Baby food...

Some background first...even though I have two children, with my first, I just went on my merry way.  I utilized only disposible diapers, didn't breastfeed and bought baby food (not even organic baby food, oh the horror!) from the grocery store.  Yes, that was a little bit of sarcasm re: the organic stuff.  I'm all for organic, but I also have my inner scrooge where sometimes, I am just too damn cheap to pay for certain things that are organic.  Apples, yes...bananas, no.

Since we've had our son, we've purchased a house with a 1/3 of an acre and now both my husband and I have been trying our hands at urban homesteading.  We have ten laying hens, had a rabbit, have barrels for collecting rainwater, have a compost pile, and usually have an organic garden going.  This philosophy has kind of turned me a little hippyish...not like dirty hippy-style, but rather a let's save-the-earth and start-in-our-own-backyard style.

Now that we've had our daughter, I did breastfeed for the first three months while I was on maternity leave; I did (and do) use cloth diapers and now I've had my first experiment with making baby food.  I did some research, and found this website Wholesome Baby Food. After comparing several sites, this one definitely won out in the easy to use factor as far as recipes and great suggestions by age.  Right now Lily is a little over 6 months, so I am using the 6 - 8 months of age as a reference.  I decided to start with cereal about 3 weeks ago, and I purchased the Gerber organic oatmeal to start her off with.  I know some people out there only grind their own brown rice, but really?  I choose not to make the time for that...besides, I use coupons and got two boxes for only .50 apiece.  Beat that!

Anyway, I decided to make sweet potatoes as my first try for baby food.  I remember that Cash LOVED this stuff.  I used a mini food processor my mom gave me a few years ago, a spoon, three baked sweet potatoes and a small scraper.






The last photo is an ice cube tray that I got at Target for $1.99. I know I could've gone to a dollar store, but jeez, it was only 2 bucks!

Also, I'm in the process of making yogurt in our crockpot. although this is the first time I've ever tried it.  I followed a recipe at Homemade Yogurt in a crockpot.

Here is the first step...


This was the photo from yesterday.  I got the yogurt out of the oven (oven wasn't on, but the crock was just sitting in there) and it actually looked like yogurt!  I poured it into two jars via funnel that I had washed & santized in our dishwasher a few months ago and it looks good so far.  Haven't tried it yet, but am looking forward to it!

Hope everyone has a lovely evening!