Baby Food, Ninja’s, & BBQ Sauce

Dad’s turn to post…

The first lesson my son has taught me, is that as a parent, you need to make the most of any downtime you get.  It doesn’t come often, and it doesn’t last long.  So in the spirit of making the most out of this blog post, I’m going to drop as much useful and time saving information as I can surrounding our attempts at making all of Felix’s baby food.  I’m also going to toss in my secret homemade BBQ recipe just to add a nugget of masculinity back into my life (and possibly father’s who read this).  Oh, and yes, there is a Ninja in this story.

ITEM 1: Why are you making baby food?

That’s simple.  My wife want’s to do it.  I think I would be OK purchasing organic baby food, but Danielle has made it her mission to make sure that she has a hand in everything Felix ingests for the first year of his life.  Happy wife = happy life.

ITEM 2: When do you do it?

I find Sunday’s are awesome for making baby food.  Steaming the food takes a bit, so I have plenty of time to watch football between pureeing the food.  By watching football, I mean that I have strategically placed my son between the television screen and myself so that while I make sure he isn’t doing anything to kill himself (I find watching a baby is very similar to watching a dear friend on suicide watch), I can catch a few plays and highlights.

ITEM 3: How much do you make?

The last time we made baby food, it measured out at about 100 ounces in a day, which works out to be about a month of food at this point in his life (6-7 months).   I’m sure that it will not last nearly as long as he continues to grow.

ITEM 4: What kind of equipment do you need?

We did not go out and buy one of those baby food maker kits.  It seemed… unnecessary.  There are all sorts of these odd looking kits and appliances with various baby themed names that steam and blend food in custom containers all as a one stop shop, ranging between $100-$300+.   But, what do you do with it once the baby is eating food off your plate?  As far as I can tell by observing my nephew and my friends children, kids aren’t on baby food all that long.  There is enough outgrown and unused baby shit going into closets already, I don’t need more.

BAD

We instead decided to invest in appliances and cooking tools that we can use way beyond Felix’s baby food days.  The first and foremost, you need a good blender/food processor.  We received a KitchenAid Blender for Danielle’s wedding shower. It is the worst blender ever manufactured by man.  It’s our own fault; we put it on the registry.  We had a Red KitchenAid theme going for our appliances.  Who knew that everything made by KitchenAid, other than their Stand Mixer, is useless?

GOOD

However, a few weeks ago, while shopping for baby crap at KOHL’s, I came across a blender called NINJA.  It immediately caught my eye.  In-fact, the only thing better than a blender named NINJA would be some other kitchen appliance named after a pirate.  Danielle instantly rolled her eyes at my enthusiasm concerning the covert mercenary appliance of feudal Japan.  Although, a middle aged woman also saw my eagerness, and spoke up.  She told us how she has one at home, and that it is the most amazing blender she has ever owned.  Her husband is a chef and actually uses it in his kitchen as well.  Needless to say, even though it is a little pricey, we ended up buying it. Although, we did end up leaving and going to Bed, Bath & Beyond to drop a 20% coupon on it.

After making gallons of pureed baby food with this thing, I concur, it is the most amazing blender/food processor I have ever owned.  I highly endorse it.  A good blender saves a lot of time and headache when making baby food.

Other than that, the rest is basic.  You need a large pot with a lid, which you should own by now.  You also need a steamer basket, which ranges in price from like $5-$20.  We found one at Stop & Shop for $10 while we were picking up food.  You also need about 10 ice cube trays or more if you are going to make baby food in bulk like we did.  I found that they cost about $0.75 a tray, but can probably be found cheaper.   Also, make sure you have saran wrap handy.

ITEM 5: How do you do it?

Recipes are below, but the basics are here:  Take your food, and steam it.  Once mushy, put it in the blender.  We add breast milk to soften it up and make the consistency smoother for the baby.  If you don’t have breast milk, substitute in the water you used to steam the food.  Pour the mush into ice cube trays, cover with saran wrap, and let freeze over night.  Pop the cubes out into freezer bags, date, label, and put back into the freezer.

