Maison taste testing homemade oatmeal!!

I haven't posted a blog in three days!  I had no idea it was that long!  I am sorry friends!  Anyway, I plan to tell you my experience with making homemade oatmeal for 7 month old Maison!

 To start making homemade oatmeal, you have to use the good oats, NOT the quick oats, so luckily we had this on hand.

Just in case none of you have seen what the steel cut oats look like, I posted a picture.  Definitely a lot different than the quick oats and they are packed with more nutrition.  It only takes a 1/4 cup of the steel cut oats to get the same nutrients in a 1/2 cup of quick cooking oats.  Just a quick fact for ya!

After you grind up the oats, this is how powdery it should be.

 Add 1/2 cup water and let it come to a boil.

Add 2 Tablespoons of the ground up steel cut oats.  Stir for 30 seconds while it is still boiling.

Reduce heat to low, cover, and stir frequently.

When you are all done, this is what it should look like.  I added a little banana to add a little flavor and a little breast milk to thin it out.  Now comes the fun part - taste testing it on Maison....  drum...roll...please......

 Here it goes...  He doesn't look too excited about it at this point does he?  Yes, I even made airplane sounds to make it more appealing.

Well, as you can see by the picture, he liked the spoon better than the homemade "better for you" oatmeal that his Mommy made for him.  

Homemade baby food

I have 3 children and yet it has taken me the third one to FINALLY make my own homemade baby food.  I found that it is really easy to do and I love doing it.  I also LOVE the thought that I already have all this baby food stored in my freezer ready to go when I need it.  I LOVE LOVE the fact that I have saved money (well, saved my husband money) by making my own baby food.  For example, one head of cauliflower (yes, I said cauliflower) cost me $1.99.  One jar of baby food costs between $.60 to $1.00, so I was able to get about 12 jars out of one head of cauliflower!  

$.60 x 12 =  $7.20

 1 head of cauliflower $1.99

  $1.99 / 12 = $.17/jar

Savings = $5.21

Pretty incredible right?  That's just one scenario!  Now, I know you can't normally buy cauliflower as baby food at the stores, but it can be added to other vegetables, such as, broccoli and meats as he gets older.  

This is the book that I have been using.  I found it at the library and loved it SO much that I bought my own off of ebay!  Check it out!  I guarantee you will love it too!

My parents have a wonderful garden and they were nice enough to give me some of their homegrown butternut squash.  So, the savings with this is remarkable!  I am pretty much getting FREE baby food!  So, anytime someone wants to give you fresh veggies or fruit, take them and see if they can be pureed into baby food!  Fresh is best!!  

 For those of you who have NEVER made their own baby food before.  This is what you do:

1. Cut the squash in half.

 2. Spoon out the seeds.

 3. Turn the oven on to 350. 

4. Turn squash face down on cookie sheet.  I put foil down because I don't like to clean up any extra mess.

 5. After about an hour, this is what you get.  Sorry, it's a bad picture.  Clean out the squash and put into blender.  

 This is how much I was able to get from them.  Not too bad, huh?

No, this isn't the squash, it is pears!  I forgot to take a picture of the squash.  This is what it would look like though.

This is my little helper!  Along with the squash, I have done carrots, broccoli, summer squash, apples, pears, mangoes, sweet potatoes, peas, and green beans.

Well, I hope this will encourage some of you to make your own baby food!  Maison will be 6 months this week and I know most people say you should start solids around 6 months, but I am going to wait a little while.  What's the rush!!  One thing I do know is that my freezer is stocked up so when it is time I will be ready!  If you have any questions let me know or if already make your own baby food I would love to hear from you as well!