What fruits and veggies to use and how to cook them

You can use almost any fruit or vegetable that you like to eat. Of course, it's best to keep the more acidic fruits, like citrus and pineapple until your baby is a little older. You should wait until your baby is 9 months old to introduce spinach, that's when their digestive system can handle the nitrates found in frozen and baby food spinach. As for cooking the fruits and vegetables in preparation for baby food, it's pretty basic. Peel the fruit or vegetable if necessary, then steam or cook in some other low-liquid way until tender. Sweet potatoes can be microwaved in their skins, then just scooped out. Some very soft fruits and vegetables may not need to be cooked at all. Bananas are just mash-and-serve, as is avocado. Always make sure you baby does well (ie. no allergies or stomach upset) with the food in question separately before serving it in combination with another food.

Basic Fruit or Vegetable Baby Food

For The Basic Method see the main Make Your Own Baby Food page.

Making Fruit Baby Food

1) If you can't get fresh, buy frozen (no sugar), if that's not possible, use canned, preferably in juice, or rinse off any syrup.

2) Many fruits will start to brown if left out after being cut. Work quickly to cook, puree, and freeze the fruit to avoid discoloration. Bananas should not be frozen in a mashed state.

3) Fruits can be steamed or poached in a small amount of water. Reserve the water to thin the puree.


Making Vegetable Baby Food

1) Make sure the vegetables are very tender after cooking. This is particularly important for those like corn which can have tough "skins".

2) Reserve any cooking water to thin the baby food.

3) Strong tasting vegetables such as broccoli may be met with more enthusiasm if mixed with potatoes or another vegetable.

4) Always mash or put potatoes though a food mill, as blending makes them really gummy. Sweet potatoes seem to do better than regular in a blender, but can be mashed as well.

Fruit and Vegetable Baby Food Recipes

To make a single vegetable, or single fruit type of baby food, just follow the directions in the Basic Method and the above suggestions. Here are a few combinations that are delicious, nutritious, and easy to make!

Cinnamon Apples & Pears

1 large apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 ripe pear, peeled, cored, and halved
a couple sprinkles of cinnamon - to taste

Steam or poach(simmer until tender in small quantity of water) the apple and pear pieces, removing the pear if necessary so it doesn't get over cooked before the apple is done. When both are tender, put into blender and sprinkle a little cinnamon on top. Puree to desired consistency, adding cooking liquid as necessary.
If a chunkier texture is desired, reserve some of the cooked fruit and dice into small bits, then fold into the remaining pureed fruit. This will freeze well in ice cube trays.

Peaches and Cream

Steamed or poached Peaches - puree to desired consistency
Mix with instant or already cooked baby cereal (any grain will do)
and breastmilk, formula, or whole milk
to make a creamy "dessert"

It's best to just freeze the peach puree alone, then add the other ingredients just before serving.

Broccoli-Corn Casserole

1 cup steamed broccoli
1 cup steamed corn, very tender
2 tbsp bread crumbs or instant baby cereal
2 tbsp cooked onion (optional)
chicken broth for pureeing (can substitute vegetable broth or water)

Combine all in a blender and add chicken broth as needed to obtain the desired consistency.
This freezes well in ice cube trays (or, well, in anything else you want to freeze it in :o)

Green Beans and Potatoes

1 cup potatoes, mashed well
1 cup green beans, steamed until tender, then blended to appropriate consistency
pinch of dried dill weed, crumbled finely (optional)
pinch of onion powder (optional)
cooking water from potatoes or beans, or chicken broth (to thin as necessary)

Mix all ingredients together, will freeze well.

For more recipes and information about making your own baby food, see these pages:

Making Baby Food - The Basics

Make Your Own - Meat, Beans, and Meat-Vegetable Dinner Baby Food