Make any veggie yummy

While I have been trying to introduce as many vegetables to the little man as possible, he has, at an early age, established a distinct palate. Anything orange - sweet potato, butternut squash and carrots are a fav. I found when other vegetables are not up to his taste (cauliflower, broccoli, peas) if I had one of the former, it makes everything delicious and packs extra nutrients into his purees. I always do a large batch of sweet potatoes and carrots to freeze into cubes to throw into something at a moments notice. I add butter for extra fat and low sodium chicken broth to flavor the purees and give them a smoother consistency.

My favorite meal

Because we skipped rice cereal (which is fortified with iron), it was important to introduce meat early. The little man's first meat was chicken thigh, which I introduced at about 7 months. I found a great recipe in the book "Top 100 Baby Purees" by Annabel Karmel - it includes sweet potato and apple to increase the flavor and he ate it up. A lot of the mom's in my "mom's group" had trouble getting their little ones to eat meat but this recipe seemed to win a lot of them over. The below recipe has become a staple and I have done several variations, adding rice, substituting carrots for sweet potato, pears for apple, etc. When they are older, it is still a hit but with no puree-ing required.

Note - b/c I often cook once a week and freeze the majority of the food, I don't often list amounts for ingredients. It all depends on how much you want to make and often it is easy to eyeball the correct amount.

Butter
Onion
Chicken thighs - chopped
Sweet potato - peeled and chopped
Apple - peeled and chopped
Chicken stock - low sodium or half/half CS and water

Saute onion in butter, add chicken to saute for a few additional minutes until it looks opaque. Add sweet potato and apple and cover with chicken stock. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through and sweet potato and apple are soft. Puree.

First bites

Being a mom of a preemie, I am constantly worried that the little guy is getting enough milk, food, calories. Our Dr. wasn't a fan of rice cereal so we decided to jump right into the fruits and veggies for baby's first food. For its creamy texture and high fat content, we chose avocado for his first taste. He couldn't get enough of it - I blended it with some BM and he took right to it. The next week, we moved on to sweet potatoes, steamed and mixed with BM. I read that steamed was he best way to prepare baby foods as it maintains the nutrients.