First Experience Batch Cooking Baby Food

Braxton has been eating some solid foods for a month and half now.  I have been making his baby food myself using fresh or frozen fruits and veggies since day one.  What I've been doing is making about a week's worth of baby food at the beginning of each week.  Since he has only been eating one kind of fruit or vegetable over the course of several days as I introduce new foods to him, the preparation process has been quick and I have only made a little at a time.  Now that he has tried a variety of foods,  I have been wanting to try making his baby food in larger batches.  That way I only have to make his food once or twice a month and I can freeze it and take out the amount I need for each meal.  In looking at different websites online I found one called Once a Month Mom.  This site has some great seasonal baby menus, each with a grocery list and instructions on how to prepare a month's worth of baby food.  How convenient is that?! :)

I used one that is specifically for 6-8 month olds.  Since it was my first time batch cooking baby food and Brax only eats 2 solid meals a day right now I decided to 1/2 the amount of fruits and veggies the menu called for and see how long it will last us.

The instructions I followed highly recommended to peel and chop up all your fruits and veggies the night before you plan on making everything.  I ended up peeling, chopping, cooking and processing all in the same day.  It wasn't bad, but it did end up adding about an hour and half to the whole process.  Next time, I will do my best to get all the prepping done the day before.  

I started with washing, peeling, and chopping up all the fruits and veggies I was going to use.  While the sweet potatoes baked in the oven, I would steam and/or boil another fruit or veggie.  As each item was ready, I used my Ninja processor to puree the food.  Then I transferred the pureed baby food into ice cube trays and stuck them in the freezer.  Each cube holds about 2 oz.

The entire process from start to finish took me about six hours.  I know that sounds like a long time, but doing the prep work of peeling and chopping the day before will shave off a chunk of time.  This was my first experience and I know the more I do it, the more efficient I will become and the less time it'll take me.  You do have to set aside a few hours, but I think it is going to be worth it to schedule a day each month to prepare my own baby food. 

I ended up with 7 full ice cube trays (one is not pictured).  Here is what I made.

• carrots
• carrots, sweet potato and cauliflower
• mashed potato and peas
• sweet potatoes
• apples
• pears
• banana avacado (*not pictured)

Here is the cost break down of what I spent.

2.5 lbs of sweet potatoes ($2.15)
3 lbs of carrots ($.78)
1 avocado ($1.24)
2.5 lbs of apples ($2.35)
1 russet potato ($.59)
2.27 lbs of pears ($3.34)
1 head of cauliflower ((2.78)
1/4 bag of frozen peas (I already had it in the freezer)
1banana (already had on hand)
Total = $13.23

All of that made 112 cubes of food.  That's  224 ounces.  I should have enough to last through most of October.  I'll have to see though.  So, I think that is pretty good! 

Why I Decided To Go The Route Of Homemade Baby Food
Before I started introducing Braxton to solid foods I already knew I wanted to make my own baby food as opposed to buying it in a jar from the store.  My main reasons for wanting to do this are:
       
          1. I enjoy it.  This is probably the biggest reason.  Cooking is something I like to do.  It's a way for me to be creative and it makes me feel productive.  Trust me,  I don't think I would spend time making homemade baby food if I didn't have fun doing it.  

          2.  It is cost effective.  Those little jars of squash and carrots can quickly add up on your grocery bill.  I recently read that the average baby can consume up to 600 jars of baby food a year, which can cost up to $600.  By making your own baby food, on average, you can save up to 75% of that.  That's $450 a year you could save! 

          3.  It is pretty simple to do.  Once I started reading and watch videos on how to make your own baby food, I was surprised by how easy it looked.  And after doing it, I can confirm that it is not hard at all. All you need to do is prepare the vegetable or fruit, cook it, and puree it in a blender or food processor (adding a little liquid helps).  That's it!

          4.  I know exactly what's in it.  This one is self-explanatory. 

          5.  It tastes better.  I always taste what Braxton is going to eat because I want to know.  I fed him some jar food a couple of times when we were traveling and he didn't care for it at all.  After tasting it I can't say that I blame him.  Compared to homemade food, the jar food tasted gross.  Some were better than others, but still no comparison.

The first month of my baby food making journey has been a success and I'm hoping it continues to be!  Do you like to make your own baby food?  Would you ever consider it?  Happy Fall everybody! 

End of Summer Family Update

In the French Quarter of New Orleans

The summer is coming to an end and we are right on the brink of fall!  I am so ready for some cooler days!  Before we say goodbye to summer though, I wanted to give an update on what we've been up to the last few months.   We kick-started the season back in May with our one year mark since we moved to Springhill.  It's taking time but, after a year of living here, we are feeling more established in our home, our church and our town.  We have surely been blessed with a nice house, a loving church family, financial provision, and much more.  The summer days have included attending the local rodeo, celebrating the Fourth of July with fireworks and friends, and enjoying spending time together as a family.  We have had a lot of fun taking various trips this summer.  In June, Zach went with the youth at our church to summer camp in Florida while Braxton and I were able to go spend that week with my parents in Ohio.  It was Brax's first airplane ride and I was a bit nervous about flying with him by myself but he did great!  In July we went on a week long missions trip to New Orleans and then turned around the following week to take some of the youth to a waterpark in Galveston, Texas.  Needless to say, we have been on the move and traveling quite a bit.  I love road trips and going places but it was nice to have a more laid back month in August.

