My Sunday Squeeze Tools

I am a huge advocate for having that right tools to do a good job! There are many, many different things you could use along the way but here are my “must-have” items that help me make the most out of my meal making success!

1. Rubbermaid TakeAlongs: You will need some frozen food containers that stack well in the freezer. When the twins had their babies last year I spent an entire day cooking and used the Rubbermaid TakeAlong rectangle storage containers. There are many different sizes depending on what you want to freeze.  I could fit 2, sometimes 4 servings in each one. When I was done I had 12 container of food, a little something to get them through those first couple of weeks, when all the help was gone.

2. Brother PT 90 Labeler: You can buy freezer labels, but I like the look of typed labels.  A label maker will let you label your frozen foods so you know the “out date”; this is the date they should be used by. I bought mine at Office Max. There are lots more to choose from depending on your budget. Office Max often has a coupon on their website. They also have a great rewards program. You get points for purchases, but also get $3 rewards every time you return a used ink cartridge. I just received $12 thru email to be used on anything in the store! I like it!


3. Mainstay Produce Keeper: This LM helper is on my top 10 must haves in the kitchen, it not only keeps my veggies fresh for longer, but allows me to see thru the container so I know what I have to use up. It lives on the top shelf of my fridge and reminds me every time I look in, to EAT MORE VEGGIES! No more gross, slimy veggies gone bad in the bottom drawer. Produce is much toooooo expensive to waste.

I discovered see through glass containers about 5 years ago.  Before this, finding gross, smelly yuck in a container was a common experience.  Now, being able to see through and label my containers it allows me to use up all that expensive food before it goes bad.  I know some of you are saying "I don't use or eat leftovers".  Is it because you don't know what to do with them?  Or, is it because they go bad before you can?

If you have any tools you can't live without, please share! I love hearing about new kitchen gadgets!  

But, to earn a place in my kitchen it has to be something I use on a regular basis!

Baby Food Makin’ Mommas

When I tell other moms that I make my own baby food, you don’t know how many times they just about boil over with amazement.  I started to think that most people probably think there is some kind of science or ingenious preparation that has to go into it.  I didn’t do it because I wanted to be a super mom or anything. I just did it because I thought it sounded fun, was healthier for my lil’ guy and because it was soooo much more affordable than store bought baby food! 

It may seem overwhelming and difficult, but it really isn’t!  After getting a baby food cookbook for Christmas, I got really pumped and couldn’t wait til he was ready for solids! The cookbook is called Baby Love, written by Norah O’Donnell and Chef Geoff Tracy.  Click here to find it on Amazon.  The book is super easy to follow and has great tips for someone who is just starting out!

Shay and I started out strong and planned a night after work to make some our first batch.  Now, I will say the first time we got together it was challenging, but we learned a lot and it got easier. We picked 4 recipes!  Here are the lessons we learned that night:

1. Leave the little ones with Daddy or get a babysitter!  We both had our lil’ munchkins and while they were very well behaved, it was hard to relax and have fun with it when your trying to multi-task.
2. Block out at least 2 hours for several recipes!  I’ve done 1 recipe several times and been just fine doing it amongst chores, every day household things, etc. But 4 recipes in our first night was pretty ambitious!  And we only finished 2!
3. Spinach smells horrible when overcooked!   Most of you probably knew that one, but I thought I’d share it anyway!

Also, before you start, here are my thoughts/suggestions of things I’ve learned since that first night:

• You don’t need a fancy food processor or blender.  I just used my everyday blender. Although I’d love to try something like the Baby Breeza! 
• Plan on preparing large batches and freezing them!  I doubled most of the recipes!
• You don’t always need a recipe!  As long as your dinner doesn’t have any ingredients that may not be baby-friendly, then throw it in the blender and freeze it too!!
• Get containers that can be used to freeze, defrost and travel with!  The book I mentioned above suggests ice cube trays.  I started using ice cube trays, but hated that there were 2 more steps (1. putting the cubes into Ziplocs once they were frozen so they didn’t get freezer burn, then 2. finding another dish once you wanted to move it to the fridge for defrosting)!  There are lots of products available that are specifically designed to hold serving size amounts!  I absolutely love the ones I use.  I wish I could find a link to them online, but the best I can do is a picture of my own (see below).  They are from Babies R Us and they are the Babies R Us brand too!  The best part is, you can put them in the freezer then transfer a whole tray at a time into the fridge and even grab one portion at a time when you’re “on the go”.  Another side note, never use glass containers unless the glass is designed for freezing!  It could burst or worse yet, crack unknowingly and leave tiny crystals in your baby’s yummy food!

