Fresh Beans and Beets!

My mom brought home some beets from the Cheverly farmer's market this past Saturday. I *love* beets. Honestly, love them. I don't like borscht, or maybe I just haven't has the right kind of borscht. In any case, beets...beets...beets...just can't beat 'em. That being said, I decided to forsake my bunch of beets in order to make some beet cubes for Jan. Apparently, he can eat beets starting pretty soon, so I figured I'd just whip up the food so it's on hand when we're ready to introduce the lovely, lovely vegetable. Using the recipe for beets I found in the newly acquired Blender Baby Food book (beets and a little water, bring to boil, puree...I probably could have just figured that out myself) I was able to get the baby food beet cube project completed in very little time. While the beets were cooking on the stove, I took advantage of our food steamer to steam the organic green beans that Joachim bought for Jan. Again, so easy! Wash and trim beans, put water in base of steamer, turn timer to 20 minutes, and walk away. The green beans Jan will start eating this week, to serve as his "one green vegetable" a day item. Other greens that I'm planning to puree and offer include peas and spinach (sadly, Kale will to wait until he's much older).

The hardest aspect of making the baby food is the pureeing part and then transferring the puree to the ice cube trays. However, the amount of time it takes to make the different concoctions is pretty minimal when one considers that I'm making enough to last for at least a week at a time. And, frankly, the whole baby-food making business is fun/therapeutic for me, as I like thinking about ingredients, cooking, and making stuff for other people to try. Being able to think about what ingredients to put together to delight Jan is, oddly, quite relaxing.