Let’s think for a moment about the thought of preparing baby food from scratch.  What things come to mind?  “I don’t have time”… “it’s way too complicated”… “how do I know if my baby will be getting all the proper nutrients?”…”I forgot to put those little mitts on my baby’s hands so he doesn’t scratch himself”… and so on.  

Initial intimidation is the reality of taking the leap into preparing baby’s meals at home, but with a little know how and taking a “one day at a time” approach, intimidation will cower to empowerment.

Almost 4 years have passed since taking my initial step towards creating a livelihood out of something that means the world to me…creating delicious homemade baby food and cracking the intimidation codes associated with it.

I’m a happily married, working mother of two wonderful boys, and at the time, in my 39th. year with that next big number looming.  Let’s not do the math to figure out my age now.

When I had my first son Eric, the closest I came to playing a chef was to throw on a chef’s hat and cheer “bon appétit” in the name of persuading him to eat his jar of peas.

My boys are exactly 10 years apart in age, which translates into 10yrs. of cultivating my love of fresh foods and overcoming the intimidation of preparing a nutritious meal from scratch.

I experimented with different baby food purees and concoctions and came to love and look forward to my meal preparation rituals.  I discovered that it’s not that intimidating or time consuming once you get a routine down and learn certain tips and tricks to save time.  Let’s not forget the $ savings…just imagine how many baby veggie meals you can get out of one bunch of $2 broccoli, compared to 1 or 2 jars of baby food.  The savings definitely translates into a nice pair of shoes…or a tool of some sort if you happen to be a Dad.

Although on occasion I feel as if I need more time and energy to enjoy all the things I love to do, I have many moments of zest for life brilliance that I attribute to eating basic fresh foods and getting some exercise.  When my youngest son came along I figured by nature babies and toddlers have the exercise thing worked out, so I wanted to provide him with the fresh food to fuel his energy and zest for life.

The idea of developing a baby food cook book began one beautiful summer day as my husband and I were lounging in the backyard while Carter was napping soundly.  Out of the blue, my husband said, ”you know what you should do…write a baby food cook book.”  Together we thought about the idea to determine if such a book would be of value to other parents and caregivers.  I recounted all that I’d learned over the past 21 months or so on baby food preparation and the information that I enthusiastically sought out every day on the subject.  Surely there had to be other time crunched, energy depleted, yet enthusiastic parents out there who wanted to learn about preparing homemade baby food without it monopolising every minute of the day.  I took a deep breath and a leap of faith, and so began the flow of recipe ideas, blog material and my journey from the birth to the completion of the book.

4 years ago I created the “To Do” list below and I’m happy to say I’m well on my way… 

  1. Write a baby food cook book and blog about the process.

  2. Navigate my way around starting and registering a small business to develop and sell baby goods and accessories required to make homemade baby food preparation unintimidating and fun.

  3. Keep my day job until this takes off to keep Mr. 21 month old in Cheerios and Mr. 11yr. old in stuff that 11yr. olds like.

  4. Get up at 6am. to exercise in the basement with my homemade workout VHS tapes before everyone in the house is up so I have enough energy and “zest for life” to get me through my day.

  5. Spend quality time with my wonderful, funny, inspiring and funny husband.

  6. Spend quality time with my wonderful, funny, inspiring and funny boys.

  7. Catch up with close friends.

  8. Work in my garden and read the Martha magazines I have under the coffee table that I think I read all the time but couldn’t possibly because there are 4 back dated issues there.

  9. Continue to make baby food and test new recipes.

  10. Maybe get a few hours of sleep each night.

I think I have a lot to share and a lot of realistic information and advice to offer fellow parents living in, but trying to get away from, this time of tight schedules and convenience foods.  I live it with my family and love them and the practice whole heartedly.

Thanks for stopping by.  Let’s do this!  Let’s get cooking!