Each cube is about 1 ounce of food.  Our son eats about 3 ounces at a sitting right now.  When it is time to feed your baby, take the desired amount of cubes, defrost them, mix them up, and shove them down their gullet.  We try to make ours about room temperature.

We decided to introduce Felix to foods starting him on greens first (avocado, green beans, peas), then moving through yellows (carrots, squash, sweet potato), and we will finish with fruits (bananas, peaches, apples, pears).  We heard mention that if you start them on fruits; it’s hard to get them to eat veggies later, because they want the sweetness of the fruits.   Also, by having the food in 1-ounce cubes, we can mix and match and make a little meal for him.

As an additional guideline from our doctor, when introducing new foods, only introduce 1 new food every 4 days.  This way you can monitor food allergies effectively if they crop up.

WARNING:  If you put something green in your baby, they make bright green deposits in their Pampers.  If you put something orange in your baby, they make bright orange deposits in their Pampers. It doesn’t sound earth shattering here, but to a new parent, the first time you see it, it is in fact quite shocking… almost photo worthy, but definitely worth calling your spouse over to share in your amazement.

ITEM 6: Baby Food Recipes

Butternut squash
1 large butternut squash
De-seed, skin, cube
Steam 35-45 minutes
Puree with approximately 6 ounces of breast milk
Makes about 28 ounces (2 ice cube trays)
Total time = 1.5 hours

Carrots
1 pound large organic carrots
Shave, cap, slice
Steam 1 hour
Puree with approximately 6 ounces of breast milk
Makes about 20 ounces (about 1.5 ice cube trays)
Total time = 1.5 hours

Sweet Potato
 3 large sweet potatoes
wash, dry, Wrap in foil
Bake at 400 for 75 minutes
Puree with approximately 7 ounces of breast milk
Makes about 26 ounces (about 2 ice cube trays)
Total time = 1 hour 45 minutes

Green Beans
2x12 oz of frozen green beans
Steam for 35-45 minutes
Puree with approximately 15 ounces of breast milk
Makes about 31 ounces (just over 2 ice cube trays).
Total time = 1 hour


Peas
2 pound package of frozen peas
Steam for 25 minutes
Puree with approximately 9 ounces of breast milk
Makes about 28 ounces (2 ice cube trays)

Total time = 1 hour

ITEM 7: Bouchard Chipotle Bourbon BBQ Sauce Recipe

Having a baby definitely knocks a man down on the masculinity scale by a few pegs.  You can’t help it.  Between the stupid noises and voices you now make, and the cuddling, the infinite baby activities, constantly smelling like baby powder and diaper cream… you loose track of yourself and the things you used to do that made you feel like a man.  I find the grill is a good place to get some of that feeling back.  Mommy and Daddy need to eat, why not do it outside with some serious cuts of meat, over red-hot coals, with a brew in your hand?

I’ve spent some time researching, testing, and perfecting what I consider the ultimate homemade BBQ sauce.  It makes a mean piece of grilled chicken.  The sauce has an initial spicy kick, but finishes smooth, sweet, and smoky.  Feel free to modify:

1.5 C ketchup

0.5 C bottled French salad dressing

1.5 C Frank’s hot sauce

0.5 C Maker’s Mark Bourbon

0.25 C lemon juice

0.25 C Worcestershire

1 tbsp liq. smoke

1 tbsp garlic pdr

1 tbsp pepper

1 tbsp chili pdr

1 tbsp onion pdr

1.5 C cider vinegar

0.5 C Espresso blend coffee

0.25 C prepared yellow mustard

0.25 C Molasses

1 tbsp Cajun spice

2 tbsp paprika

4 crushed dry chipotle chili's

3 lg cloves garlic – minced

Combine in a heavy bottomed stock pot except for the bourbon.  Reduce on low for 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes.  At the 1-hour mark, add in the bourbon.  Use as you would any sauce.

Go Bengals!