Now, www.wholesomebabyfood.com says “For optimal quality and nutrient retention, keep frozen baby food cubes in the freezer for a maximum of 3 months.” so that is what I went by.  But I didn't have any problem, because my lil’ guy was such a great eater, we ended up making it about every month to keep up!

Since I started, I find it really easy now to just throw some things in the oven or in a pot then into a blender!

Lil’ C’s favorite was sweet potatoes so I thought I share that recipe with you! 

Perfectly Basic Sweet Potato (from Baby Love)

• Makes 36 ounces
• Age:  6 Months plus

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 pounds sweet potato (about 2 medium sized potatoes or 1 really big one)
• 24 ounces of water

Steps:

1.  Preheat Oven to 400 degrees F.

2.  Cut the potatoes lengthwise.

3.  Place potatoes flesh side down on a sheet tray.

4.  Pour 8 ounces of the water onto the sheet tray.

5.  Roast approximately 60 minutes until tender.  The potatoes should be bubbling and caramelized
6.  Allow to cool 10 - 15 minutes so you can hold the potatoes without a problem.



7.  Spoon out the flesh and pour into the blender with remaining water.  Puree until smooth.
8.  Pour into ice cube trays (or whatever containers you have purchased) and allow to cool.


9.  Wrap (if you used ice cube trays) and freeze.

I did this recipe before I had my nifty little baby food containers!  But my favorite part about this recipe is the 60 minutes while they are cooking... you have time to do something else!  Cook another baby food recipe, make dinner, laundry, play with your LO...or anything else that you want to get done!!  Hope you enjoy and thanks again to Baby Love for making such easy, healthy recipes for our babies!!

Do any of you make your own baby food?  If so, let us know your favorite tools and tips!!! 

In Search of a Good Family Calendar!

So I am highly anticipating next year…okay not really, I’m actually just on the hunt for a new calendar that will help me manage our household a little bit better.  My hubby and I recently starting living by the “If it’s not on the calendar, then it’s not happening” rule that my girlfriend Erin taught me. 

See it all started with several misunderstandings over who was going to watch Lil’ C.  Here is the low down.

First Challenge:  It’s not called babysitting if it’s your own child
I’d say, “Hey honey, I’m going to do ____ on Thursday night” and he’d say, “well who is watching Lil’C?”  I started off hiding all my fury and just respond with, “well honey, do you have any plans?” and he’d respond ever so kindly… “no, I guess I could babysit.”  Please tell me I’m not alone in this…but whenever my husband has to watch our son he refers to it as babysitting!  Ugh, doesn’t that drive you nuts?  News flash!  It’s not called babysitting if it’s your own kids!  So we worked on that and he responds much more appropriately now!  So once I learned to squeeze that lemon, I moved on to the next thing….

Second Challenge:  Double Booked
So the next calendar challenge would be when I’d have plans and so would my husband, so we’d have to battle it out and someone would end up very unhappy.  This even happens when something over laps in times.  For instance, he’d have planned on fishing and told me he was going to fish the morning and I would have planned on going to cooking club that evening.  We’d communicate those details and thing we’d have it covered, but wouldn’t necessarily talk about the times.  So he’d get home 30 minutes after I was suppose to leave!  I know your thinking, “Another easily avoidable misunderstanding,” but we were still learning okay?

The Solution: 
So after several of these situations, my girlfriend shared with me her arrangement at home with the calendar…  She said (in some funnier, not so polite words) “If it’s not on the calendar then it’s not happening”.  So I started implementing that at home.  And it has really started to work.  I write things down once I know about them and my husband (who remember, is type A all the way), looks at the calendar every day and knows what is coming up! 

So long story short, right now we just use this regular old wall calendar, which works, but could be a lot better.  I’ve started looking online for something that is a little more family friendly.  With a new baby coming next year, I need more space on each day.  I’d like to find one that allows for each member of our family to have a line.  Kind of like this one:  http://www.calendars.com/Moms-Organizers/Household-Manager-2012-Wall-Calendar/prod201200000860/?categoryId=cat00153

Since I really feel like you’re only as good as the tools you have, I thought I’d ask other moms!  Does anyone else use a calendar like this?  And if so, how do you like it?  Or what do you not like about it??