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"homemade baby food"
I’ve made this stock several times and I thought I’d share my recipe b/c it never fails. Husband, who is not Korean, says it reminds him of Chicken Long Rice, a Hawaiian dish. In my book, it is the perfect comfort food! and my lil ones eat it up!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED:
- 4-5 lb whole chicken (this will serve a family of 4 and you will have plenty of leftovers!)
- 1 whole onion
- 4-5 inch piece of peeled ginger
- 10-15 garlic
- 3 green onion
- 4-5 hours!
HOW TO:
1. Rinse your chicken thoroughly. Throw away the giblets. Trim all the excess visible fat and cut off the bum tip. I also like to remove some of the skin to reduce having to repeatedly skim off the fat later on.
2. You need a pot big enough that when the chicken is placed inside, the chicken is fully submerged with water like so. Now I’ve read on other sites that to reduce the fat/grease, you should boil the chicken once and dump the water. I’ve tried this once but I do feel that you lose some of the flavor this way.
So the choice is yours… retain the full flavor (go to step 3) or get rid of as much fat/grease as possible. If it’s the latter, this is what you will see.
Not a pretty sight, I agree. After it comes to a boil, dump the water, rinse the chicken, clean your pot, and submerge again in water.
3. Place your onions, ginger, garlic, green onions in the pot. This will really flavor your stock! Cover and let it come to a boil for approx 30 minutes. Stay nearby…otherwise you risk having the water boil over and creating a big ol’ mess 
Once it comes to a boil, lower your heat to about medium. Cook for another 45 minutes.
4. Remove all your veggies. and at this point, they will fall apart on you. It’s easiest to use a slotted ladle.
what your stock will look like. Yes, it is greasy! I just use a ladle and start skimming away. This step I do quite often b/c I’d like to get it as “clean” as poss.
5. After cooking the chicken for 2.5 hours from the start, remove your chicken. At this point, your chicken will also to start falling apart. I use a pair of tongs and slotted ladle.
your chicken will be SUPER moist and delish!
6. Once your chicken has cooled, you can shred it or cut it into pretty pieces to have later on with your jook (porridge).
7. Clean off the bones and you can add it back to your stock to make it milkier!
after 1.5 more hours of boiling with the bones!
THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!
1. Julienne veggies (onions, squash, potatoes) and make kalgooksoo!
2. Add rice to make jook (porridge). Soak your rice in water for 1 hour. Drain and add to stock. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. I’ve used orzo which husband loved! and I’m thinking of adding egg noodles next time.
ENJOY!
Thanks for stopping by! and have a great weekend!
big sis
Thanks to lil sis for showing me how to make these yummy lil things!
They’re super easy to make, you can add whatever veggies you’d like, and all 3 of my kids eat it up, especially baby girl!
Start with your veggies. Chop them finely.
Place just enough sesame oil to coat your pan and saute your veggies.
The goal is to get them soft.
I make small batches at a time. 1/2 cup of cookied rice + 1 tsp of sesame oil.
Add your sauteed veggies.
I throw in sesame seeds…for the crunch and texture.
Threw in an egg yolk b/c I had some in the frig.
Threw in some finely chopped up bulgogi for flavor! Doesn’t it look yummy already?! If you don’t have marinated beef to add flavor to the rice, you can always add a dash of soy sauce or crunch up some roasted seaweed.
Then roll them up firmly into small bite size balls.
Here’s a variation with the seaweed.
Enjoy!
big sis
Here’s a recipe I’ve made twice and baby has eaten it up. I started off with organic chicken breasts. With the first batch, I only used onions to flavor the chicken. This time around, I used onions, carrots, celery, and some garlic. Let’s get started.
Slice an onion and place them on the bottom of the crockpot. Rinse the breasts and place them on top.
Throw in the rest of the veggies.
Pour 1/4 cup of water (just b/c I always feel uneasy not having any liquid in the crockpot). Turn the heat to low and return 3-4 hours later (depending on your crockpot).
After the chicken cools, I start shredding away. Then with a knife, I chop the shredded pieces into tiny pieces and begin making lil pouches.
Although this part can be time consuming, it is well worth it. When I want to add chicken to baby’s meal, I just grab a lil pouch, pour the chicken into a bowl and let it defrost in the frig. I know that I will have exactly 2 meals worth of chicken for baby.
After making all the pouches, I place them in a freezer ziplock bag and put the bag in the freezer.
