Little City Kitchen Co. Blog

Being a one-man show has its advantages…but not this week.  When you’re the “do-it-all” person and you come down with a stomach bug, your progress comes to a screeching halt.  On the road to recovery now, but suffice it say I haven’t been in the kitchen cooking at all, nor have I been feeling my most creative…which tends to put a damper on my writing.

So forgive me for cheating a little bit this week, but in lieu of our normal blog (and because we have a ton of new readers) I thought I’d assemble some of my favorite blog posts over the year to share with you.

Making Your Own Baby Food

So your little one is 5 months old and you’re getting ready to start solids.  Congratulations!  You want to make your own food, but where do you start?

First, checkout my review of baby food making equipment.  My favorite piece of equipment is the food processor, but if you don’t have one of those on hand, here are some alternatives that work well.

Next, learn all about my favorite cooking methods here.  People think that baby food can only be steamed, but there’s a whole world of roasting, sautéing and other methods to bring out the best flavors for little one.

You probably know that I’m not a fan of boxed rice cereal being a first food for baby.  Homemade grain cereals, however, can be a wonderful addition to baby’s diet, so check out my guide to making your own baby cereals here.

And finally, once you’ve made all this great stuff, how do you store it?  Read all about the best baby food storage containers here.  I have a “Best Buy” and a “Wanna Splurge” item in each category.

Scoop on Starting Solids

One of the most exciting parts of starting Little City Kitchen Co. is that I spend a lot of time educating parents.  I started my Scoop on Starting Solids blog series to help the many questions that I get asked.  The questions are answered by my favorite pediatrician, Julia Getzelman, or another expert in the field.

A lot has changed in the baby food world in the last three years.  It started with the revised AAP guidelines that were released in 2008.  Read here to find out the newest recommendations for introducing allergens.

I use a lot of healthy fats in baby food including coconut milk, coconut oil and olive oil.  You can learn a little more about cooking with healthy fats here.

Every parent wants to raise a child that makes healthy eating choices, but most people don’t realize that they can teach food preferences from the very beginning.  Read all about how to grow a broccoli lover here.

And finally, I talk a lot about why rice cereal isn’t the best first food.  You can read a little more about that and some other suggestions for first foods here.

Enjoy the recap…we’ll be back next week with lots of new goodies to read.