mommy-made baby food

i've been making racrac's food for about 2 weeks now. we started him with rice cereal when he was 5 1/2 months old and a couple of weeks later gave him commercially-prepared pureed vegetables and fruits. one time when i was about to give him his first serving of squash, i read the Gerber jar and the ingredients were simply squash and water so i thought "hmmm, that's easy...why can't i just cook it myself?"

from the farmer's market

to frozen baby food, good for 1 meal per container

since then we have been going to Sunday farmers' market to buy organic veggies and fruits and here's how i prepare them:

carrots - peel, cut into small chunks, steam until soft then place in blender to puree. i add a little water to smoothen the consistency.

green beans - snap the ends off the beans and wash them, steam until very tender, puree using blender and add any left over water for thinning out the beans.

butternut squash - cut the squash in half, scoop out seeds, place an inch of water in a baking pan then place squash halves "face" down, bake in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes or until the skin puckers and halves feel soft then scoop squash “meat” out of the shell. Place squash "meat" in the blender for pureeing and add water as necessary to achieve a smooth, thin consistency.

sweet potatoes/white potatoes - wash and poke holes in sweet potato with fork, wash again 'coz the water that will go through the walls will help cook them, wrap sweet potatoes in tin foil, place in a 400 degree oven and bake for 30-60 minutes or until soft, place in blender and puree. add water to smoothen consistency.

banana - very easy! peel banana, throw into the blender and puree.


i put them in small containers, each container enough for one meal, and freeze. i usually serve them with rice cereal and milk. racrac loves it! sulit ang pagod ng mommy! :-)

i still give him some Gerber products, though, to expand his solid food repertoire. he just turned 7 months last week and i'm very careful about what i feed him 'coz i don't want him to choke or something. alam nyo naman, first time mom so medyo takot pa...

my upgraded yellow kitchen!

Our contractor agreed to work with us for one more week after his Vegas project was canceled at the last minute so on the day his team demolished our bath, we gave him the go-signal to include the kitchen. Ours is a 2-way galley kitchen which measures about 9x11 feet so a week would be enough to do a face-lift.

Since we didn't prepare for it, Fil and i made the purchases from various suppliers in a rush without a concrete design plan. Nevertheless, i was pleased with what i saw when we went home last Friday 'coz all the materials put together created the dainty cheerful fresh and clean casual-style kitchen i've always wanted. I especially love the granite countertop, bamboo floor, the whisper quiet kitchenaid dishwasher, spacious refrigerator, the ceramic smoothtop electric range with convection settings and the yellow wall paint (we used BEHR wildflower honey) which provided a charming backdrop to the white cabinets which we got from IKEA.
Like most things IKEA, they're cheap but look really pretty and neat.

Too bad i wasn't able to take pictures of my old bland trapped-in-the-70s kitchen but here are the first photos of my new spiced-up favorite part of the house. It will get even spicier once i start bringing in the accessories and small appliances. Cook? Who, me?! Am i supposed to cook here? hahaha. Hmmm... Cooking and baking are not really my best skills but this updated kitchen and food blog will surely force me to give it a try.  Abangan!