Several years before my son was born, I worked as a nanny for a truly wonderful family with infant twins. I was with the family soon after the babies came home from the hospital and before I knew it, they were on solid foods. It was one of my responsibilities to prepare homemade baby food for them both—and man, those kids ate well (if I do say so myself!). Even though I hadn’t cooked with dairy in years, I was soon adept at making roux (a mixture of flour and butter) to mix with the orzo.

The meals weren’t always that complicated. I learned that making baby food could be as simple as peeling a banana and mashing it, or throwing a sweet potato into the oven. The parents for whom I worked wanted their children to eat high-quality, healthy foods. When my son started eating solid foods, I too wanted him to eat that well—but I also wanted to save money.

You don’t really need a ton of tools to make your own food. You just need to be able to blend food and then store it in the freezer. I found that I only needed a few things:

• An immersion blender. So much more compact, easy to clean, and store than a blender or food processor. I splurged and got a Kitchen Aid model with the help of several gift cards I’d been hoarding, but there are models for around $20. Keep in mind that you’ll get what you pay for.

• A coffee bean grinder. This is helpful for making oatmeal coarse for homemade baby cereal, or grinding nuts or seeds. (Those precious gift cards came in handy again!)

• Silicone ice cube trays. A friend lent me a set, and they are fantastic for freezing batches of pured foods for later. Regular plastic trays work fine, but compared to the silicon, they’re downright unwieldy.

And yes, you will want to make large batches to save time. Cooking vegetables, fresh or frozen, won’t take you longer than 10 minutes. Blend them with some of the reserved water from the pan, spoon them into the ice cube trays, freeze, and empty them into labeled freezer bags. (For tips on safely freezing prepared foods, read this University of Georgia publication.)

• A good cookbook. My absolute favorite—can’t recommend it enough—is Simply Natural Baby Food by Cathe Olson (Goco Publishing, 2003). There are recipes with meat and dairy in them, but almost every recipe has a vegetarian or vegan options. Her section on ingredients is invaluable, containing both age guidelines for certain foods and interesting facts on some lesser-used foods such as easy-to-digest miso and amasake, nutritious herbs (parsley has vitamins A and C and iron), and sea vegetables like arame and kombu (which are rich in minerals, vitamins and protein).

The book’s recipes are categorized by age-appropriateness: first foods for 4-7 month olds, intermediate foods for 7-10 months, older baby foods for 10-14 months, and toddler foods for children 14 months and older.

What’s a good first baby food? The obvious answer is fortified baby cereal, but avocado is an easily digestible and nutritious option. If you are not a vegetarian, pureed meats are also recommended since they are a good source of iron.

Olson’s recipe for banana-oatmeal cookies inspired me to make a much simpler version with far fewer ingredients, and it’s been a total hit with both Tommy and many of his friends. In fact, several mothers have told me they love them too!

Banana Cookies
Ingredients

• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 cups of rolled oats, ground to a coarse texture in a coffee bean grinder
• ¼ cup oil
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch salt
• optional: ¼ cup or less of whole wheat flour if you think the batter is too runny

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a cookie sheet and drop small spoonfuls of batter on the sheet. Bake for around 15 minutes (don’t overbake!).

I’ve been test-driving original muffin recipes for awhile, and my criteria is simple: easy and no or low-sugar.

Tommy’s Birthday Muffins
Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• ½ cup pureed zucchini
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup soymilk
• 2 tablespoons oil
• pinch salt

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine ingredients and bake in an oiled muffin tin for around 20 minutes (don’t overbake!).

If that’s too much trouble, it can’t get much easier than…

Super Easy Banana Muffins

• 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• ½ cup oil
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine ingredients and bake in an oiled muffin tin for around 20 minutes (don’t overbake!).

It’s not really a recipe, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t include one of Tommy’s favorite dishes: whole wheat pasta tossed with black beans, cooked sweet potato cubes and olive oil. I thought it was delicious, too!