new foods

Aiden is still working on his 7-9 month food additions! It's hard for me to even remember everything that he eats now. I try to keep track so that he's not having the same thing too often, so on the calendar I roughly record the different foods in categories, usually by color - greens and oranges mostly.

But here're our favorite combos:

Mama Grain Poi - (formerly known as plumber's putty when I made a bad batch in Ohio) I've really fine tuned it now. You have to puree it just enough, but not too much. I added a whole pear to the recipe to make the texture better. The pear is watery so it breaks down the gritty beans and quinoa. It helps to really steam the heck out of the bananas too because it makes them sweeter. It looks a bit like poi, that hawaiian purple root stuff.

Oreo Pie: No actual oreos or other over processed sugars in this yummy mixture of Mama Grain (see above - the beans make it look like crushed oreo bits) and yobaby organic yogurt (which is a Baby AB faaavorite!)

Pruney Nana: This purple toned concoction is a sweet smelling combo of fresh squashed banana and well hydrated, steamed prunes/plums.

Pearple Broccoflower:It's a bunch of cauliflower, broccoli, pears, and apple all together in a nice light green smooth puree. It's almost fluffy enough that we could call them sweet mashed potatoes.

Baby Dhal - Lentils and carrot with just the right amount of texture so he's learning to swallow more than just a puree.

His simple favorite seems to be banana. His only distaste was avocado and I think we should give it another try with a really ripe one and he wouldn't mind it now. He literally gobbles up just about everything we give him. I made a big batch of new frozen foods this weekend: another batch of mama grain, black beans and quinoa on their own (for mixing later with other veggies), and the new favorite pearple broccoflower. Yeah, I know, sounds creepy, but it actually tastes really good.

I had quinoa with a cranberry vinaigrette at the Whole Foods lunch bar the other day (our new favorite lunch when J picks me up from RISD) It tastes like a cross between rice and couscous - but it's a complete protein. It is almost translucent and looks lighter than it tastes. It has these little squiggles (where the grain expands it looks like) and if you're not creeped out, I would recommend it! We shopped around this weekend for a new fridge to go with our new cabinets and drawers (to be installed the week after next) and ended up with a new GE side by side in stainless steel. Ever since we left our schmancy side by side in Tucson, I've been itching for a new one. I know that my folks will appreciate the ice and water in the door too (Hey mom and dad, I got a great glass of ice water waiting for you in August!) Now our ice cube trays can be exclusively devoted to baby food making ;) and I have plenty of extra room for all my frozen milk.