4/13/11 - Adventures in Baby Food - Blueberries

Today was another pretty good day. One of the sites I follow on facebook was having a referral contest to win a Ring Sling, and today I found out that I won!!!! YAY, I’m so excited. So, right now I’m working with the owner to order my sling. I’m going to be getting a hemp ring sling, and I can’t wait to try it out!! That was my exciting news for the day. The weather has taken a turn for the worse. They are calling for snow this weekend...SNOW! We just got rid of our snow. This truly is the winter that won’t end. So, that’s our not so exiting news for the day.

I went online and used one of those “due date calendars” and found out that today was the last day I would need to get pregnant in order to have a 2011 baby, and have 3 under 3 (though it would just be for a couple of days). Don’t get me wrong, we weren’t interested in doing so, or trying to in the least bit, I just thought it was interesting. So, it looks like 2011 will be the first year in a long time we have no life changing events (I mean, there are other things that could happen, but we’ll assume not). In 2006 we got engaged, in 2007 we got married, in 2008 we moved into our first home and I got pregnant with Olivia. In 2009 Olivia was born and I got pregnant with Amelia In 2010 Amelia was born. I think we’re due for a more low key year!

After work I took to more baby food making. Today was fruit night, I tackled the frozen fruits tonight...Peaches, Mangos and a new one, Blueberries. Blueberries have a whole host of amazing nutrients in them and they are often referred to as a "Super Food" for this reason. Blueberries are high in antioxidants and they also contain fiber, Vitamin A and Vitamin C. Blueberries are also thought be cholesterol reducers. Blueberries are a wonderful healthy food and make a great snack food for babies and adults alike. One of the greatest things about blueberries for snacking is their portability. There is no need to prepare blueberries, just wash 'em and toss 'em in a small bag or snack bowl and off you go.

You can introduce blueberries to baby around 8 months of age. There is much confusion about when you may feed your infant blueberries. Many believe that blueberries fall under the "no berries until after age 12 months old" rule. However, blueberries are not a common allergen and they are not in the allergenic "berry" family? Blueberries are actually related to cranberries and are in the Heath family. The blueberry shares no "family" relationship with the strawberry, blackberry or raspberry. Those "true" berries may be mild to highly allergenic. By "true berries" I am referring to those berries that pose allergy problems for infants and are in the same family. There are horticultural differences in blueberries/cranberries and in strawberries, raspberries and blackberries as well.

As I mentioned above, I used frozen blueberries. Fresh are just too expensive right now, and you get more for your money with frozen. Be warned, those bad boys are MESSY!!!

Cost Savings:
- 1 Bag of Frozen Blueberries = $3.19 – Makes 7 Jars
- 7 Jars of Gerber Stage 2 Blueberries = $4.17
- Cost Savings of $.98

Here are some bad quality pictures of the blueberries! Again, didn’t have the camera handy, and far too lazy to search it out!