Baby food

Ever eat Chef-Boyardee?  Being a product of two working parents, I ate it a few times.  I remember one time I dropped a whole bowl of it on the carpet outside my bedroom.  I was about ten.  The first words out of my mouth were, "It's not my fault!"  Being an only child, I always got blamed for messes. What'd I'd meant to say was that it was an accident and that I didn't mean to do it (of course!).

Last week, I made Liam some tomato, cheese, and pasta mixes with carrots and green beans.  It tasted exactly like Chef-Boyardee, but probably much healthier.  Unfortunately he didn't think much of it, so we have some frozen for now.

Since Liam's been eating solid food, we've been making our own baby food.  It's not that difficult, much healthier, and much cheaper.  The purees were easy.

During the kitchen remodel, actually shortly before that, we started on jarred baby food.  With the remodel, making food was just too difficult and since I've been back at work, time has been more of an issue.  The jarred food was organic.  I didn't feel too bad about it, but it still wasn't homemade.

Liam's also getting old enough where he needs a bit more substance and they just don't make healthy, chunky baby food in a variety of "flavors".  We've started making food again.  I've been struggling to both find the time and combinations he enjoys.  It's easy since we can freeze small portions of it.  He doesn't mind eating the same thing for a couple days in a row.

So far, we've tried a risotto, cheese and veggies, a chicken and rice casserole, and a tomato and carrot pasta.  He wasn't too keen on the last one.  

What do you feed a 10-month (almost 11-month!) baby who's becoming more and more independent?  

We try to feed him small portions of what we're eating.  That works sometimes, but I'm kinda feeling like he's not getting enough food.  He's not eating as much as he did when he ate purees two months ago.  He's also spitting out anything that "we" try and put in his mouth.  He's growing up so quickly!