My new favorite baby item

We always planned on making our own baby food for Madeline as we can't justify paying .89/jar for pureed foods when we can puree them up ourselves.  However, we did end up buying two 12 jar cases of an organic breakfast variety pack (apples, bananas, and pears) recently as we wanted to have some glass jars to refill using the food we make.  They were on sale at Babies R Us, and I had a coupon as well as a gift card.  That's my kind of shopping :)

Initially, I was planning on steaming the food and then blending it in the fancy BlendTec blender that Mat bought before she was born, a purchase which was partially justified by him promising to make YEARS of baby food in it.  However, my mom got us this baby food maker (which was on clearance at TJ Maxx), so I tried it out this week.  

                                        

It is AMAZING!  Although my previous process of steaming the foods on the stove and then blending them isn't too difficult, this little machine makes it significantly easier.  All you do is cut up the food you're cooking into chunks and fill the canister.  Then, there's a chart that tells you how much water to put into it based on the food you're cooking.  After that, you turn it on, and it will steam the food for the appropriate time based on the water level.  When it's done, it shuts off automatically, which is incredibly convenient for someone like me who is always doing 20 things at once because now I don't have to keep running back into the kitchen to see if the food is cooked yet.  To puree it, you simply drop the blade into the canister and turn the switch to puree (instead of steam).  15 seconds later, you have perfect baby food!  Not only is it very convenient but it reduces the number of dirty dishes as everything is done using the same canister.  It also has some neat additional features, such as you can steam heat milk and sterilize pacifiers.  It's not too big, so it easily fits on a shelf in the cabinet in between uses.  It's called the Kalorik Baby Gourmet, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a convenient way to make baby food!

In the end, Madeline was a big fan of the sweet potatoes that I made for her... 

Next on the list...carrots!