Homemade Baby Food

OK - so I don't breastfeed for any longer than 6 months tops. The newest addition didn't even get that.

BUT I do make homemade baby food. Can we say easy??? If you consider the cost per jar of baby food this really will save you some money (which I am wasting on formula). Not too mention there are no preservatives and you know exactly what you are feeding the baby.

Equipment:
Ice cube trays for easy storage
Food processor if you don't have one go and get a moulis, or a hand held blender
Then you need a stacked steamer or a collapsible steamer

Today, I was a busy mommy - Christmas decorations are gone and I got quite bit of baby food made and frozen.

Green Beans
Carrots
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Zucchini
Parsnips (sound yucky but rather good mixed with carrots)

I make these the same way. Prepare them and throw them into that steamer for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Then transfer to food processor, add some of the cooking water to get to a nice runny texture suitable for your baby. Save some to use now - put the rest in the ice cube trays - VOILA! Baby food.

Butternut Squash or Sweet Potatoes ( I had saved some of the cooking water from the carrots and green beans to add to the food processor)

Cut the squash in half - brush with melted butter cover with foil bake 1 hour @350. Transfer to food processor and freeze in trays.

Bake sweet potatoes @400 for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Peel, toss in the food processor, and freeze.

Once they have frozen in the tray - pop them out into labeled freezer bags - thaw and heat in the microwave or on the stove. DELICIOUS!

FRUITS
Apples
Pears
Peach
Mango
Plum

Now these you don't steam. You place the pieces of the peeled and cored fruit into a heavy saucepan with 1-2 Tblsp of water. Cover and cook over low for 10 minutes (apples) to 4 minutes (pears).

Blend in the food processor and freeze. Make sure the fruit is ripe and juicy!

You can use a banana, avacados, papaya, or melon - just make sure it is ripe. These fruits are not suitable for freezing and don't need to be cooked.

This is so easy friends! My babies all get so excited to eat. I'm also happy to report that they are not picky eaters now (almost 6 and 4).

So good luck! I promise it is worth the time!

**The fruits are yummy mixed with rice cereal**

**You can make a potato puree just don't use the food processor it makes the potatoes really starchy and gooey.

Christmas and New Year's

Christmas is over…aaaaahhhhh. Don’t get me wrong – I love Christmas, it is my favorite holiday. The season itself is what wears me out. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s we have 5 birthdays in addition to Christmas.

Christmas in Short
1. I worked – ugh having to flip your sleep schedule around for Christmas stinks!
2. In-laws were here. That was awesome – see #1 – no stress
3. SNOW – IT WAS GREAT!!! White Christmas – other than getting stuck leaving church and it taking an hour to get to my mom’s it was pretty cool.
4. Baby Girl turned 4 (on the 27th). She turned the corner this year and finally didn’t get sick of opening presents.
5. The scooters Santa ordered online in the 11th hour made it and they were a huge hit
6. The Leapsters that Santa ordered were also a big hit
7. My carpet now has scooter ruts in it ☹ I had to let them play with them though…right? We still have snow on the ground – in fact it’s snowing again.
8. Chris and I had to go to 4 stores on Saturday the 26th to get the perfect tea set for the bday girl and return half of the Leapster games my siblings bought them. Lucky for us, no store was busy (see #3).

Goals for 2010 – I work tomorrow night and New Year’s Eve so I better get this in print NOW!
1. I will lose the baby weight and the nursing school weight in time for 2 of my closest friends weddings. I have til April.
2. I will keep making the baby’s food. He loves it! How could I deny him?
3. My blog, I will contribute to myself consistently.
4. Frugal…I will get a printer cartridge, print coupons and SAVE $$$ (so perhaps I can convince hubbie that a #4 and me working part-time would be super cool).
5. We will take the older 2 kiddos to WDW in June.

I have so many more – but whoa crazy don’t get ahead of yourself…..


NOW WISHING YOU AND YOURS NOTHING BUT LOVE, PEACE, AND HAPPINESS IN 2010! I sense it is going to be a great year!

