We began introducing Lucas to solids shortly before he turned 6 months and it has been going great. His pediatrician recommends offering a new food every 5-7 days (I had thought it was every 3-5 days so we apparently met in the middle at 5 days). If you think about it...that really isn't many foods - like 5 new foods a month! Whenever he starts a new food he gets this really concerned look on his face while he processes the flavor and then he usually gags. But then he keeps eating and by the end of the meal he no longer gags. I do have some questions about this every 5 day thing...I have heard prunes and pears help digestion...so what happens when he gets 5 days of prunes or pears? Is he going to be a pooping machine? And does this one new food every 5 days include things like cereal and juice? I think I may give the pediatrician a call...
I had decided a long time ago that I wanted to make all of Luke's baby food for a few reasons...
I like to cook and it is a way for me to learn more about different veggies and fruits I am not familiar with (how to pick them, prepare them, what they taste like, etc.). Hopefully this will help me incorporate them into the entire family diet as I learn what Lucas likes
It is cost effective
It allows me to know what goes into his food - supposedly more flavorful and nutritionally sound
It can increase the variety of foods Lucas is introduced to (seriously, there aren't many options in the baby food aisle).
Even though I had all of these reasons, I still started him with Gerber. Ha! Anyway, my first stab at making baby food was butternut squash. I followed the directions in my Annabel Karmel baby food book and voila! Lucas likes it!
I found this great website to help me figure out how to choose and cut up a squash
Steam or boil for12 minutes - puree to desired consistency using the excess liquid from cooking
Last week Lucas was introduced to carrots and I tried my hand at making them...it took a few rounds of experimenting with different cooking and pureeing technologies. I first tried to steam the carrots in my Pampered Chef micro steamer and then pureeing in my food chopper. This turned out a gritty version of carrots that Lucas refused to eat. He literally held his mouth open with the food on his tongue and lower lip grimacing until I wiped them out. Next I tried boiling the carrots and pureeing them in the blender. This turned out a much more Lucas-palatable velvety carrot blend. But then I was concerned about how boiling can lose more nutrients than steaming so I tried steaming a butternut squash and then tried to puree it in both the chopper and blender (I ran out of carrots). The blender worked way better again. Who knew my blender made such fabulous baby food? I mean, I knew it did a great job making margaritas and pina coladas... 
Gritty carrots from the chopper 
Velvety carrots from the blender 
My handsome men 
Lucas being silly with a sock in his mouth
