As far as adventures in being granola go, I am pleased to report that I have been pretty successful in my latest endeavor: homemade baby food. It's laughable really, that I call this a success, because ITS NOT THAT HARD. In fact, it's so easy that it makes me wonder why Gerber even makes any money at all. Actually, I know exactly why they make money: convenience and fear. Making baby food seems to be something only "super moms" can handle, and I am basing this claim solely on the responses I get when I tell people, "I'm making my own baby food." The most common reply is, "That's great but I would NEVER have the time for something like that." Everyone else kind of gives me a sideways stare, as if am some loony rocket scientist. I actually don't even like saying that I am doing it anymore because it's a little embarrassing and peoples' reactions make me feel weird. The thing is, folks, I am hardly what anyone could classify as a "super mom" and I certainly aint no rocket scientist. I tend to be the most over-scheduled, mess of a person there is (trying to get better at this), so if I can do it, you can do it.
Admittedly, I had the same reservations about this whole thing as many others do. About 5 years ago I visited a friend in Seattle who had a young baby and she was sitting at her kitchen table making sweet potatoes for her little one. I was in complete awe. The thought of actually making food for a baby had never entered my mind and I thought this woman was SUPER cool for what she was doing. It was never something I could do though. But something came over me when I got pregnant and committed to this whole "granola" living thing. With fear and trepidation I registered for some containers for homemade baby food and here I am today. I got a recipe book too, but that's odd to me since every recipe is essentially the same: cook and mash. Not too difficult.
I had a monster cooking session a week ago and prepared a few weeks worth of food. I spent maybe an hour in the kitchen. Seriously. Two pears, three sweet potatoes, two zucchini and two apples later, I had enough food in my freezer for many many meals and some left over for me to chow down on. I boiled everything in just a bit of water, except for the sweet potatoes which required quite a lot of water, and sent each through the food processor. In addition to these "cooked" foods I feed him raw avocados and bananas mashed up on the fly. So, so, so easy folks, not to mention quite yummy! You should have seen me licking the bowl after I made the pears! Delish!
And there we have it. This is the easiest, most disaster-free granola move I have made yet, and I challenge you to do it as well (if you have really young or really aged mouths to feed that is). I think the biggest thing that I learned through this process is that most of these "granola" steps seem so huge to me at the time, yet end up being so simple once I really get the hang of it.
That leads me to cloth diapers, naturally. I mean, what goes in MUST come out right? Cloth diapers seems an impossible task to me right now, but I am very seriously contemplating the switch. If you haven't seen a cloth diaper in a while people, GO GOOGLE them! You won't believe your eyes! Cloth diapers have come a long way and many brands are super cute. But, that's another post for another time. Stay tuned…..
