This post is a little bit overdue, ha! We officially started Addilyn on solids at 6 months old. We started with avocado just as we did with Isabella and Cayson. She was a huge fan and so far only gives us the squishy uncertain face on occasion. She is eating just about everything besides eggs, peanut butter and strawberries. I gave her, her first bite of chicken this weekend at 8.5 months and she was a fan. She officially has 4 teeth and an appetite to match:)

I have several old blog posts that are still extremely popular from our journey with Isabella and Cayson, I've linked them at the bottom. 

My solid must haves include the above Mash and Serve bowl, Beaba cooker, Boon spoon above and mason jars or this Beaba container for freezing baby food. I have used all of these items with all three babes and they are still going strong:)

Store bought baby food has come a long way and while I make a lot of my baby food now I love all the new organic pouch options they have. They did not have as many of these options available when Isabella was starting solids. Our go to brands are: Plum organics, Happy Baby and Ella pouches. 

Pumpkin, banana and sweet potatoes are Addilyn's absolute favorites so I'm sharing my two quick easy recipes below:)

Pumpkin + banana

2 whole bananas

16 oz organic pumpkin puree

Slice banana into small slices, puree in Beaba. Add pureed pumpkin. 

Pour into Beaba silicone freeze container. Makes about 24 ounces of baby food. 

(You can cook your own pumpkin but when I found this organic pre-pureed pumpkin I was sold:)) With three little ones I'm all about convenience. 

Sweet potato + banana

2 sliced bananas

2 cups sliced sweet potatoes

First slice your 2 bananas and approximately 2 cups of sweet potato. Place sweet potato in Beaba to steam. Once steamed drain water and blend. Add in bananas until desired consistency. Place in Beaba container or glass mason jars to freeze. Makes approx 24 ounces.

More baby food recipes:

Homemade Organic baby cereal

 Introducing solid must haves

Healthy Homemade Baby food

Crockpot baby Apple sauce 

Healthy Homemade baby food #2 

Quinoa Mash

All natural grape popsicles

These were two of my favorite baby food items to make in bulk. I still on occasion will make the Apple+Oats for the kiddos for breakfast-so easy to freeze in small mason jars and heat up for breakfast. The Quinoa Mash is another favorite that I will serve as a dinner side for the kiddos these days)

Quinoa mash

1 butternut squash

1 cup quinoa

Cinnamon to taste

Cut butternut squash in half. Remove seeds. Preheat oven to 350. Place butternut squash face down in 9x13 baking dish. Place one cup water in bottom of baking dish (enough to cover the bottoms of the squash). Bake for approximately 60 minutes, until soft and able to poke fork through. 

Scoop butternut squash from skin and place in bowl. Mix in quinoa. I use some cinnamon as needed to add flavor but you can spice it up with whatever sounds good.

Apple+oats

8 organic apples cut and peeled

1 cup rolled oats

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

Place cut and peeled apples in slow cooker. Fill with water to cover apples. Add 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp vanilla. Mix well. Cook overnight on low or for 4 hours until soft.

On stovetop bring water and oats to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Remove apples from slow cooker and place in bowl and mash into apple sauce consistency. Mix in cooked oats.

These are my favorite to throw in these individual mason jars and pull out for breakfast. You can spice this up however you like. 

More baby food recipes:

Healthy Homemade Baby food

Crockpot baby Apple sauce 

 Introducing solid must haves

Healthy Homemade baby food #2 

Quinoa Mash

Homemade Organic baby cereal

All natural grape popsicles

As promised I have my favorite squash recipe and a couple more of my baby food go-to's these days. I started each of these when Isabella was about 10 months old and she love, loves all of them....She is my perfect judge on how I'm doing in the baby food making department and so far I get an A+.

