Helpful How-To: Baby Girl's Grub

If you could sit in on almost any conversation among me and my fellow mommy friends these days, you would hear a snippet about making your own baby food.

I know.  I know.

Right now, my sister is rolling her eyes at me so.freaking.hard.*

But it's true.

We also talk about things like knitting and the latest book on Oprah's book club list.

And minivans.

And soccer.

We are the EPITOME of stay at home mom's.

Or not.

But we do actually talk about making our own baby food.

Because it's so stinking cheap.

I discovered this about 2 months ago, when I started making Baby Girl's food.

And today, I will share my secrets with you.  

Stop rolling your eyes at me.

You may one day be interested in this stuff.

Really, I'm being generous.  

Plus, it's really hard to read this life changing stuff if you are rolling your eyes...

Anyway, soooooo yeah.

Last week, I bought a bag of dried split peas.

For $1.08.  (No, I did not buy organic.  According to all the research I read, peas are super resistant to pesticides due to the pods.)

When I got them home, I rinsed them, put them in the crockpot and covered them with filtered water.

4-5 hours later, they were ready.

If you have ever cooked split peas, you probably know that once cooked, there is little to no "water" left in the pot, it all turns into "pea soup".

And then, it's just a matter of dumping the gooey goop into the blender and blending until smooth.

10 minutes later, you have over 40 ounces of baby food on your hands.  

I know, I know.

So what do I do with all that baby food.  

I mean, girlfriend can eat, but 40 ounces is a bit much, even for her.

Enter: my favorite mommy contraption.  EVER

Credit

These ice cube trays are the best thing since sliced bread.

(Unless it's my sliced bread, which is perhaps the nastiest thing I have eaten since the apple curry incident in college - but that's a story for another day.)

Seriously.  They have silicone bottoms to help you pop the ice cubes out.

They have lids.

And each ice cube is 1 ounce.

EASY PEASY.

Freeze it.  Bag it.  Label it.

And MOVE ON.

Which is exactly what I did.

Next up, was my butternut squash.  

(Go ahead.  Say it.  Slightly phallic.  SLIGHTLY.  I know.  I noticed.  As did my husband.  I won't tell you what he said, but if you have a man in your life, you probably know.)

Also non-organic.  Also not necessary.

Bake at 350 for one hour then chop it up and throw it in the food processor with some water.

And 20 minutes later, you have 60 ounces of baby food.

Freeze it.  Bag it.  Label it.  

Now sit down, prop your feet up, and enjoy the knowledge that you just turned $6.50 worth of vegetables into 25+ jars of baby food.  

You can thank me later.