Day 210

And today…we cooked! Well, I cooked. Kensie made sure to add an extra challenge to the task.

I know what you’re thinking. That face? Difficult? Noooooo.

K is usually really good at playing by herself. She must have known I had my hands full because not only did she not want to play by herself she wanted me to hold her. We compromised. She sat in her chair on the table and we played “throw your sippy cup on the ground every 10 seconds and mommy picks it up and gives it back”.

I know what you’re thinking. “Don’t give it back to her. You’re creating a bad habit. Blah. Blah. Blah.” Well – she found it hilarious and it beat having to strap on the ergo baby or listening to her whine.

K finally went down for a nap so I could finish. Easy breezy from there, right? Ha!

To make my life even more entertaining, a guy came by to do a safety check for our gas tank for the jacuzzi this morning. Well that little gem of a human left the gate wideeee open. As I’m cooking I realize neither of the dogs have walked by the door in a while. I got to set a timer on the steaming veggies and hope I could find Jack and Lucy as they strolled around the neighborhood and coerce them back inside before it went off.

Excitement and all – I got it done!!!

It was so simple and kind of fun! I bought some fruits and veggies yesterday to prepare. I also ordered these ice cube trays from Amazon.

First step was prepping all the food to be steamed. Well, all of the food except the zuchinni because the package I bought YESTERDAY already had mold on it. 🙄

Everything got washed, peeled and chopped and it was go time.

And then…we steam!

I definitely learned a few things as I went! One of them being I needed a heck of a lot more breastmilk than I thought in some of the veggies and a lot less in others.

I used 8oz of milk in the carrots alone! I also added coconut oil to everything as I puréed it for some good fats! A friend of mine suggested it and I wasn’t sure if I needed it since I was blending with breastmilk as well. I did some research and sure enough – it is okay to do both! The coconut oil adds healthy fats that promote brain function and growth. It also sweetens the veggies so they taste better to the babe!

I added 1tbsp to the veggies and 1-2tsp to the fruits, depending on the amount of fruit. I only added milk to the veggies and apples, since they were thicker, and the rest of the fruits had a enough juice to not need the milk. I’ll use it on the bananas tomorrow as well. (Waiting on those so they don’t brown).

I googled the times for steaming each veggie/fruit and the time suggestions were spot on.

Fun tip for any other mommas looking to make food: you DO NOT need to add milk (or water or whatever you’re using) to yellow squash or zuchinni. The squash got pretty watery with just 2oz of milk. Since I did the zucchini later (after I went back to exchange it 🙄) I added nothing and it was still pretty thin.

Everything is in the fridge cooling tonight. I’m going to make oats and the bananas in the morning – then when the ice trays come tomorrow, I’ll make some fun mixtures and pop them in the freezer!

Alysia also told me about these awesome reusable pouches. You can pop out a frozen food cube, put it in the pouch and take it with you. When it melts, hand it to the babe and voila! They’re also simple to clean.

I’d say start to finish, including clean up, (if you don’t have to pick up a cup off the floor 20 times, put a baby down for a nap or chase your dogs around the neighborhood) it’s a 90 minute – 2 hour process. As far as money? Huge saver! I spent about $20 on everything and I think it will make at LEAST 60 servings. I’ll update you guys tomorrow once I mix the “meals”.