Turkey Squash

1 butternut squash

1 lb ground turkey (all natural, grass fed)

1. Cut your butternut squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds.

2. Place 1 in of water in an 9x12 baking dish.

3. Place squash in dish, meat side down

4. Cook at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.

5. Scoop out meat of squash and set aside.

6. Ground and cook turkey on stove top until cooked through

7. Place cooked turkey and squash into blender or Beaba to mix...

8. Place in storage containers, label, and freeze

Makes ~24 oz

I love squash...you can mix it with so many things...our other favorites are squash/kale, squash/spinach/quinoa and squash/quinoa/green peas

I waited a bit to introduce yogurt to Isabella because she had such issues when I had dairy while nursing but she hasn't had a single issue and LOVES yogurt....this is my favorite mix for Isabella

Yogurt mix

1- 4oz yogurt

1/2 organic banana

1/4 c cooked organic quinoa

1. Cook quinoa (directions here)

2. In a bowl (I love this one) mash together 4 oz yogurt, 1/2 banana and 1/4 cup quinoa

3. Refrigerate overnight or serve immediately.

I make a big batch of quinoa on Sundays so I will have some to mix up each day....You can also use this attachment for your Beaba to cook your grains...I love this yogurt mix for Isabella's breakfast....I usually buy organic Greek Yogurt or I love Yo Baby yogurt...Isabella's favorite is the pumpkin/banana...

Other mix options:

 Blueberry Yo Baby + 1/4 cup fresh blueberries and quinoa-mash and mix together

Strawberry/Banana yogurt-1/2 banana and quinoa

Options are endless mix any flavor yogurt, fresh fruit and quinoa!

I mix this up either the night before or morning of...perfect well balanced breakfast:)

 Isabella approved!!

I contemplated buying a pumpkin and cooking it but when I found this can it was a no brainer...super easy, only ingredient is 100% organic pumpkin...sold....if you want to cook your own pumpkin, cook it according to squash directions above...

Pumpkin Grain

2 organic bananas

1 cup barley

1. Bring 2 cups of water to boil on stove top, add barley, reduce heat and let simmer 15 minutes.

2. Cut banana into small pieces.

3. Place drained/cooked barley, pumpkin and banana into blender/Beaba

Place in storage containers-my faves here and here-label and freeze for later use

You can substitute the barley for any of the grains below...

Makes ~24 oz

Here's a picture of my favorite organic grains

Barley, Oats, Quinoa

I also recently have fallen in love with Target's new brand Simply Balanced

and they have these mixes that I will be trying when the above are out...way to go Target

once again you are on Target with health and design appeal!

Sorry for the poor photos this time...I used my old half working iPhone to capture them:)

Happy cooking!! Let me know if you have any favorites or great mixes!

Cinnamon Apple Sauce

10 organic apples (I like Macintosh or Gala)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup water

First, peel, core and cut your apples into small chunks.

Place apples into crockpot.

Pour in water, vanilla and cinnamon mixing well...

Cover and cook on low 4 hours...

When ready to serve, stir and mash or blend to consistency you want

Place in mason jars...or storage of choice...

I love this because it makes the house smell incredible...

There are also endless options of what you can mix in it as well...

I add some cooked barley to ours and mixed it in my Beaba for a nice breakfast meal...

I've also done an applesauce, banana, barley mix.

I'm also excited to share my recent discovery of these organic spices I use now...cinnamon here, vanilla here, and vanilla stevia here

Amazon is also my favorite for our organic oats, quinoa, and barley here

I'll try to share my butternut squash quinoa recipe next week!

I have really enjoyed making Isabella's food. Now that I can mix things and even throw in a few spices it has gotten even more fun....here is 3 quick, simple, healthy meals....we started slowly introducing cinnamon, vanilla, oregano and basil once Isabella turned 9 months old....This is all you need for these quick meals....for Miss Isabella I always buy organic, this is a personal choice but you can do as you would like...

Shopping list

2 chicken breasts (organic, grass fed)

2 organic sweet potatoes

1 organic banana

1 organic mango

1/2 cup organic oats

You will need something to steam and puree your food....I use the Beaba...life saver for me and they have an awesome new latte/mint color....I may be buying a second one (just so I can have the latte one;)) or I recommend the double if you want to make food in bulk but a regular steamer, stove top, and blender or food processor does the trick...I have found my Beaba purees food so much faster... this is not a sponsored post I am just that much of a fan...

