Hello world!  I’ve missed blogging quite a bit, but with my growing business, and, last year, with my growing belly, I couldn’t carve out the time.  Now, Giovanni (pronounced Joe-vahn-ee the Italian way) is close to 5 months old changing every day.

A few weeks ago, our pediatrician gave us the green light to start him on solid foods.  We’ve fed him low allergy, stage 1 foods first like apples, bananas, avocado, and cereals waiting 3 days in between the introduction of each new food.

I’ve found the Baby Bullet and Turbo Steamer to make my job easy as I make most everything except his prunes and cereals from scratch.  For any food you make, the Turbo Steamer book will indicate what setting to use 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 and how much water to add.  After cooking using the Turbo Steamer, you then puree the fruits or veggies using the Baby Bullet.  The Turbo Steamer also works for hard-boiled eggs, which we used this Easter.

The Baby Bullet user manual and cookbook is easy to follow and instructs you exactly how to process your food.  You can also use the Baby Bullet to mill grains and puree meats and other foods as your young one grows.

To keep track of his consumption, we use this Giovanni menu template I’ve created.

Giovanni’s current menu is:

Breakfast (typically 6:30 am)

4 ounce Stage 1 Happy Baby Formula with pear puree and mixing cereal (this is my own half and half combination of rice cereal with milled oatmeal as I find that too much rice cereal constipates Giovanni)

AM Snack (typically 9 am)

5-6 ounces formula with a touch of Plum Organics prune mixed with corn and tapioca cereal from Organic Start or other resellers; I’ve tried both HIPP and Holle brands*

Lunch (typically 12 pm)

2 ounces formula with squash, green beans, and apples blended with my mixing cereal

PM Snack (typically 3 pm)

Same as AM Snack except I give him pureed avocado instead of prunes

Dinner (typically 5:30 pm)

2 ounces formula with pea puree (we mix 1/3 peas, 1/3 squash, and 1/3 potato as he did not like the pea puree straight), carrots, and apples blended with mixing cereal

Pre-Bath Snack (typically 6:45 pm)

2-4 ounces formula

Since starting solid foods, it’s been wonderful to see Giovanni’s joy (or disgust) as he tries new foods.  Having a menu and resources helps me to plan my grocery shopping and space out the introduction of new foods.  Regardless of what I cook though, it’s not going to keep him from putting everything else in his mouth.

*European brands like HIPP and Holle are not FDA approved so the brands cannot sell directly in the US and can only sell through third-party resellers.  We do not have our pediatrician’s clearance on using these brands versus US brands.  Ultimately, what food you feed your little one is your decision to make.  I am not a doctor nor claim to be an expert.