squash cubes and treasure

The time has come once again for me to make baby food. Lyle has had a few tastes of some easy things- banana, avacado. You can just mash those up and give it to him. But I think he is ready for more, so I've started to make some purees for him to try out. He has had a bit of carrots, sweet potatoes, and now squash. He is still in the tasting stage, and doesn't actually consume a lot of food when we offer it, so the ice cube trays work perfectly for freezing the puree. This is butternut squash, and we also now have a stock of sweet potatoes and green beans in the freezer with these.



It's really quite an easy process, making baby food. Just cook the veggies, strain if necessary (for those with skins/shells like beans and peas), and puree in the blender. And the little cubes are so nice because I can thaw out just one right now and then when he starts eating more I can grab 2 or 3, and even give him options. I just pop them into a bowl and set it on the stove top between the burners while I am cooking dinner, or into the oven/toaster oven for a few minutes to get them thawed and take the chill off. You can also put them into a bag or bowl with a seal and stick them in some hot water for a few minutes. We don't use a microwave for our food, so you just have to allow a few extra minutes to prepare.

Here is a great site I refer to for questions about making baby food.



On a completely separate topic, I wanted to mention our Cousins Treasure Box! My sister and I are sending little treasures back and forth between the kids just for the sake of keeping the cousins in touch and pampering each other. I found this adorable little faux alligator case at the thrift shop and it slides into a Flat Rate box just like it was made for it. So we can load it down as heavily as we like with fun treats and surprises and it only costs $8.95 to ship. We have had one round so far and I think it is going to be something we will all enjoy for a long time! The kids were thrilled to open it up when it arrived back at our place this week- we got fabric and a game and a coloring/activity book and some fruit snacks and some soap and a book and some artwork by Ava... it was fabulous! The best part is that we are thinking about each other more often and the kids are getting involved in scouting for treasure to send to their cousin and aunt.