COLEMAN $25 GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY

CONTEST DEADLINE EXTENDED!!!!!! Due to the holidays - poor planning by me!CONTEST WILL END DECEMBER 30th!!!!







Twitter Contest

Every day for 50 days Coleman is giving away a $25 gift card to one lucky follower! To enter, all you have to do is:


1) Go to http://twitter.com/ColemanCampfire - Follow @ColemanCampfire on Twitter
2) Tweet your answer to this question, "What would you buy this holiday season at Coleman.com and why?" Make sure you put @ColemanCampfire in your tweet to qualify!


Misadventures Of Mom Of 3 Giveaway

Readers also have an additional chance to win a $25 gift card here! To enter to win here, the format is much the same.
1) Follow @ColemanCampfire on Twitter
2) Leave me a comment here answering the question "What would you buy this holiday season at Coleman.com and why?" <--- this is your entry comment For additional entries:
~ Follow me (join this site with Google Friend Connect)
~ Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
~ Follow me on Twitter and Tweet this giveaway Win a $25 GC to Coleman.com

By TwitterButtons.com
Also check out the Twitter contest @ColemanCampfire ($25 GC a day!) (RT 1x per day)

THIS GIVEAWAY WILL CLOSE ON DECEMBER 30 - WINNER TO BE NOTIFIED VIA EMAIL. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR PROFILE IS PUBLIC OR LEAVE ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS SO YOU CAN BE CONTACTED IF YOU WIN. THE WINNER WILL BE SELECTED AT RANDOM BY RANDOM.ORG

Cheap Cookie Cutters

I have a confession - I'm a holiday baker.

Breads, dog treats, candies, and OF COURSE COOKIES!!!!


I was sent these cookie cutters to test and review from CHEAP COOKIE CUTTERS. I was sent a set of Christmas Cookie Cutters - an angel, candy cane, snowflake, and Christmas tree.

Christmas Cookie Cutters

The cookie cutters were easy to use - very sharp (which is awesome not having to press with a ton of force for all 5 dozen cookies). The sharp edges also meant the cookies retained their shape when baking:


THE FINAL PRODUCT DECORATIONS BY THE KIDDOS


The cookie cutters also went thru the dishwasher really well. I hate hand washing!

There are a variety of shapes to select from. Did I mention I make homemade dog treats?! Well, Cheap Cookie Cutters also has a selection of dog shaped cutters!

Dog Shaped Cookie Cutters

They also have dog bone shapes:

Dog Bone Cutters

I'm excited by the endless opportunities like action heros, Spiderman, Star Wars, Nativity sets, alphabets, numbers, babies, professions (there was a gavel - haha!) and many more. If you don't find one you like - get this - you can even custom design your own cookie cutters!!! And the best part - you get a great quality product at a very reasonable price.

12 Days Of Whataburger

Here is a link for the 12 Days Of Whataburger....

Free coupon every other days between now and Christmas Eve. It could be a shake, fries, or even a whataburger.

The microwave of goo....

So, Fridays after I have recovered from my work week and I only have 2 out of 3 kiddos home. I clean the house. Nothing glamorous for me! Just hours and hours of scrubbing. Ugh. Just the thought makes me want to cry. Oh to be rich and famous and have someone clean every week.

The pre-clean clean for me is the hardest. Putting away all of the junk that makes it out while I am working. You wouldn't think that the poor husband only has the kiddos for several hours the 3 nights I am gone!

But the house was sparkling on Friday when the husband came home. Dinner was on the table - truly felt like Bonnie Homemaker :) Oh and all the Christmas decorations were up. So proud.

Made Chili on Saturday for football watching. My microwave hates me now. I left for several hours on Sunday afternoon for some much needed mommy time. I came home and the husband had fed the children chili. It was all over the microwave. Caked would be an appropriate term. Let me share my secret for not scrubbing for hours....

Take a bowl of water with some dishwashing liquid or vinegar in it. Microwave on high for 4 minutes.

Using a damp rag wipe up your microwave! It comes clean and removes the foul odor!