Last week, Zach and I went to a conference in Dallas for a couple days.  The conference was specifically geared towards youth pastors and their wives.  It was a great time of worship with excellent teaching from men like Matt Chandler and Afshin Ziafat.  Our hearts and minds were refreshed and encouraged in the Lord.  We stayed with my aunt and uncle while in Dallas.  Even though we didn't get to spend that much time together while there, since all of our schedules were busy, it was nice to get to spend the time that we were able to with them.  My aunt, who does photography on the side, was also able to squeeze in a photo shoot of Braxton. :)  She did a fabulous job! 
  

I started working back as a pharmacy clerk again.  I am only working on Fridays and Zach is able to stay home with Braxton since he has Fridays off.  I enjoy it as I really like the people I work with.  It gives me a break from being home with a baby all the time and provides some adult interaction and variation to my week.  I do miss my sweet boy when I'm gone though and am eager to see him at the end of the day.  It makes me so thankful that I am able to stay at home with him full-time.  I have also started singing on our church praise team on Sundays.  Singing and helping to lead others in worship is something I enjoy doing and feel this is a way God has led me to serve in the local church. 

Braxton is just about 7 months old now and is very alert and active.  He is sitting up on his own, grabbing at everything he sees, and is on the verge of crawling.  He has just recently learned how to push up on his hands and knees.  Pretty soon he'll be putting some forward movement to that action!  He also recently cut his first tooth!  He is eating about 7 oz of formula at each feeding and about 3-4 oz a day of solid, real people food.  His favorites so far are peaches, banana and avocado mixed together, and sweet potatoes.  He is a good little eater!

Something we have been doing a couple times a week since Braxton was born is having family devotions together.  This past month we have really sought to establish this as a priority and make it a daily habit in our home.  We know that it is vital to our child(ren)'s spiritual growth for them to learn at an early age the importance of spending time in the Word and prayer regularly.  We also want our kids to see mom and dad treasuring God's Word.  We are still working on being consistent in doing this together every day, but the habit is developing.  Even though Braxton is still really young and doesn't really understand what's going on, he will one day soon and it has been a good practice for Zach and I.  It is one that we plan to continue doing as he (and any future children we may have) grow.  Currently, we are reading from The Gospel Story Bible by Marty Machowski and saying prayers together before Braxton goes to bed.  If you're looking for a good devotional/story Bible that's good for adults and children I would definitely recommend this book.  It is set up to where it takes you through the whole Bible in narrative story form and there are a few simple questions to ask your kids at the end of each story.  It has colorful pages and illustrations as well.  My favorite thing about this book is how the end of each story points to how Christ is revealed through it.  Highly recommend it!

Hope you enjoyed that little sneak peak into what's been going on and thanks for reading!

Little Yard Sale Haul

Hey all! I have just a quick post today on a few yard sale finds.  My neighbor and friend had a yard sale this morning so I popped on over there to see if I could find any good deals.  I bought nothing practical (haha) but I did get a few things for me to enjoy.  Since I rarely go shopping for myself, it was a treat to pick these up.  :-) 

I found:

- a nice/casual, mint green Gap tee ($1.00)
- a coffee themed tote ($1.00 - I thought it was so cute the moment I saw it and for only a buck I had  to have it)
- a pretty ceramic travel mug (free - gift from my neighbor)
- 2 movies ( 50 cents each)
- Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Spanish on Your Own (50 cents)  (Zach will use this more than me I'm sure.  He likes to talk to the servers in Spanish when we go out to eat Mexican, ha!) 

Total for everything was $3.50!  That's my kind of shopping spree!

Our Second Anniversary

 

Zach and I  met in late summer of 2009 through a mutual friend of ours.  Our initial meeting was nice but there were definitely no sparks flying.  In fact, the first time we met we were hanging out with our friend who introduced us and Zach was so unenthralled he fell asleep on my living room chair!  To be fair though, the conversation was mostly our friend and I talking about old times and people he didn't know.  At that time neither one of us would have ever imagined that a year from then we would be just a couple weeks away from becoming husband and wife!

After that first initial meeting we only saw each other a couple times over the following months.  Even so, within those few times of seeing each other, we each began to develop a little bit of interest in the other.  We ended up having our first date in January of 2010 and spent the rest of that month intentionally getting to know each other to see if there was something there.  By February we both knew we wanted to pursue a relationship.  Well, it was all a whirlwind from there!  March found us completely in love and an engagement followed in April.  Our wedding day was a gorgeous early September day that same year and it was one of the best days of our lives.

Tomorrow, September 4, we will celebrate 2  years of marriage.  While still newlyweds in a lot of ways, our love and commitment to one another has only grown stronger.  These past two years has brought us a big move to a new state, our first experience as a married couple serving in full-time ministry, and the addition of a beautiful baby boy. 

I am so blessed to be on this life journey with my very best friend and can't wait to share many more years together!  Happy Anniversary babe!