I was able to make this much for the baby and saved some shredded chicken to make chicken quesadillas for the big kids.
The chicken was full of flavor. This recipe is best to use when your baby can eat chunkier foods.
big sis
Green beans…not one of my favs nor my twins…but great to mix with other veggies/fruits.
Place a small amount of water in your steamer and turn the heat to medium.
Wash
Snap the ends of your green beans. You’ll want to discard the ones that are flimsy and don’t snap.
Once the water comes to a boil, turn the heat down and start steaming your green beans. You’ll want to steam them until your fork can easily pierce them.
After they have cooled, puree them using the water you steamed them in. For Stage 1, you’ll want to strain them (like so) b/c the skins can be tough.
green beans that haven’t been strained
Here’s a combo my baby likes:
green beans, brown rice, millet, chicken
I will show you how I make my baby’s chicken in another post. Super easy and it’s all done in the crockpot! I stayed away from making chicken with the twins because after making 1 batch (I pureed the cooked chicken and froze it), I got soooo grossed out! It tasted really grainy so I stopped feeding it to them. haha! as if they would have known the difference! My new method is so much better! Granted, it takes a lil bit more work but you’ll have a tasty batch to last you for awhile.
big sis
One of my struggles with making homemade baby food is figuring out what foods taste yummy together. I do a search almost daily on what combos to to put together for my baby’s meals. So after a few days of my own experimenting with some combos, I put together a chart of yummy baby food combinations! YAY! Click on the image to download.
Enjoy! Hope this comes in handy. And do share what combos your baby likes
big sis
Thanks, Christine, for the question.
First off, please note…this is my own opinion. You need to do what is best for your baby. The info here is based on my own beliefs and things I have learned from my lactation consultant and children’s pediatrician. I am in no way an expert on this matter.
How often do you feed baby when starting solids?
Nursing/formula should be the main meal for a baby for the 1st year. Solids are secondary and some believe that solids are just “practice” for the future (after they turn 1). I fall somewhere in the middle so although I may start at 6 months I progress very slowly.
I start with 1 teaspoon of food and thin it with lots of breastmilk (almost like soup). And I do this for almost a week. What?! Like I said, I start slow. Then the second week, I make it slightly thicker but still runny. I will slowly make it thicker each week. One meal a day, no snacks and I always nurse an hour before I feed her. And I offer her a nursing session after the meal…just in case.
At 7 months or so, while still maintaining stage 1-2 consistency, I move to 2 meals a day.
3 meals a day starts at month 9-10, per my lactation consultant’s suggestion. This way the focus is always on breastmilk/formula as the primary source of food.
Currently, with my baby (9.5 months), we are at 2 meals a day with 1 snack. I plan to start the 3rd meal in a few weeks. And by the end of her 1st year, she will be on 3 meals a day with 1-2 small snacks. This schedule works for me and my baby.
How much?
That is a tough question. Some people believe that you feed to the point where the baby refuses. As mentioned above, others believe that solids is a time to practice, not necessarily for nutritional value. Again, I fall in between. I start off with slow amounts and work my way up. It is definitely hard when I give my daughter what I deem as “just enough” and she cries when I sign “all done”. She is a very good eater and has not refused one thing. But again, I always make sure that nursing is the priority. If you are starting out and unsure of the amount, I would recommend starting with 1 teaspoon (because baby’s tummies are small) and work your way up to 1 ounce/1 cube. Watch your baby’s cues. Believe me, he/she will let you know if he/she has not had enough. On the other hand, if you feel like your baby is not nursing as much or not finishing the bottle, I would recommend decreasing the amount of solids given.
Most importantly, have fun with it! I love introducing new foods to my baby and love it even more when she enjoys it! I don’t think this feeling of excitement ever stops. I love when my 6-year-old twins enjoy the meals I make and I especially love when they compliment my cooking. I am not a natural in the kitchen by any means so it makes me super happy when they finish their meals
big sis
Brown Rice. Check
Millet. Check
Barley. Check
Food Processor. Check.
Although my bullet comes equipped with a separate blade to grind grains, I chose to use my food processor especially because I wanted to go to town and grind enough to last me a bit!
Super Baby Food recommends grinding for about 2 minutes, which I concur. I stopped when the grains looked powdery
but you can tell from this picture that it wasn’t long enough.
I saved each in my recycled baby food jars (I am not against buying at all, esp when traveling. SO glad I saved these) and they are now in my frig waiting to be used!
