Food Fight

So, while Jeff was in Thailand a couple weeks back, I decided that I was tired of buying Jeremy baby food.  He has turned into a very persnickety eater, and I felt as if I were rinsing money down the drain every time I emptied out barely-eaten jars of many  kinds of food.

I figured that I could do just as well at home with a blender as I could paying for the jars.

Jeremy’s issues with food have multiple levels.  First, Jeremy is not a big fan of vegetables, particularly green ones, but some orange ones have always been on his spit list, too.  Second, anytime I tried to introduce any type of texture to him, he would visibly gag and then proceed to spit out any lumps that found their way into his mouth.  Third, although he likes fruit, if I tried to give him any fruits already mixed with cereal, he would gag and spit.  Fourth (and no judgments on this please!), he has absolutely zero interest in sippy cups, other than a fun thing with which to play and eventually throw on the floor.

Of course, I have never made my kids’ baby food before.  With Charlotte and Elijah, I bought jarred food until they moved to table food, and that was that.  I was becoming afraid that, if I did that with Jeremy, I would be buying jars until he was old enough for kindergarten.  As far as he’s concerned, if it’s not pureed, it’s not fit to go in his mouth.

In any case, the week before Jeremy turned one, I went to Walmart and bought a blender and many different varieties of frozen fruits and vegetables.  (I’m not yet motivated or desperate enough to buy fresh and prepare it that way.)  And since then, it’s been one big adventure after another.

We won’t dwell on the two times so far that I’ve put vegetables on the stove to boil and then left them there until all the water and, by extension, the nutrients, have boiled away.  In fact, I did this just today.  While the French tutor was here.  Leaving a lovely scorched smell throughout the house.  Poor Agathe asked Charlotte, “Is there a problem with whatever is on the stove?” 

“She even switched to English to ask me, Mom!”  Charlotte said.

We also probably shouldn’t dwell on the combinations of vegetables I’ve tried.  (Brussel sprouts and broccoli, anyone?  How about broccoli, cauliflower, peas, and carrots…all mixed together?)

I’ve done much better with the fruit, since much frozen fruit is premixed, and I usually have fresh bananas around to toss in.  Someone at our home school co-op last Friday made the brilliant suggestion to toss some spinach leaves in with the fruit, which doesn’t affect the flavor, only the color.  That’s worked marvelously.

Partially because of my vegetable debacles, I’ve started blending up our meals for Jeremy.  So far, I’ve had good luck with chicken pot pie and rosemary chicken with potatoes.  I just toss some in the blender, add milk, and end up with pureed Wilkes supper.  We’re having quiche tonight…wonder how that would work?

But today, after I scrapped the scorched vegetables, I boiled up another pot of peas and carrots and blended it with the water in which I cooked it.  And I scored a major food victory!  After gagging on the first bite, Jeremy proceeded to eat a big bowl of it!

Score!

Next battle…transitioning to a cup!