Chicken and pea mash

1 cup organic peas

1 organic sweet potato

2 organic chicken breasts

First, start by placing chicken breasts in pan on stove top, cover completely with water...bring to boil then reduce heat to medium heat and cook for 15-20 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink

Steam peas and sweet potatoes (I use my beaba but you can easily use the stove top or steamer)

Remove chicken from pan and shred....place steamed peas, sweet potatoes and chicken into Beaba to puree (If you don't have a Beaba, you can use a blender or food processor) I have found that my Beaba, though smaller, purees the easiest and fastest....

Place into these containers I talked about here....loving these plastic lids...I write date/item on top with dry erase markers...

This makes about 24 oz of food....

Kale mash

1 cup steamed kale

1 sweet potato (organic)

First, start by cleaning and removing stems of your kale...then place into Beaba or steamer

Peel and cut up sweet potato into small chunks, place in Beaba or steamer....

Place kale and sweet potatoes into Beaba or blender and mix together...

Place into mason jars or these or these....

Makes about 16 oz...

Mango & Banana oatmeal

1 mango

1 banana

1/2 cup oats

First, bring 1 cup water to a boil....place oats into pan...reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes...

Peel and cut up banana and mango into small chunks

Drain water off oatmeal...place banana, mango and oatmeal into Beaba to blend

Place in mason jars or container of choice....

Makes about 24 ounces

Happy cooking!!

I have my favorite crockpot apple sauce recipe coming for you next week!

Apple sauce recipe is up, link here

Link for introducing solid must haves here

Healthy Homemade baby food #2 here

I found these adorable popsicle molds at Ikea over the weekend and it got my wheels spinning....it was time for miss Isabella to try her first popsicle....all natural of course and what a great teether!!

All you need is:

4 cups white grapes (I used organic)

2 cups boiling water

1/4 cup chopped white grapes 

Slowly stir and mash on medium heat for 10 minutes....

When you are done pour juice through colander to get only juice...dispose of pulp....

Place in fridge for 10 minutes, place small amount of chopped grapes into each mold

and then pour your juice into your molds....

Some other options: you can add 1/4 cup of sugar for added sweetness, or you can actually use premade white grape juice....add any variety of fruits you would like..I think next time we might throw in some peach or blueberry....

And I had some left over grape juice so I decided to make a few extra ice cubes using these molds from Ikea as well..... 

They make a perfect ice cube to help keep your wine chilled.....

And I think Miss Isabella was a fan!

She just happened to seriously be in the perfect dress:)

Brain freeze, I kid, I kid...And photo bomb thanks to Miss Zoe

Thought I would share a few of my favorite baby food mixes I've been making for the lil miss lately...it is very well known how good quinoa is for us so of course it was on the top of our list to introduce to Isabella...as soon as we knew she loved it, I have been trying to be creative with it...

Quinoa can be ground down to a fine powder like I talked about with oats, barley and rice here or you can simply cook it whole since it is small enough at our stage which is what I chose to do....

1 cup whole organic quinoa

2 cups water

1 organic sweet potato

1 handful organic blueberries

Bring 2 cups of water to boil. Once boiling add in quinoa. Reduce heat and let simmer for 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. While that simmers, peel, steam and blend your sweet potato into a puree. Add blueberries into sweet potato puree and blend until pureed. (I do all this in my Beaba I talked about here) I throw in the sweet potatoes to steam then blend them and slowly add in the blueberries. In a larger bowl mix quinoa, sweet potatoes and blueberries. 

Hint: blueberries are considered one of the safe berries to offer before 1 year of age unless of course you have a high family history of allergies. Our lil munchkin had a slight rash after this trial of blueberries so we have taken a break from them for a couple months...so I changed it up and created the below mash, this is great because you can really use any mixture of fruits you want...always consult with your pediatrician before introducing solids...

