On Making Baby food

 

 


On the left, a breakfast stack: plum, apple, rhubarb and yoghurt.  On the right a dinner stack: silverbeet, squash, lambs fry and potato

I love all things food.  So it's no surprise that I also love pretty much everything about making food for our new little person.  And lucky for me, she seems to also love food, and besides bananas, she's been quite keen on trying pretty much anything we throw her way.

 
At this stage we're still keeping it pretty simple.  I often forget that being born a little early, Etta's not quite her age.  We're not worried about it - it's just how she is.  At 8 months, she just started sitting by herself.  She still has no teeth, and no sign of almost teeth.  And her system seems a little slower too.  We tried feeding her finger foods and although she enjoyed it, not only has she really, really choked*a few times, but the more solid foods have passed through her system untouched (these are foods she has no trouble processing when mushy).  So while I know other babies her age have a far more complex cuisine, I'm happy just cruising along at Etta-speed.

So we're still on purées**, but man, I love purées. 

The three things I love most about them are:

a) simplicity

b) process

c) colour

There's an honesty in basic, unaltered foods.  Making food for Etta has helped me to appreciate the essence of simple foods.  I've learned that a mashed potato, with no salt, no pepper or milk, still tastes great.  Just potato is earthy, soft and hearty.  Just potato is fantastic.  Remembering exactly what just potato tastes like helps me know what I can do in grown up cooking to bring out that Just potato flavour in meals.

And although baby food from the supermarket is supposed to be pretty natural, who really knows?  Not only do we save money making Etta's food, but we know exactly what's going into her system (besides random floor-scum).  Some of her foods come straight from our garden (silverbeet, spinach, rhubarb), or from friends (apples, plums).  And they're so easy to prepare: peel, cook, puree (or mash).  Done.  If we bought food for Etta's every meal, not only would we have a large collection of jars, but we'd also spend an additional $20 a week feeding her.  I can think of many better ways of spending $20.

Cooking for Etta has helped me pay more attention to the textures in foods - pulsed peas go kinda crumbly, apple explodes into mush, silverbeet is a green tangle of fibrous shreds, and chicken is actually quite similar in texture to silverbeet.  All these textures remind me of why it's fun to play with foods.  And there's something especially visceral about mush.  I've missed mush.

To make food prep efficient I make Etta's food in batches and freeze in silicon mini-muffin pans.  I've found these are MUCH easier to get frozen purées out of than the old ice cube trays Mum used to use.  Once frozen, I pop them out, and into small, dated and labelled resealable bags (I reuse and re-date these to create less waste).  Little bags save on space in the freezer - of great import to us given the size of our freezer, and mean I can keep a wide array of 'Etta food' on hand. 

To prep each meal, I just grab an assortment of cubes to defrost in the morning, and mix accordingly for each meal.  Breakfasts include fruits mixed with baby rice and yoghurt.  Lunches and dinners are usually pretty much the same - a protein, green vege, orange vege and a starch (usually potato).  Just like a balanced grown-up meal only mulchy. 

And her food is beautiful.  Maybe it's just the past-life painter in me***, but it's hard not to notice the palette of Etta's food.  I thought avocado was the height of baby-food hues - until I puréed light fleshed plums which turned this amazing salmon pink.  Pretty much all fruit when puréed and frozen looks like stained glass.  Chicken goes a peaches-n-cream-just-off-white, silverbeet a dark licoricy green.  And lambs fry looks just like chocolate mousse.  Each new food I make for her is not just new and exciting for her, but me too.

And with so much natural, unaltered colour you know your baby is getting decent nutrition.  I totally get why the whole 'baby food diet' fad seems logical.  Etta's diet is certainly way better than mine (damn you sugar addiction!)  Spending time prepping Etta's healthy meals also reminds me that I should take as much care with my own.  I now make a conscious effort to at least eat as many colours as she does each day.

And I can't wait for our tūtaekurī harvest to add purple to Etta's dinner rainbow.  

* As in, not a little choke, as in had their been no parental assistance she may well have choked to death sort of choke.  As in, where is the colour chart to tell you what colour your child's face should be before not calling an ambulance is considered negligence?

** Progressively chunkier purées... 

*** Studying painting at Unitec was a long time ago now but at times feels like it's still current.  I STILL have anxiety dreams where I'm trying to get my studio together for marking only I haven't done any work.  Subconscious guilt about lack of practice much?