How Easy Is It To Make Baby Food?

First how do we know when our little ones are ready to start solids? Your baby should have doubled their weight and they should be able to sit up in their highchair on their own. A good portion of the time, doctors want you to wait until 4 months. Always check with your child pediatrician first, there is always chance your little one may not just be ready yet.

Tool wise here are some things you will need:

1. Blender or Food Processor 
2. Baby spoons/forks
3. Thin mesh strainer (for some recipes)
4. Ice cube trays if making food in bulk and freezing
5. proper storage containers.
• Remember when you make your baby food, place the desired amount in a separate dish. If you feed baby from the same dish, and their saliva mixes in you can not save that particular baby food due to bacteria.
• If you wish, freeze the extra in ice cube trays and once frozen place in ziploc bags. Always remember to label and date your bags. You can also just place extras in a clean container and into the refrigerator

Here is a simple rice cereal recipe this makes 1-2 servings

• 1/4 cup white or brown rice
• 1 cup of water

1. grind rice into a powder using a food processor or blender
2. place a cup of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
1. or you can place 1 cup of water in a microwave safe bowl
3. place rice powder into the pot and stir, cover and let simmer for 7 mins on low. until cereal is thick
1. or stir rice powder in microwave safe bowl with water and nuke for 2 mins on med heat. stir and then microwave for 2 mins. more
4. Let the cereal cool to lukewarm and thin with formula or breastmilk to the desired consistency. If your rice cereal comes out a bit lumpy you can always blend again to the desired consistency when done.

There you go! Homemade rice cereal, you don't need to buy a box of it. You can also do the same exact thing with oatmeal. Try rice cereal first because it is hypoallergenic, then in 2 weeks try the oatmeal. I promise your baby will love it as much as mine.

Please look out for more baby food recipes in the near future, provecho little ones!

Healthy Shoppin'

This is how I'm able to feed my family and stay on our budget, we spend 75 dollars or less a week on groceries. I personally prefer to shop at places that have great produce. Theses places can be vegetable stands, or mercados. Ethnic grocers tend to have beautiful produce at lower prices than your traditional grocer.  But if you don't want to shop at 2 different places that's just fine too! Here is my usual game plan.

• clean out your fridge and do a quick organization of your cupboards so you know what you have and don't have.
• make a menu for the week and plan your grocery list accordingly. 
• When at the grocery store stop at the produce section first! We tend to spend 1/2 our money on produce and the other half on the rest of the items needed.

1. If you're having a hard time getting your little one to eat their veggies, then have them help you pick out your produce! If a child gets to pick a veggie or two a week they are more likely to try it.
2. buy veggies and fruits on sale, you can wash and cut them up, place them portioned sized in a ziploc and throw them in the freezer. There you have veggies and fruits for future use.
3.  I also buy a couple of lettuce heads, chop them up and wash them, spin them in salad spinner and put them in ziplocs. This saves you money and you get more lettuce than what you find in the packaged bags. I also reserve a few leaves and set them in another bag to use in sandwiches. Make sure to buy thicker darker leafier lettuces and try to stay away from iceberg. 

• Try to buy whole grains, for example when looking for bread, make sure that it contains at least 2 grams of fiber. When buying flour buy whole wheat flour, try to stay away from the ultra processed bleached flours as well.
1. Are you constantly throwing bread out? Well try this cut up your bread into cubes and dry them out in a  200 degree oven, you then can place them in a ziploc for stuffings, or croutons. I also place the dried bread into my food processor to make homemade breadcrumbs. You can store them in you freezer up to 6 months. 
• Try to buy lean cuts of meat, such as chicken, turkey, pork. I tend to buy chicken whole and cut it up myself, this saves you a lot more money as well. Packaged chicken that has already been cut cost more.
1. If you're thinking you won't have time to cut up a whole chicken when you're running home to make dinner! Don't worry, you can cut it up ahead of time and place in a ziploc if you're really weary. But I can rest assure you it doesn't take that much time at all. Here is a tutorial that can assist you. I would do it myself but the idea of alternating taking photos and cutting chicken makes my Nikon unhappy. How to cut a whole chicken
2. I roast a whole chicken at a time, that way when my husband packs his lunch, he can either make a chicken breast sandwich, or I make chicken salad. You can also use the carcass to make a basic stock. We'll elaborate on that in the future.
• Shop mostly on the periphery of the market, you tend to find more of the processed foods in the center of the store.
• Last use your coupons and bring your green bags, many stores will give you a discount for every bag you bring, or a certain amount of money off your total cost.

