What's good enough for Elvis, is good enough for Owen

I haven't written about our eating adventures lately so I thought I'd post some updates. Mr. O is eating like a champ now - but from the spoon. I know, the boy who refused to be spoon-fed for the first nine months of life, NOW INSISTS ON IT. I am still putting food down on his tray for him, mostly appetizers like cheese, cheerios, goldfish but other than that when I try to hand him foods to eat - he throws them on the floor. ALL OF IT. NONE IN THE MOUTH.

Ah, back to the drawing board. He is very good about eating from a spoon now and sometimes wants to try himself. When he is finished he swats the spoon away with his hand.

I recently read that after 1 year babies toddlers become even more picky about what they eat and you measure their intake BY THE WEEK (God, help me). Jeremy and I decided that since O isn't quite ONE yet - we'd take advantage of his stellar eating and try to find ways to get more calorie dense foods in him. This boy will eat butternut squash until its coming out his b-hole (literally.) but it just doesn't have that many calories per serving. I made a porridge with ground up lentils and barley that I've been adding to his cereal in the morning. I still want him to have the iron-fortified baby oatmeal, which he eats with 3 food cubes of fruit mashed in but the lentils added some protein. Owen still gobbles it up every morning for breakfast.

My friend Kelly is trying to put some weight on her boy right now so she shared a babyfood recipe with me that HORRIFIED me at first (she even warned me before telling it to me) but when it comes to calories - it packs a punch.

'The Elvis' Baby Food

1 piece of whole wheat bread (we eat Brownberry Double Protein)
2 slices of bacon (uncurred, this way it doesn't have any icky nitrates)
1-2 tablespoons of almond butter (be sure there is no added sugar or salt)
1 banana

Fry up some bacon. I don't cook pork bacon, but I noticed the turkey bacon we have from Trader Joe's was uncurred so I used that. Break into smaller pieces and add to food processor. Add the bread ripped into pieces and pulse. Add almond butter and banana (I also added a few tablespoons of whole milk yogurt for a smoother consistency) Blend well. Yields (2) 4oz servings. (Note: watch for nut allergies and this recipe is best for older babies 8 mons + because it has a chunkier consistency)

Owen ATE THIS UP. I gave it to him for lunch today and when I stopped shoveling it in he started screaming and crying? Whose kid is this anyway? I was horrified but Kelly proved to be a genius once again.

Since we were talking about feeding Owen, this weekend Jeremy and I went to the bookstore to pick up The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet. I've been reading reviews for a while and even though we're not going to be in "baby food" mode for long, I decided there were enough relevant recipes to buy it (that and we had a 50% off coupon to B&N). This book is great! It has colorful pictures and is packed with interesting ideas. One of the things that I would have never thought of was adding a teaspoon or so of oil or butter to baby food. Babies need fat, (BTW, did you know breastmilk and twice the fat and calories of whole milk? so awesome.) and good fats are hard to come by in a baby diet. It is counter-intuitive to add oil to your baby's food but it made sense in many of these recipes.

Black Beans, Avocado and Yogurt, OH MY!

1/4 cup black beans (homemade or canned)
1/4 avocado
1/4 cup plain yogurt (whole milk)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil (we used olive oil)

place all ingredients in the blender and puree. 1 baby serving or 1/4 cup (159.9 calories)

We doubled the recipe and it made (3) 4oz servings. Another hit with Owen (although I was skeptical, because it looked a little funky...)

The book also has lots of tips and tricks for feeding baby, a great conversion table in the back and a "Feedback chart" for each recipe you can note if baby liked it, any modifications you made, the date you made it and a place for notes.

As I've posted before, feeding Owen has always been "the thing" I'm most sensitive about. I think the bed rest and rough transition to breastfeeding (and me being crazy in general) has something to do with it but I'm always thinking about WHEN he ate, WHAT he ate, how much he ate, when he nursed, if he nursed, if he drank water. LITERALLY ALL THE TIME. I rack my brain trying to think of new and interesting things to offer Owen. I want him to explore foods and tastes while eating healthy. I have found making his food myself to be so incredibly rewarding and this weekend when Jeremy said, "I never imagined I'd marry someone who would make our baby's food. You're such a hippie! and I think its so totally cool." my heart almost exploded.

During Owen's nap yesterday we chopped/roasted/pureed batches of spaghetti squash, acorn squash, a batch of Prunanas (with yellow raisins for added iron), kiwi and pears - in addition to the recipes above. It was a fun afternoon, and it was nice to do it together. Now, every time I pop those cubes out of the freezer - I think about how they were made with love, by the both of us.