Let’s start with the brown rice/millet combo.
Boil 1 cup of water.
I measured out 2.5 Tablespoons of brown rice powder and 1 Tablespoon of millet powder. Pour slowly and continuously whisk.
Once the powder has dissolved, turn the heat to low, put the cover on, and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Whisk it periodically. Otherwise, your rice will stick to the bottom of the pot.
This is the thickness mine turned out to be using the above measurements. My baby is probably eating closer to the stage 3 food consistency (although I can’t be sure since I haven’t purchased a stage 3 jar yet) so I made my porridge thick. It worked out just fine because I still pump every few days (for these kinds of situations) and always have a supply of expressed breastmilk in my frig. This batch (using the above measurements. not the one pictured) lasted me 3 days. Of course, with each porridge meal, I add lots of veggies/fruits/combo. She totally eats it up! ugh! Why did I buy? I should have just made it myself! Thanks for the encouragement, lil sis! I made a brown rice/barley combo and had some myself and it totally tastes like jook (Korean for porridge and made when one is not feeling well).
I am so blessed to have 2.5 (out of 3) good eaters! My older daughter can be a bit picky at times but will always try new foods. My son eats EVERYTHING and baby #3 seems to be taking after him. I plan on starting her on broccoli tomorrow and then ground lentils. I will let you know how she does with beans. I’m a bean lover myself so I’m hoping she loves it!
big sis
Why, oh why, do they grow so fast?! There’s no stopping this lil one. She’s got places to go, people to see, a brother and sister to chase. She melts my heart. She can do no wrong. All because she is my last one, I’m sure.
Sorry for the lack of homemade baby food posts. I’ve been mashing, mixing, and combining all sorts of veggies + fruits. I was using Earth’s Best Organic Cereals but lil sis convinced me to make my own. Grains + beans have been purchased. Just waiting to grind them up this weekend. Pictures of my homemade super baby porridge (coined by the Super Baby Food Book) next week!
big sis
With the twins, I purchased Trader Joe’s pre-cut squash in a bag and steamed those. But I had a few mishaps and got a lil turned off by them so decided this time around to just buy them whole. They are a bit tricky because they are TOUGH to cut into!
Preheat your oven to 375.
I started with 2 acorn squash and washed them.
Because they are tough to cut into, you want to make sure to slice the bottom so that they will sit upright. This will definitely make it easier to cut into the squash without it rolling around.
Scoop out the seeds with a spoon.
Place them down on a cookie sheet like so…
You want to a add some water…just enough so that the water touches the bottom of the each piece. I found it easier to place the cookie sheet in the oven prior to pouring the water in.
Bake them for about40-45 minutes. Again, your fork should be able to easily pierce the meaty part of the squash.
If you water left in your cookie sheet, you can use that for thinning. For stage 1, I would definitely puree it because they can be “stringy” but if you are introducing your baby to a bit more texture, you can just scoop them out and mash it.
2 medium sized squash yielded approximately 28 ounces of mashed Stage 2 baby food.
I’m starting the baby on tofu this week and can’t wait to see her reaction! Again, my twins LOVED tofu and they still do! Between the 3 of us, we can finish 1 container in 1 meal!
big sis
Zucchinis are great for babies! They make great thinners if you want to combine them with another food that needs thinning. On the flip side, once you freeze them and then thaw them out, they can be really watery.
I placed a small amount of water in the bottom of my steamer and turned the [...]
Zucchinis are great for babies! They make great thinners if you want to combine them with another food that needs thinning. On the flip side, once you freeze them and then thaw them out, they can be really watery.
I placed a small amount of water in the bottom of my steamer and turned the heat to medium. Again, because zucchinis have lots of water in them, you won’t need much water for thinning.
I started with 1.5 lbs.
Washed, peeled, and cut them. Once the water started to boil, I turned down the heat to a simmer and started steaming away.
I steamed them for about 10-15 minutes…just until my fork could easily pierce through. Puree using the water you steamed them in. Be sure to use just enough to help the blade puree. Otherwise you’ll find that they will be way too watery.
1.5 lbs yielded approximately 25 ounces of pureed Stage 1 baby food.
The baby and I are moving on to Stage 2 foods which means I’m basically steaming and mashing vs. pureeing. You see how easy making baby food is?! But before I move on, I will show you how to make squash. I’ve made butternut and acorn and so far, baby is loving both!
Next on the list: acorn squash
big sis
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