2/19/11 – Adventures in Baby Food – Apples

Today was a fun filled, busy day!! The house was up, bright and early. Christian was on dad duty, watching the girls, making breakfast and all that fun stuff, while I made some baby food, showered and got ready for the day. While Christian got himself all gussied up, I got the girls dressed and ready to go. We were heading on a shopping trip today! Yes, that’s right…we are leaving the house…just for the heck of it! Very exciting. We decided it was about time to exchange/return some of our Christmas gifts! Christian got some “long johns” that he wanted to exchange for jeans, I got some shoes that didn’t fit, that I exchanged for a couple cheaper pairs of shoes (because EVERY pair of shoes I own are broken in one way or another) and I got some PJ’s (from Victoria Secret…oh la la) and decided to exchange those for some perfume…but, it turned out the PJ’s were on SUPER sale, and I was able to buy them back for $10! We wandered around the mall for a while, and it was FAR too crazy out there for us.

We ran home so the girls could grab a quick nap, we ate some lunch, and then were on our way again. Tonight we celebrated my grandpa’s 80th birthday!!! Spent a few hours with the family and Olivia had SO much fun with her little 2nd cousins. Amelia did very well too…she let a few people hold her, she showed everybody some of her newest tricks and didn’t disrupt the entire event. YAY for progress. Finally, the girls were getting tired, and it was time to be on our way. We skipped baths tonight, and they both pretty much passed out as soon as we got home. So, we had a successful, fun, eventful Saturday!

Today’s batch of baby food was apples (applesauce really). And YUMMY! As they say, “An Apple a Day”…it is indeed good for your health. Apples are truly a wonder fruit and are also one on your infants first foods. One of the most important nutritional components of Apples is that they contain two types of fiber; insoluble fiber and soluble fiber. Both the insoluble fiber in apples and their soluble fiber pectin help maintain bowel regularity. The insoluble fiber works like roughage, while the soluble fiber helps keep the bowels regular and specifically affects the makeup of the stool. Apples are a great choice for one of an infant’s first food. They are easy to prepare, easy to digest and are full of nutrients. Apples are also very versatile and may be added to almost any baby recipe you find.

Today I boiled my apples…next time, I will be baking them. I used 5 Braeburn apples for my recipe, and followed this simple 4-step process:

1. Peel, core and cut apple into slices/chunks
2. Place slices or chunks into a pan with just enough water to slightly cover apples and boil/steam the apples until tender. Be sure to check on the water level and stir.
   Apples may be mashed with a potato masher to achieve a smooth applesauce consistency, however, for this first batch, I decided to puree them completely.
3. Reserve any left over water to use for boiling the apples.
4. Place the boiled apples into your choice of appliance for pureeing and add the reserved water as necessary to achieve a smooth, thin puree.

That’s it! Delicious applesauce in no time!

Cost Savings:
- 5 Apples = $2.85 – Makes Roughly 16 Jars
- 16 Jars of Gerber Stage 2 Apples = $9.52
- Cost Savings of $6.67

Here are some before and after pics of the apples. I used my apple “peeler-corer-slicer”, but it was kind of a PITA…so I think I’ll just use my pampered chef corer-slicer next time and peeling by hand should be easy enough. I’ve also included a picture of the kids at the birthday party, obsessed with the cake.