Yet another question abt. homemade baby food?

Question

I was wondering....if I made peas for my daughter (she likes the jar kind) and I didn't use fresh peas but frozen, instead of cooking them, can I just take a good amount out and put into a clean bowl with a lid over night and let them defrost and puree them in my Magic Bullet? Or do I HAVE to cook them? I would think not if they were completely defrosted. And I could always nuke it in the microwave too. What about frozen greenbeans? Or should I stay away from those because of the nitrates? My baby girl is 5 months old yesterday. I just want to do what's right

Answer 1

You need to cook any vegetable that you give at this point.  Green beans are fine to give...nitrates are not an issue with them.  Nitrates aren't really an issue. here is a great site that contains all the info you need.

www.wholesomebabyfood.com

Answer 2

It's best to steam veggies for baby food.  Always cook them.  Veggies are frozen uncooked which is why you can refreeze them once you have made baby food out of them.  "Nuking" anything in the microwave destroys any nutritional value so I wouldn't suggest doing that when making baby food.  A quick steam retains the most value.  Even boiling water will lessen the nutritional content but not to the extent of microwaving.  Are you away that you should be introducing a new food each week?  This is important because you need to be monitoring her reaction to new foods, in case of anything adverse.  Start with yellow veggies (squash, yukon gold potatoes) then to green, then orange.  Since she's five months now, I would keep her on the yellow veggies until next month and then move forward with the green and orange.

Answer 3

Vegetables, when frozen are still cooked for a short period of time and then flash frozen. For my family that loves peas, I take advantage of their fast defrosting capability and thaw them under warm water and serve, without bothering to cook them! But I only fed them whole to my children (they didn't start solids till 6-9 months), so not sure how they would work with the bullet when not extra soft from steaming them!