1 cup whole organic quinoa

2 cups of water

2 whole organic mangos

1 organic banana

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil....add in quinoa, cover and let simmer for 15 minutes....while it simmers cut your mango and banana into small cubes....place in blender/food processor/Beaba and turn into puree...in a small bowl mix quinoa and mango/banana mix....

...place into containers to serve or freeze...you can double or half these recipes to meet your needs

And so I don't leave you momma's out here is my favorite

Green juice recipe at the moment:

4 whole carrots

1 green apple

1 handful kale

1 handful spinach

sliver ginger

Place items in juicer....serve over ice in a cute mason jar with a stripey straw-makes everything taste better:)  

And if you don't have a juicer here's my go to

Mango Green Smoothie recipe...

1 banana

1 cup spinach

2/3 cup fresh or frozen mango

 1 cup unsweet almond milk

2 tbsp flaxseed

Place all items in blender and then serve over ice in a mason jar....delish!

Miss Isabella has decided that it is time for solids. I had planned to wait for exactly her 6 month birthday but this little one has been SO ready for solids and there has been a lot of mixed research on whether to wait til 6 months or if waiting that long causes the child to have some aversion to food so we decided to start them just shy of her 6 month appointment. Signs that she has been ready: she can easily sit up on her own in the high chair, she has been grabbing at our plates/drinks for months, and acting more hungry.

Since getting pregnant I may have become super/ultra crazy vigilant about watching for additives/unsafe things in stuff we eat/drink/and put on our skin. I swore off most artificial sweeteners, avoided certain things in facial cleanser/makeup. After my pregnancy I really started thinking...if those things weren't good for me while pregnant....then they really probably aren't good for me. Sorry I'm rambling. So obviously with my precious daughters arrival this has continued and I have been very aware of the things I eat, put on her skin and now plan to feed her. When I started doing research on rice cereal I just decided that most commercial rice cereals had very little nutritional value to offer my daughter..typically cause most children to have constipation so I knew it wasn't going to be the first food I wanted to offer our daughter. I threw around trying avocados first but was afraid it might be too much of a drastic taste change for her so I decided on oatmeal. I mixed it with breast milk and she was in love...I have a whole other post coming on introducing solids but have to find the time between working full time, spending every minute I have with my precious daughter and searching for a nanny (it is proving to be horrific for us so far). If only I could just get paid to blog and make bows:) Wouldn't that be heavenly. Anyways here is how I made the above cereals, so super easy...it is a little more work when I go to feed her because I have to cook it each time. Commercial cereals have been cooked and processed then placed in the box and that is why they don't have to be cooked. (eek!)

(Also make sure your oats are not quick oats but regular oats, organic if you prefer)

Bring your water to a boil. Whisk in your oatmeal powder. Whisk rather vigorously to prevent clumping. Then reduce heat and let simmer for about 5 min. Easy as that. Then add in breastmilk or formula to achieve the consistency that you want.

Brown Rice



1 cup water

1/4 cup brown rice powder (organic brown rice ground into powder with blender)

Bring water to boil and stir in brown rice powder. Then cover and let simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionaly.  Add breastmilk or formula for desired consistency.

Barley

1 cup water

1/4 cup barley powder (organic barley ground in blender into powder)

Bring water to boil. Whisk in barley and let simmer about 8-10 minutes. Add in your breastmilk or formula like above

Once you have started to add in fruits/vegetables these are great to mix with. When Isabella refused avocado adding in a little oatmeal defintiely helped. Just remember to use the "3-4 day wait rule"...only start one new food at a time and wait 3-4 days before introducing new foods watching for allergic reactions.

I usually boil the water and whisk then while it is simmering I nurse her so it is ready when we are. Works perfectly everytime.

So far my absolute favorite website has been Wholesome Baby Food....incredible and so helpful...another post to come on more things I have learned:) We are on our 4th food!   

Also, shockingly there are tons of strange color additives in children's medicines here are my favorite dye free, additive free options for little ones. Was just talking to one of my besties about this, this weekend and thought I would share.

Tylenol 1, 2

Motrin 1, 2

Vitamin D drops 1, 2, 3

Benadryl