eat your purees

i posted a while back about a very inspiring baby food book, and since i didn't have a project today i thought i would try a couple of recipes. i limited myself to one fruit mix (peaches, pears, and blueberries--yes, from the saturday blueberry picking!) and one veg mix (zucchini, sweet potato, and corn) because i didn't want to be doing this all day on my day "off." plus our freezer is tiny and is already packed with other stuff, so i'm restricted in the amount of space i have to work with!

here's how the veg mix started: (see the top picture for the fruit mix)

since most of my few readers don't have babies who need to eat their food this way, i won't bore you with the details of the process. but if you want the "recipe" or the measurements i used, just let me know.

here's how everything ended up:

look how much it made! i wish i could post a scratch and sniff place on the blog so you could share in the smell--it was heavenly cooking it, and i was tempted not to freeze it for rhys...i was tempted to try to make some sort of dessert next and eat all of it on top!


this is a LOT of days of fresh fruit that i don't have to buy or worry about now!

this is not very attractive... but i was amazed again by how much food you can make for a baby with just a few things. very cool.

and the whole process only took me 1 hour 45 minutes. not bad to save LOTS of money.

something i have been meaning to post on for a while now is a sun-dried tomato pesto recipe i made. i think it was about 2 weeks ago now. i used basil from my garden (hooray!)--two different kinds, green and purple. this recipe was so amazing that i ate it on sandwiches for a full week after the initial serving for dinner over pasta.

here's the recipe i used:

2 cups basil leaves
6 sun-dried tomatoes
3 tbsp. pine nuts, toasted in a skillet until light brown
1/3 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese
1/2 to 2/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

blend first 3 ingredients. then add oil. then stir in cheese by hand.

i would use even more oil than 2/3 cup next time, because i thought it wasn't quite oily enough for pesto. BUT i liked the consistency of it (more like a paste) for sandwiches. so maybe i will just have to make 2 batches.

and today i'm trying my hand at my own sun-dried tomatoes. i have had them out on top of the car in the sun all day (on a baking sheet covered with cheesecloth). i'll let you know how they turn out!