Roasted Acorn Squash

This is a very yummy, simple way to eat squash, you can cook many various squashes this way. I'm using Acorn because they were on sale at the vegetable and looked fabulous. For me a half of a acorn squash is a serving. This squash is great and provides nutrients such as Vitamin A Vitamin C, Potassium, dietary fiber, manganese, folate, Vitamin B complex, omega 3 fatty acids, copper and tryptophan.

Heres what you'll need:

• 1 acorn squash
• 2 tbs butter, I'm using margarine due to my son's dairy intolerance
• 1/4 cup pack brown sugar
• 1tsp nutmeg
• 1tbs cinnamon
• 1 tsp kosher salt

Now lets get to makin' some aquash!

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
2. cut your squash in half and scrape out seeds and strings. It should look something like this.

1. Once you have it nice and clean, place them flesh side down in a shallow baking dish and put enough water to fill it 1/4 of an inch, like so.
   
2. Roast for 30 mins. until soft.

when squash is tender flip it over and coat the flesh with butter. Then mix the brown sugar, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon together.it should look like this.Broil in the oven on a low broil until sugar mixture is caramelized, and its done!

Pan Seared Pork Tenderloin ...With Pan Gravy If Ya' Want It.

When lots of ya'll think of pork, you think of fatty or somethin' that's not healthy. I'm here to let you know that pork tenderloin is probably one of the leanest cuts of meats you can buy. When cooked properly, it's good eatin'!

Here is what you will need.

• 1 package of pork tenderloin that will meet you needs (it is typical that a package of tenderloin contains 2 cuts of meat, I happen to have a package that only has one), I have here a little over a pound and that is good for 4 people.
• Good olive oil
• fresh herbs chopped, I used thyme and rosemary cause that's what I had around.
• 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic minced
• poultry seasoning
  
• fresh cracked pepper
• 1 1/2 cups of low sodium fat free chicken/beef stock or broth
• 1 tbl of corn starch

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees get a oven safe pan big enough for both tenderloins without overcrowding the pan. I usually use a cast iron skillet, but any oven safe skillet will do.
2. rinse meat and pat dry and season well with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Here is a tip, make sure your meat is at room temp. this allows for even cooking throughout the meat

1. coat the pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and spread around with a paper towel. Heat pan to med high heat. Sear meat on all sides until golden brown. ( If you have 2 tenderloins, sear the bigger one first and for a bit longer, that way both cuts will finish at the same time when transferred to the oven)
2. Transfer meat to preheated oven and roast until the internal temp. is at 150 degrees
3. place meat on a cutting board and don't you touch it for no less than 10 mins! This will finish cooking the meat and seal in the juices.

While the meat is resting its time to make the pan gravy. Mmmm mmmm mmmm thats good stuff! Lets work it out. I didn't have photos for this part, but I'll make sure to put up plenty of sauce and gravy examples in the future.

1. With the same pan we roasted the pork tenderloin in add 1tsp. of olive oil and heat the pan to a med. heat.
2. add minced garlic and cook until aromatic and be careful not to burn it or it will taste bitter!
3. add your chicken stock to deglaze the pan, make sure to scrape up all the good bits that the pork left behind, this is whats going to give the gravy it's flavor. Bring this to a light simmer.
   
4. now in a small cup add 1 tbs of corn starch and to that add 3 tbs. of cold water, mix to make a slurry add to the sauce to thicken.
5. chop up a small bunch of thyme and rosemary or your favorite fresh herb and add to the gravy after it thickens.
6. taste, and add desired amount f salt and fresh pepper as desired.

Once your sauce is finished, your meat should be well rested. Cut the tenderloin against the grain on a bias, and spoon the desired amount of gravy over.

And that's that! This is so simple to make and very delicious. Bien Provecho!

My Inspirations

I was inspired to create this blog by my husband and my very dear friend The BazMann. These two wonderful men are both great at what they do, but are lost when it comes to the kitchen. I wanted to show them that cooking can be easy, healthy and purty' darn tasty!

After becoming a Momma I realized that my son too, needed to eat well and there is no need to buy baby food. Its very simple to make at home and is better for your little one. You know exactly whats going into your baby and you have complete control. My little guy has an allergy to dairy and soy and as a breastfeeding Momma, I had to compensate my diet for his needs. I hope that this blog is able to help all you Mommas out there that need some sort of information in this area.

Everyone wants to save money too! Lets face it, we all spend a lot of money on food. How many of us out there when making a dish, will go to the store to buy items just for that dish? Or you go to the grocery and just fill up a cart not knowing what it is you want to eat? We all do it, but during times like this it can put dents in our pockets and in the long run its just plain ol' wasteful. I hope that my money and time saving tips can be of some use!

Now that we have all this out of the way, I hope you enjoy this blog as it continues to grow and expand. I thank all you out there who are taking the time to check it out. Happy eating ya'll and as they say in Mexico bien provecho!