Ayra's Solid food

hello peeps.. feels like telling u about Ayra's solid food preparation that i meant to share before..

helping mummy in the kitchen

well, Ayra has been on solid foo since she was 5 and half month. We decided to start her on solid because the signs that she was ready were there.
1. she would be hungry more than usual
2. she could sit straight with support (with our help)
3. she would stare hard at what we were eating and wanted it so badly. If I was holding her while eating, she would grab my hand so that she can have a bite.
4. She had more frequent night feeding. Woke me up even more. And I would be like a zombie in the morning to work.
Alas, after much reading and input from fellow breastfeeding mothers, we started her on solid.

I made a point not to start her on those instant cereals in the box and tin and whatnot. I wanted to give her the most fresh food and cooked meal daily. I knew it would suck the energy out of me with double cooking load, and breast feeding and working and lipat baju and so on. But.. I believe, if we have a good plan in managing our time, we can give the best to our child.
So..the journey of searching online on preparing babies’ meal started. Weeks before we planned to start her on solid. I wanted to be ready. Not ad-hoc. Mostly I referred to Wholesome Baby Food. They give u lots of baby food recipes, what to give according to age, what type is least allergenic and what is, how to prepare, how to store.
Basically, for the storage.. I used ice cube tray with lid. I tried looking for ‘affordable’ ones since we’re just going to use it for storage. The ones that I found were quite ridiculously priced for an ice cube tray!

So,.. I went to JJ… and managed to find an ice cube with lid, price RM9.90. bought 3! Sangat bersemangat untuk buat puree okeh.

We started her on least allergenic foods: apple, pear, sweet potato, brown rice, avocado.
I used the brown rice because it has more conserved nutrition compared to white rice. And I chose organic brown rice for her. Only the best for my little princess. Biarlah mummy and ayah makan non-organic sekali pun..haha

So.. the preparation part.. after putting to bed.. Hubby helped to peel all the fruits and vegetables. After peeling all, we cut them into small pieces and steamed them in the steamer. Steaming does not reduce the water content, (or not that much) compared to boiling. Once the fruits are soft and tender, I pureed them using the blender.

For a 5 month baby, u need the puree to be smooth. They don’t know how to chew yet. Once they are pureed, I put them into the ice cube trays, put the lids on and store them in the freezer. After they are frozen, I took them out from the tray and store them into a sealed plastic storage bag. And wahhlaaa! Our puree stock is done! Quite tiring I must say. So, we only make them once in 2 weeks. If stored in the freezer, it can stand for months. But need not worry, usually they are gone before that! U can even try to eat them too! Just like popsicles! Fruity popsicle!

For the porridge puree, I first wash the beras, then fry them in the wok without oil. This is to eliminate the water from the washing. After they are all dried from frying, I blend them in dry blender until become powder-like. It is easier to make porridge when they are in powder form. Don’t believe? Try buat maggi abalone porridge. 5 minit dah siap. Hehehe
u can keep the powdered rice in a bekas, so whenever u want to cook porridege, u just scoop it out, put into water and cook. it's faster to cook this way, than cooked the usual way then blend it.

So, that’s it..
Now that she is 8 months old.. I have to come out with more exciting recipe. Sian anak mummy bosan dgn usual meal..
After 7 months, I berani added few other things like chicken, spinah, dori fish, carrot.. and now.. she east everything that we eat. She would hulurkan mulut when we are eating. So cute. Kurma, roti, our burger (little bit only mehh), spagetthi, etc.

owh, how to use these cubes? now that u have few types of cubes, whenever u are preparing your baby's meal, just take 2-3 cubes, mixing according to your tase, e.g: 1 apple+ 1 sweet potato+ 1 pear. it's up to you really.. if u think it's nice, then i think your baby would too. 

Kindly share your recipes if u have some. I need them!!!

 ps: Ayra's breastmilk stock and purees and porridge in her own deep freezer. till date, i have around 700oz of expressed breastmilk. alhamdulillah.. syukur to Allah for giving such opportunity and rezeki to fully supplying my daughter with breastmilk..