But I must share this yummy recipe before I get into the baby food portion of this post.
We had a friend over for Sunday lunch and I tried this pie recipe out. I wanted something I could make on Saturday and it would still taste wonderful Sunday after church. Frozen no-bake pie? Perfect. This would really be fabulous in the summer, but let's face it: I live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It is always summer.
This recipe came from my Cooking Light Cookbook, the same book that I got the banana bread recipe from a few posts back. I love how they call this light. I guess in comparison to regular peanut butter pie, it is light. But, please, Weight Watcher followers, turn away. I cannot guarantee a low point pie. Just a delicious one.
Frozen Peanut Butter-Banana Cream Pie
Crust: This recipe called for a homemade graham cracker crust. Pa-leez. The pre-made ones are just fine for me. No homemade pie crust for this girl, but if you are wanting to do it, knock yourself out.
Filling:
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup low fat cream cheese
1/2 cup reduced-fat peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (8 oz) fat free Cool Whip, thawed
1 cup sliced banana (about 2 small bananas)
3/4 fat-free chocolate sundae syrup (I just used chocolate syrup. Like the kind you put in milk)
Place 3/4 cup brown sugar, cream cheese, PB, and vanilla in bowl, beat with mixer at medium speed until smooth. Refrain from licking the bowl. Oh wait, that's not part of the recipe...
Fold in whipped topping. Arrange banana slices in bottom of crust. Spread peanut butter mixture over bananas, drizzle with syrup. Cover and freeze 8 hours; let stand at room temp for 15 minutes before serving. Serves 10
Enjoy!
Now onto the baby food:
Jones will be 6 months in a couple of weeks (gasp). We are planning on introducing foods at that time. He has been 100% on mommy's milk up to this point and, to be perfectly honest, I like it like that. But, man can not live on breast milk alone...
So, I am considering making his baby food. For three main reasons, really: 1) I like knowing what is in his food. 2) I like the idea of little waste (no need for countless of jars, etc) 3) I imagine I could make several weeks of food for cheaper than buying. And coming from a woman who doesn't make a dime, I value saving a dime.
Anyone out there tried this before? Ideas? Cookbook/website recommendations? Tips and advice?
Leave me a comment about your baby food making experience; I would love to know!
8 comments:
Cant wait to try that Peanut butter pie!! It sounds so yummy!!
I made some of Kate's...I bought food for when we were out because it was easier. Anyway, usually, I bought those steam bags of veggies, steamed, put in the food processor, and then froze in ice cube trays. I also did fresh avocado, and other stuff like that. I never ventured into meat, but have had friends do it. It just grossed me out. Call me soon!
love~
I made most if Riley's food and it was cheaper, and much easier. Green beans and green peas were the hardest to get smooth, so I ended up buying those, but made a majority of her other food. There are some good sites with instructions, but I did all mine in my blender, and froze in ice cube trays and stored in large ziplocks. I did sweet potatoes, carrots, white potatoes, squash (both butternut and yellow summer), zucchini, and a wide array of fruit. I did determine that the large container of regular applesauce, no sugar added was easier and cheaper than the baby food version.
It's a great opportunity to invite family to babysit for the Saturday, do all your cooking and blending, then just fill the ice trays over the next day or two. Also, don't cheap out on the ice trays. Get the sturdy ones so you can "crack" them to get it out.
Good luck. Let me know if you have further questions.
I made Gray's baby food and loved doing it, we eat lots of veggies anyway so I would just take some out before I seasoned ours and use a small baby food grinder ($8). I would reccomend the beaba baby cooker if someone wants to get you a generous gift, but I never splurged on one and did just fine. Some of our favorite beginner foods were banana (add water), carrots, sweet pototato (one of the easier things to cook/feed), peas, squash and cooked apples or pears. They have little disposable tupperware in the sippy cup section that I used to thaw cubes in the fridge.
I never made baby food for Owen. But when we got to finger foods this website was so helpful, and they have lots of great baby food tips: wholesomebabyfood.com. Hope it helps!
www.wholesomebabyfood.com has everything you need to know. It's really really easy and it is REAL FOOD not super processed food that has been sitting in glass jars for who knows how long. I prefer to eat real food. Don't you?
Getting off my soapbox now....
All you need is a steamer basket and a food processor, ricer or baby mill and make sure you have a flexible ice tray. Makes popping the cubes out effortless.
This is the one I used:
http://www.shopbakersnook.com/m5_view_item.html?m5:item=5989
Good luck!
Hi Heather!!
I made all of Sawyer's baby food and really enjoyed doing it...I got a book about it by Annabel karmel...can't remember the name, but she has tons of great baby cookbooks that are very easy and useful. I also used wholesomebabyfood.com a lot.
I used to make it all at once...like once every few weeks to get it out of the way...I just used a food processor and blender and they worked well for me.
Good luck and have fun!! Once you get the hang of baby food making, it's pretty easy :) Jones is absolutely adorable!
I made baby food for each of my 3 girls. It was much cheaper, very easy and I felt great knowing exactly what they were eating. I bought all the fruits and veggies fresh and organic (most of the time) and steamed them in a steamer, then pureed them in a blender and then poured into freezer trays. Once they were frozen, I popped them out and stored them in ziploc bags in the freezer. I would spend a Saturday or an evening about once a month making the baby food and storing it. Super easy. I would watch for veggies/fruits to be on sale and then would make up batches as necessary. I think they had every fruit and veggie that you could find in a store! I never did meat, that totally grossed me out. By the time they were ready for meat, they were ready for table food. I loved making the food for them and knowing what they were eating :) Good luck and have fun!
I made Joe's baby food. It was super easy to do a bunch all at once and freeze it. I found it very rewarding.
But, in terms of cost, if that is a big factor for you, some things are actually a little cheaper to buy...apples, butternut squash, pears. Also, I wouldn't splurge on any fancy devices. I used a steamer basket on the stove top and my mom's old food processor. That was it!
(I did borrow the Beabe freezer trays from a friend, and they worked. But so did ice cube trays. I also used a silicon muffin pan to freeze slightly larger portions when he was "good" at eating. Popping them out of the silicon was easy.) Have fun!
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