I wonder why
people find a marked difference in their mood getting up and at ‘em on a Friday
morning compared to any other day of the week?
If you’re a nine to fiver, essentially you’re in for the same music
(because the buzz is just too startling) wake up call, same morning grooming
routine, same drive in to the office and same workload to accomplish while
there. Can it really just be the dress
down Friday blue jeans causing the extra skip in our step? I suppose the obvious answer is that the work
week is almost over and we’ll be presented with a get out of jail free card,
or better known as a weekend. And by weekend
I mean 2 work free days, or 2 days filled with grocery shopping, house
cleaning, laundry, hockey practices, blog writing, dog walking, or…work. And still our days are laced with feelings of
joy on Friday. Baffling.
Imagine how
happy everyone could be if we played a little psychological game on ourselves of
“today is Friday” every day of the week?
We could trick ourselves in to thinking that every day is Friday and
suddenly the abominable daily work task requests and mind numbing stints in traffic
would roll off us like something that rolls off something else really
fast. “You need these 53 things in the
next hour? Sure, why not.” It’s FRIDAY!!!!! “Cars, you can stop and go in front of me hindering
any hope of movement over 20 km/hr. all you want because I’m cool as a cucumber
sitting here listening to my “ready, set, weekend”(Eddie Rabbit) mix. I have nothin’ but time.” Ya, I think it’s a good idea. Let’s pretend every day is Friday.
Now if you’re
a mom or dad at home with a baby 24/7, you should play a game of “let’s pretend
that every day I’ve gotten 8 hrs. of un-interrupted sleep”. Not sure if your sleep deprived souls would
allow for that kind of trickery though.
Even sleep
deprived souls can thrive in the master chef baby food kitchen. If you really want to try your hand at making
your baby’s food at home, here are a few tools of the trade to help you get
started…
·
Steaming
is the best way to cook veggies and retain as many of their nutrients as
possible so you will definitely want to have a steamer. I use a steamer pot that sits on top of a pot
of boiling water on the stove with a lid.
It’s as simple as boiling water.
·
You
will want to have a couple of standard pans including a medium and
small size so that you have options depending on what you need them for. You don’t want to have to lug out a massive
pan every time you want to scramble an egg yolk for your little one.
·
A
large
sauté pan with a lid is a great tool to have on hand to make baby some
hearty chicken and beef stews.
·
Surprisingly
enough, standard stirring utensils and measuring cups and spoons are
required. I’m sure you could have
guessed that one.
·
A
strainer
is helpful to press berry or pea purees through in order to remove skins and/or
seeds for younger babies.
·
You
will need an appliance to puree baby’s food.
Whether you use a hand held blender, food processor, food mill
or blender, they all work well to puree baby’s food to the desired
consistency. When working with large
batches I find the food processor is the most useful, but I also love the
convenience of putting the food into a deep bowl and using a hand held blender
instead. The clean up after using a hand
held blender is quicker than the other methods, but really whatever you’re most
comfortable with is the way to go.
·
Baby food freezing trays, or ice cube trays, to freeze baby food and store in
the freezer for up to 3 months is something you will definitely need. The benefit of purchasing freezing trays
specifically designed for baby food storage is that they are typically produced
to store the perfect serving sizes for baby, approximately 2 tbsps. each cube. Ice cube trays work well also but most
standard sized ice cubes would represent ½ a serving size for baby so you would
have to use 2 cubes per serving.
·
Freezer bags are good to have. Once your baby
food cubes are frozen, you can pop them out of the tray and put them into a
labeled freezer bag with the food and date noted so you can free up the tray
for new purees that need freezing. By
noting the date on the bag you can make sure you use up the food before the 3
month mark in which you will want to throw it out to be safe.
·
Small food storage containers are
also good to have so you can store baby food in the fridge you intend to use
within 48 hours.
·
You
don’t need to spend a ton of money on kitchen gadgets and high end culinary
equipment to cook healthy meals for a happy baby. The basics noted above should get you well on
your way to becoming a baby food making expert!
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