Sweet Potato Baby Food

I might have ruined my daughter. I tried to use a jar of Gerber applesauce and rice cereal the other day. Gwennan wouldn't eat it. She never refuses food. In fact, she tries to eat everything we have on hand, including coffee. But she wanted nothing to do with that jar of baby food. My guess - it was really sweet, like candy sweet. She's never had anything like that. If I'm going to ruin her on food, there are worse things than teaching her to like the unsweet, fresh stuff.

I make all of G's baby food from scratch. I suppose the class I took on food borne illnesses in grad school has something to do with wanting to know the exact ingredients in her food (Did you know that formula from China can contain plastic as a key ingredient?!). However, I'm not here to argue the use of homemade versus store bought baby food. Your kid - your decision. But if you're interested, here's how I made sweet potatoes into baby food. This would work for most other vegetables also.

1. Peel and cut up sweet potatoes (one is sufficient for plenty of baby food).
2. Place in a pot and cover with water. Boil water, then simmer until the potatoes are soft.
3. Blend potatoes until consistency is appropriate for child's age (use the water they were cooked in to thin).
4. Spoon into ice cube trays and freeze to be used later. Each ice cube tray holds about a tablespoon. My skinny mini eats two tablespoons of baby food two times a day.

All in all, for 20+ servings of baby food it cost me $1.20 and 30 minutes (not counting the time it took to cook the potatoes when I was doing something else).