I just had one of those moments. You know the type—like at the end of a formulaic rom-com, when the girl suddenly realizes that Mr. Right was hers for the taking for the last 90+ minutes? It occurred to me that I’ve been denying you a pretty cool aspect of my recipes. In fact, if you’ve got an early eater in the house, you’ll probably hate me for holding it back. In my cookbook, every single recipe ends with a separate section called “Make Baby Food.” Well, duh, the whole notion of Parents Need to Eat Too only works if you’re not making (or buying) separate food for baby. Whether they’re for the cookbook or the blog, for the last year-plus my recipes have been intended to work for the entire family. As far as the blog is concerned, I’m not making that clear.
So, my apologies. And since it’s a new year, we’re going to turn that page and just keep going. From now on, every new recipe on Words to Eat By will include instructions to help you feed your baby the same food you’re making for yourself. It may be as simple as “puree with a little milk or broth,” or as specific as “reserve some of the escarole and some of the beans before you add the red pepper flakes.” But whatever it is, it’ll make your life easier. Because really, that’s what I’m here for—to help you figure out how to feed your family while still taking care (really good, delicious care) of yourself.
To make up for it, I offer two things: First, if there are any recipes on Words to Eat By that you’d like to serve to an infant, just say the word and I’ll provide instructions. And second, here’s one meeellion dollars. No, not really. Just some food-spattered shots of Harry, from back when he was still a good eater:
It has been ages since I have dealt with feeding babies (my babies are 17 and 14), but neither of them were crazy about store bought baby food. And once I tried it, I couldn't blame them. I started giving them what we were eating, mashed and cut small, and they did just fine. In fact they are both pretty adventurous eaters. They did go thru various picky stages as toddlers, but trust me, that passes.
Oh this is great! Since I now have a new eater (who is eating everything in sight, including shirts, burp clothes, and several attempts at the cat's tail) in addition to my non-eater, I need all the help I can get.
Very exciting! I am due with my first baby next month and I would really like to try making my own baby food when the baby is ready for that stage. Thank you!
Personally I have never bought ready made babyfood, just sort of rearranged our menu a little so that baby could eat with us. Both my kids started on bananas (instant baby food!) and thick veggie soups, the kind you puree anyway, we had ours hot and babies had theirs lukewarm, win win, and it was all stuff I would have made anyway. I think it's overall a much cheaper option and most babies (at least at this stage!) are so curious about trying new things, tastes included, that it works pretty well.
So glad you all like the idea!
Fabulous idea, Debbie! I really want my baby to eat what we're eating, especially since she turns her nose up at the chicken-veg-and-rice mash I spent a weekend creating for her, but grabs at my fork whenever it's going by.
Also, I love the second, slightly crosseyed pic of Harry. Bianca gives me that look sometimes from an inch from my face and it just melts me 🙂
I love your blog. We gave both our kids all the foods we were eating when they were babies (ok, one still is a baby – she is 18 months!). Our son who is now 6 used to gag at bananas, avocado, cheese, all kinds of things as a baby. He was and still is the pickiest eater – it's awful for a foodie mom like me! Our daughter so far gags at nothing and seems to like everything. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Anyway, thanks for you baby food exerpt at the bottom of each page – I love it!