Mommy cooks

Ever since Milo has been old enough to eat people food, I've experimented with recipes from "Cooking for Baby: Wholesome, Homemade, Delicious Foods for 6 to 18 Months". Some are not so much recipes as how-tos -- how to make pureed fruits and vegetables. Recently, though, I've tried a few of the "real meal" recipes toward the back of the book. Milo is fast approaching 18 months!

The three I've tried have been quite tasty: beef stew, macaroni and cheese, and fish fingers. And Milo has absolutely refused to try them. Scratch that, he did eat the mac and cheese but not as greedily as he eats the kind from a box. (And really, homemade is only a tiny bit more work). I know toddlers can be picky eaters. I know -- from many accounts and experts -- that it can take up to 15 attempts to get a toddler to accept a new food. But I don't really like to cook. And I don't really enjoy spending a lot of time on a recipe that is going to be rejected out of hand.

Still, the S.O. and I did enjoy the food, and the recipes weren't that complicated. At least I didn't spend all afternoon creating something just for the boy to have him scream about trying it. And at least he will eat lots of other things. I'll just have to keep trying.

The book is very informative and, as I said, the recipes are tasty. I'd recommend this book for moms-to-be and/or moms of little ones.

Now, where did I put those oven mitts?

"I can feed myself, Mommy"

Hmmm, what do we have here? Applesauce. Can I eat it with my hand?

Ah. This is much easier.

Delicious!

Mommy makes applesauce

Now that Milo is eating some solids -- including applesauce -- I decided to try my hand at making some of his food.

I started out with some medium-sized Gala apples,

peeled, cored and sliced.

I put them in a large pot with just enough water to cover them.

I boiled them until tender, then scooped them into the food processor.

I pureed the apples with some of the cooking water until I got the consistency I wanted. From there, the sauce went into a freezer tray,

And got taste tested.

It passed with flying colors.