Infant One-Pot Meals

I don’t particularly enjoy eating my meals out of packages. So when it comes to feeding my kids I assume that they won’t appreciate eating all of their first meals from jars and squeeze tubes. So I have committed to making almost everything they eat. It really doesn’t take that much time – just a little extra planning and visits to the grocery store for fresh, organic produce to make all their wee meals. I made a Roast Chicken last night so I decided to document my baby food process. Now that Charles is just about 11 months old, I have started to make him one-pot meals. Lots of vegetables. A bean or lentil for added protein. (I refrain from giving my kids meat until they are 1) All cooked in nutritious homemade chicken stock. I jam-pack it with as much healthy goodness as I can. I make a batch for the week so I don’t have to worry about cooking for a bunch of days. So first step is Chicken Stock. I took my organic chicken carcasses and put them in my Dutch Oven. (I cooked the chickens last night and put the carcasses in fridge overnight so I could do the whole cooking process at once.) Add in onions, carrots, celery, herbs, garlic, pepper, sea salt and let everything cook down for as many hours as you can. I normally throw it all in the pot in the morning and let it simmer until the early evening. After straining and letting the stock cool, I put the finished stock in mason jars. I keep 2 cups out for baby food making and freeze the rest for later. Next I get my soaked chickpeas, lentils or beans (whichever has been soaking overnight) and put a handful or two into my pot. Add in a sweet potato or squash. Follow up with whatever other fresh, organic veggies you have in the fridge. I like to put in onion, garlic, zucchini, broccoli, carrots, peas, etc. Fill the pot with the chicken stock you just made. Let simmer for 30 minutes or so. Throw the mixture in the Vitamix (a staple in my house for baby food and family food making!). Put in veggies first and then add in as much of the liquid mix as necessary to make the consistency of food your baby likes. And voilá. Easy breezy, nutritious meals for the week.