I've bee making Sunny's baby food since she started solids at 4 months old. It's just recently that I've started adding spices and allowing the consistency to be slightly firmer and less mushy, stage 2.

Sunny has never had commercial baby food, and I'm proud of that. There is, of course, nothing wrong with commercial baby food, in fact its great from what I hear.  However when I was pregnant with Sunny I had a vision of the kind of mother I wanted to be, and believe it or not homemade baby food was a part of that vision. 

I figured that since I would be a working mother I could still be home in spirit giving her organic homemade/mommy made food, a little Mama at home, even if technically I wasn't.  It's challenging & can be pretty time consuming, I put a lot of thought into her menus and I enjoy shopping for her fruits and veggies. I don't add sugar, honey, or milk. I do add formula or breast milk, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, and oregano. I would like to start adding mint leaves to her peas, cilantro to her avocado, and cream to her peaches when the time comes. I have hundreds of ideas and combinations I can't wait to try and use. So far Sunny enjoys everything. She is not picky, though she prefers peaches and pears to apricots and mango's. She loves zucchini and squash, peas and carrots, and sweet potato's. She adores brown rice, oatmeal, and barley. Sunny is a foodie, I suppose, a girl after my own heart.

I make her food in batches intended to last for about 3 weeks worth of feedings. If I had a larger freezer I would make two months worth in one afternoon. I'll add two basic veggie recipes here and our homemade barley recipe.

BEETS:

2 Small Beets

3 cups of water

Freshly grated ginger

Bring water to a boil. Add beets. Cook for about 45 minutes or until tender. Puree beets to a soft mush and a dash of cinnamon. Serve.

ZUCCHINI & SQUASH WITH OREGANO AND GARLIC:

2 small zucchinis

2 small yellow squash

1 cup of water

1 teaspoon of oregano

1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder

Peel zucchini and squash. Cut into small pieces. Bring water to a bowl ( I use a double cooker) add sliced zucchini and squash. Steam until tender, about 5 minutes. Use food processor to blend the steamed zucchini and squash into a fine mush. Add oregano and garlic. If mixture is a bit thick add cooking water, breast milk, or formula. Taste and serve.

SUPER BARLEY

1/4 ground pearl barley

1 cup of water

1 hard boiled egg

1/2 teaspoon of salted butter

Grind pearl barley in food processor or blender until it's a fine powder, usually about 2 minutes. In the meantime heat water on stove top to boil. Add ground barley to the boiling water and turn down heat. Whisk constantly for about 10 minutes or until barley and water become one. Once complete you can now add the egg yolk and butter. Serve!

I also just completed a batch of pears & nectarines with fresh ginger and cinnamon. It's good enough to eat, I should know because I just a had a few spoonfuls of it.

I think Sunny is going to be a chef one day. She loves to help me cook dinner.

She cries if I walk into the kitchen without her, and loves to "stir" her pot of peas.

I do not bake.

Correction I bake one cake. It's my "go-to" cake. It's delicious and refreshing, and one of the greatest things I've ever eaten.

I'd
love to pass this off as a family recipe but I come from a long line of
non bakers, we stick with the pros when it comes to baking. This one just happens
to be the Barefoot Contessa's recipe and it's worth every bite.

I made one over the weekend for our first BBQ ( more on that later). FYI
people are impressed when they see you pull it out off the fridge. It
gets a lot of oohs and ahhs, and you'll smile and act like it was
nothing; yep, no trouble at all!

Ingredients

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

For the filling for each cake:

• 1 cup (1/2 pint) heavy cream, chilled
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.Butter the bottom of two 8-inch cake pans. Then line them with parchment paper and butter and flour the lined pans.Cream
the butter and sugar on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer
fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. On medium
speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, then the sour cream, zests, and
vanilla, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix well. Sift together the
flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. On low speed, slowly add the
flour mixture to the butter mixture and combine just until smooth.

Pour
the batter evenly into the pans, smooth the tops, and bake in the
center of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out
clean. Let cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then remove to wire racks
and let cool to room temperature. If using 1 cake, wrap the second well
and freeze.To
make the filling for one cake, whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a
mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until firm. Slice one of the
cakes in half with a long, sharp knife. Place the bottom slice of the
cake on a serving platter, spread with 1/2 the whipped cream and
scatter with sliced strawberries.

Cover with the top slice of the cake
and spread with the remaining cream. Decorate with strawberries.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/strawberry-country-cake-recipe/index.html