research on baby food making since I was preggers...and the time has come...Boopee started eating solids about a month ago..( We started at 4 months on Oatmeal with Pedi's approval- and then baby foods 2 weeks later.... however this may not be ok for every baby) .And I finally decided on the baby making "gear" I wanted to purchase...

1. Fresh Baby "So Easy" Baby Food Kit ( 2 trays included)
2 .Fresh Baby "So Easy" Baby Food Trays (2)
3. Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel

And well I got started...However..Since we are only trying one veggie at a time...( to make sure there are no food allergies..) I decided to start creating my own recipes...which inspired be to start this blog...soooooo... I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures in baby food alchemy...and perhaps some of the recipes will find their way into your kitchen.. if you have a little one..or if you know someone that just doesn't have teeth.


* Please note to folks that might get their j'wars up in a wad when it comes to what age to introduce solids and such to youngins..... I am not a doctor...and this blog and these recipes are my own personal inventions and adventures. I am strictly doing what I feel is best for my little one and not advising anyone to do the same. =)