Finger-licking good, healthy, and surprisingly-simple homemade baby food recipes from cookbooks like Love in Spoonfuls, The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet and more.
Blueberry Spinach Puree
This vegetable-fruit blend is high in vitamins A, C and E, calcium and flavonoids.
Three-Cheese Panini
Toddlers will love this advanced triple-the-cheese grilled cheese sandwich
How to make Three-Cheese Panini
Carrot-Yam Puree
Serve to your baby or sneak these purees into kid-favorites like mac and cheese or pizza bagels for a (secretly!) healthy family meal.
Orange Carrot-Yam Puree Recipe
White Bean Puree
This super-healthy puree is high in fiber, protein and iron.
Baby’s Little Pasta Soup
Who knew making homemade baby food could be this easy? This soup can be adapted according to your baby’s taste—try adding mashed carrots, creamy spinach or tiny bits of broccoli, chicken or turkey.
Chicken Puree
Here are two basic methods of cooking chicken that can be used to create a variety of textures and meals for your baby. Baking in the oven works especially well for flavorful, fattier and iron-rich thighs, while poaching keeps lean meat moist and juicy, making it an ideal method for chicken breasts.
How to make Baby-Friendly Chicken
Baby-Friendly Beef
Beef is a good source of protein, B vitamins and iron for babies. To keep it digestible for tiny stomachs, choose a lean cut. Top sirloin steak is a good choice in this respect. Choose organic beef if you can, or grass-fed if available: this type is higher in healthful omega-3 fats than corn-fed beef.
How to make Baby-Friendly Beef
Peaches ‘n’ Cheese
Dice fresh, very ripe peaches and let your tot dip them in cottage cheese. (Consider going organic with dairy products, simply because tots eat so much of them.)
Butternut and acorn squash are great starter foods, mild and easy to digest. Orange-fleshed squashes are rich in the antioxidant beta-carotene as well as vitamins A and C, minerals and fiber. Look for precut squash or choose frozen squash—no need to thaw it before popping it in the oven.
How to make Winter Squash Puree
Once your baby has tried apple puree on its own a few times, give her a mealtime vitamin boost by adding squash. Summer squashes, such as pattypan, crookneck and zucchini, make good starter vegetables—mild and digestible, they offer many vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin A, magnesium and potassium.
Baby’s Favorite Warm Cereal
It’s not too early to start teaching your baby to appreciate whole grains. Nowadays it’s possible to find brown rice baby cereal and whole-grain oat baby cereal, but barley can be harder to find in prepared cereal form. It’s not hard to make, however, as long as you have a sturdy blender or spice grinder for the grain.
How to make Baby’s Favorite Warm Cereal
People love to give new moms advice, and you’re bound to hear contradictory information when it comes to feeding. The “rules” change over time. Luckily, the current thinking on how and what to start feeding is loosening up, so let your instincts and your baby be your guide.
4 Baby-Feeding Dilemmas Solved
Banana & Avocado Guacamole
Sounds like a wacky combination? It might, until you consider that both bananas and avocados are tropical fruits, both have smooth textures, and neither is too sweet. In fact, bananas’ cousins plantains are commonly used in savory Caribbean dishes. If you like, you can even make this guacamole with 2 bananas only!
How to make Banana & Avocado Guacamole
How to Feed Your 4- to 6-Month Old
Your baby’s first meals should be an easy introduction to solid foods. Offer just one food at a time to start. It need not be bland, but it should be easy to digest. Whatever the food, puree it well and thin it to a runny, liquid consistency with breast milk, formula or water.
Read More: How to Feed Your 4- to 6-month old
How to Feed Your 9- to 11-Month Old
Mealtime with your older baby is becoming a freewheeling affair. Your youngster is growing more independent by the day, learning to crawl and stand. She is trying her hand at wielding a spoon, testing the laws of physics by dropping food onto the floor, and testing your patience as she smears it in her hair.
Read More: How to Feed Your 9- to 11-month old
Ready, Set, Feed That Baby!
How will you know when she’s ready to start solid foods, and what’s the best way to begin? How much should he be eating at 6, 9 or 12 months? How can you get her to love vegetables, or can you? Can you actually find time in your jam-packed week to prepare homemade baby food? Parenting‘s cookbook, Love in Spoonfuls, will show you the basics of preparing baby foods at home, helping you find a balance that works for your family.
