Wholesome Baby Food Recipes Blog – A Homemade Baby Food News Blog

I made a meal with orzo the other night.  Orzo used to be made from barley but it’s now commonly made from durham semolina (wheat).  Orzo is also known as “rice pasta” and is about the size of cooked rice grains.

You can find orzo in many colors though it is most commonly found in the white-ish yellow color of pasta.   Rainbow orzo will be red, green and yellow/white.  Try the Rainbow Orzo for your baby; it’s colors will stir interest!

Orzo is another great finger food for babies and is really great for those learning to self-feed.  Cooking orzo is as easy as cooking pasta and is as versatile as pasta is too!

For babies, cook orzo according to package directions then add ingredients as you please.  Try adding these ingredients to orzo:

Applesauce
Pear Sauce
Sweet Potatoes
Peas
Squash – winter  or summer squash
Shreds of chicken or beef
Bits of cheese
Egg Yolks
Broth and Veggies

The possibilities for an orzo meal for your little one are endless!

We ate the orzo with sauteed chicken and topped it with a black bean sauce – YUM!

Well I’m back with the Yam/Name update.  I promised to peel and cook this little yam but alas, I can’t.  As I began peeling the Name I noticed an odd smell so I decided to cut it in half.  As you can see, this is clearly NOT how the name should look.  And the smell….

So instead, please enjoy the pictures of the opossum that I found in the backyard last night.  The camera was a bit slow in the flash and tracking….

I’m so excited! I found a real true yam in the grocery store a few days ago! Having just come thru 5 days sans power/cable/internet/phone, I’ve been waiting patiently to be able to post my find! So here it is, the real true Yam or Name. The name Name is pronounced Ny-Aah-May and it looks like a really dirty white potato. Here’s a few images to tide you over. Tonight I will dissect and cook this little yam and report back tomorrow!

See the difference?  Nifty huh!  You can visit our Sweet Potato Baby Food & Recipes page to learn more

About 2 nights ago I opened a cupboard and a package of egg noodles fell out. Now my rule is if it falls out, it’s dinner. This rule usually applies to when I open the freezer but I think the cupboards should get equal treatment. This little rule is not a hard and fast one but has resulted in some creative meals. When these creative meals appear on the table, my husband always says “Ahh, something fell out of the freezer onto your toes today didn’t it?” My kiddos go wild when the frozen yogurt falls out of the freezer – yeah, not a chance boys! I digress…

So with the egg noodles in hand, I thought of making a creamy chicken stroganoff type of dish and then realised I had neither the ingredients nor the energy. I decided on confetti noodles. This was a great way to put veggies and “starch” together in a time saving and colorful way. The dish pared well with the roasted garlic chicken and I served steamed asparagus as well.

One way that I used to get my boys to be interested in their food was to always have colors and different textures/shapes in a meal. They loved to pick peas out of mashed potatoes or to pick chicken and cheese out of brown rice.

Ingredients

1 16 oz package of egg noodles
8 oz frozen peas
8oz frozen carrots
8 oz frozen corn
2 cloves of garlic, minced (or 1 heaping tablespoon of pre-minced garlic)
1/4 cup butter
pepper, onion powder, italian herb mix – season to your taste

Directions

Cook noodles according to package directions, drain then return to pot.
Cook frozen veggies while the noodles are cooking

Add cooked veggies, butter and spices/herbs to the noodles in the pot and mix well.

Yep, that’s it! You can make this with any spice/herb combo you prefer. Next time, I might add some fresh tomatoes!

Suitable for babies who can handle texture and are doing great with self-feeding. Chop or puree as needed.

Many parents feel that if they make homemade baby food, then they will be restricted to staying home because it would be difficult to travel with homemade food. It is a bit more convenient to take a long a jar or 2 of baby food but you really don’t have to! We become so accustomed to cooking, pureeing and storing that we often think only in terms of toting along containers of cubes. I find that many parents don’t even think of the easiest method of taking homemade baby food to go – the banana, the container and the fork. Think of it as the traveling trio!

If you are going on a day trip, or on a plane, the traveling trio is probably all that you will need for your little one. So grab your small food tote and toss in a banana, a fork and a container with a lid. When it comes time to feed baby, peel the banana, mash it in the container with a fork and VIOLA, fresh baby food to go! You could also take along an avocado, a baked sweet potato or even steamed carrot dices to mash up for baby’s meal.

** Taking fresh food through an airport security check point might be a bit difficult however most shops within the departures terminal will have bananas for sale.

Let us know how you have traveled with homemade baby food!