Benjamin Eats – Yams & Preparation

I’m on a series kick lately, starting the cloth diapering 101 series, and Benjamin Eats today.  But when we started giving him real food and I was snapping away on my camera, capturing his crazy faces, I knew I had blogging gold… Yes, this is what my life has come to.

The Plan: track the completely horrified faces Ben makes when trying new foods, and chat baby-food-making (recipe & info on starting food with an older baby, below!).  Fun, right?

Thinking Behind The Plan: I’ve had a hard time finding good information on starting solids with an older baby.  Most sources start at around 4 months with watery purees, but Ben is 7 months old, and I knew he could handle more than that from the start.  Side note: what’s with the inconsistency in doctors recommending when to start solids?   They recommend solids to help smaller babies gain weight, and they recommend solids to bigger babies because they can handle it.  What the heck? 

Anyway, we ignored our pediatrician’s incessant pushing of cereals starting at around 5 months and waited, because you know what?  I trust my intuition, I wanted to wait, and felt it was best for Ben.

And now… BENJAMIN EATS!

As you know, I painstakingly planned The Big Food Day for awhile.  Um, the past few months, to be exact.  I was all too excited (and a little a lot sad) when I woke up on the morning of The Big Food Day, but sad knowing that my baby would become just one more step closer to being a big boy.  Ahh, this growing up.  Be still, my heart.

I may or may not have cried this day. Legit. 2Legit2Quit.

Anyway, after consulting the allergic kids food introduction schedule, I decided sweet potatoes would be the best first food.  Except that I couldn’t find organic sweet potatoes anywhere, and believe you me, nothing but organic goodness will be touching my angel’s mouth for his first foods!  (Ha – I wonder how long that will last…?!)  So, organic yams it was.  Close enough, right?

Ben & I got up and headed downstairs to bake up some yams.  I excitedly waited for them to be done, let them cool a bit, threw them in the Baby Bullet, and then it was time.  I called Derek up from the basement for this most momentous occasion.  Ben is such a big baby and loves nursing so much, that I KNEW this would be a sure hit.  He was going to LOVE food.

Except… he didn’t.

Loves food? NOPE.  Not so much.  He looked like this almost the entire time.

BUT…!!!  After a few meals, he actually did start to enjoy the yams, leaning into the spoon for more.  Success!

Making Solid Foods for an Older Baby:

Now, because Benjamin is 7 months old when we’re starting solids (And why we call this solids, I’ll never know. Baby’s first foods resemble a solid like, 0%. Didn’t anyone go to science class?), I didn’t feel like it was necessary to make a super thin, watery puree like you would feed to a much younger baby.  The yam puree was thick enough that if you held a spoon full of yams upside-down, the yams wouldn’t budge.

I made the yams two ways – baked one day, and steamed the next. I planned to bake them all, but in my overzealous state on The Big Food Day, I peeled a yam – and it needs skin when you bake it. So, I had a nude yam that couldn’t be baked. (nude yam… tee hee)Steamed it up the next day, and we were ready to go.

Baked Yam Puree

Ingredients: as many yams as your little heart desires, & water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Poke the yams a few times with a fork to let steam out, and bake for about 50 minutes.

When done, let cool, then scoop out the yammy goodness and put in a Baby Bullet/food processor with water (or breastmilk if you’re feeling frisky).  Start small with the water – you can always add more but you can’t take it out.  For 1 baked yam, I added about 1/8 cup of water for a thick consistency.

Steamed Yam Puree

Ingredients: as many yams as your little heart desires, & water leftover from steaming (it’s filled with vitamins from the yams!)

Peel & slice the yams into large, 2-inch chunks (ugh, that word).

Steam for approximately 20 minutes, or until fork-tender.

Put the yams in a Baby Bullet/food processor with water. Again, start small with the water. I was surprised that I used more water with the steamed yams – 1/4 cup for 1 yam.

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1 yam = approximately 6 ounces of food.

We were lucky if Ben ate one two-ounce serving over the course of a day – breakfast, lunch, and dinner combined.

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