Homemade Baby Food ~ Sweet Potato and Carrot Purees

Lindsey was getting low on her homemade baby food, so it was time to whip up another batch! This time I made two single ingredient purees, carrots and sweet potato (I still had half the large sweet potato from when I made her cauliflower sweet potato puree a few days ago).

I had a large bag of organic baby carrots and threw about half the bag in the steamer basket in a large pot and let that go for 15 minutes until they were tender. At first I tried using my wand blender, but there were still a lot of chunks I was missing (and that thing likes to "spit" food back at me!) so I scooped everything into the Vitamix blender and gave that a whirl instead. I added about 1/4 cup of water to get the consistency I wanted. Fairly thick, but smooth. That gave me 7 2-oz containers of food to put up. The half sweet potato gave me 7 1-oz cubes.

I still want to make applesauce, peas, and green beans soon as well. We're still working through the rest of the jarred baby food we bought over the past couple months which is mostly fruit so I haven't really needed to prep any of those for her yet. I also don't want to make TOO much and have a freezer full of baby food - I want to make sure things don't get left in there for too long and try to make sure things are eaten within 1 month of preparation tops. I think I can probably cook about two times a week and do that. We'll see how it all comes together!

I've been reading some recipes that are more "real" food - baby omelets, stews, etc. Lindsey is 2 weeks away from 8 months and I think we'll start moving more in that direction pretty soon. I need to get the hang of baby food prep first though! :)

There are numerous cooking methods you can use - I opted for the steamer basket since it seemed easiest for multiple types of food.

Carrots being blended with the wand blender, still pretty "chunky".

 

Carrots after being whipped around in the Vitamix - nice and smooth!

Sweet potatoes ready to freeze.

Homemade Carrot Puree

Ingredients
~ 1 lbs of organic baby carrots (or peeled carrots, diced)

Directions

1. Set a steamer basket with enough water to reach the base of the steamer into a large pot. Turn heat to high.
2. When water boils, add carrots.
3. Steam for about 15 minutes or until very tender.
4. Transfer to a food processor or blender; process until puree reaches desired consistency. Add cooking liquid or water to thin to desired thickness.
5. Store for up to 2 days in the refrigerator, or freeze for up to 3 months.

Homemade Sweet Potato Puree

Ingredients
1 - 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

Directions

1. Set a steamer basket with enough water to reach the base of the steamer into a large pot. Turn heat to high.
2. When water boils, add diced sweet potato.
3. Steam for about 15 minutes or until very tender.
4. Transfer to a food processor or blender; process until puree reaches desired consistency. Add cooking liquid or water to thin to desired thickness.
5. Store for up to 2 days in the refrigerator, or freeze for up to 3 months.

My little punkin head - just "chilling" at her Nana and Papa's last weekend.