2/13/11 – Adventures in Baby Food – Carrots

Today was a pretty busy Sunday. Luckily, Christian’s work was able to finish up their project yesterday, so he didn’t have to work today. I’m pretty grateful that Olivia spent the night away, because we had SO much to do, and Amelia did not sleep a wink last night. Needless to say, we were really dragging. I’m finally starting to feel better. Still pretty stuffed up, and that dang headache is still hanging on, but I don’t feel as rundown as I have (aside from the lack-of-sleep tiredness). Amelia however, seems worse today. She’s having a hard time breathing (from her stuffed nose), so she’s having a hard time sleeping and eating. Poor thing…I sure hope this passes quickly!

I cleaned up the living room (which, of course, was repeated later in the evening, before bed, after Olivia got home and ripped it apart again), did a few loads of laundry throughout the day, made my latest batch of baby food and hung out with a VERY needy baby.

We realized that the garbage disposal was leaking pretty bad, and we couldn’t let it keep leaking, so we had a surprise home repair to take care off. Christian was off to Menards and purchased a new disposal. Thankfully we had a Visa gift card left from Christmas, so it wasn’t TOO much out of pocket, and we get an 11% rebate on it, so that’s nice. Meanwhile, my mom brought Olivia back home. Amelia was napping at the time (FINALLY), but as soon as she woke up, Olivia took right to harassing her, like usual. Grrr.

It took Christian a few hours to get the disposal replaced and get everything in order, but he did it, and it’s all good now! Finally, it was time for baths and bed. PLEASE let Amelia sleep…we all need it!

As I mentioned, I tackled my latest batch of baby food today, carrots. Carrots are very high in beta carotene. Beta carotene is a Carotenoid. Carotenoid are a set of darkly colored pigments called pro vitamin A carotenoids that can be converted to Vitamin A. Vitamin A is very important in a developing infant's diet. Carrots are often one of baby's first foods. They are easy to digest and are packed full of nutrients such as Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Calcium. Due to the issue of Nitrates, recommendations for the introduction of carrots varies.

When preparing Carrots, steaming is the very best method for cooking and preparing them. Steaming Carrots allows the beta carotene to be more bio-available and readily used by the body. Carrots should be peeled when making baby food purées as many infants will not be able to digest the skins. Unless you are purchasing Organic carrots, you should always peel carrots as chemicals do concentrate in the skin of the carrot. If you do not buy Organic carrots, please cleanse the carrots by using a vegetable brush and lightly scrubbing the carrots under cool running water.

To make your carrot puree, select any amount of fresh carrots you desire (I used a fresh, 1lb bag of carrots for mine), then, follow this simple, 3-step process:

1. Peel carrots and cut into small chunks.
2. Place chunks into a steamer pan with just enough water visible through the steamer basket and steam until tender. Do not reserve any left over water to use for thinning out the carrots if baby is under 8 months old as Nitrates may seep into the cooking water.
3. Place into your choice of appliance for pureeing and begin pureeing and add water as necessary to achieve a smooth, thin consistency (I used about 1 cup for this first batch).

Simple as that. I just LOVE the bright, fresh colors you get when you make your own food. It just looks healthy!

Cost Savings:
- 1 1lbs Bag of Fresh Carrots = $0.99 – Makes Roughly 10 Jars
- 10 Jars of Gerber Stage 2 Carrots = $5.95
- Cost Savings of $4.96

Here are some before and after pictures of the carrots. Along with one of Olivia "helping" dad fix the disposal.