Parenting Under the Stars

Making your own baby food really isn’t that hard and it’s much healthier for your baby. Most jarred foods are very watered down, have added sugar, chemicals, additives and cost more.

Some baby foods that are easy to prepare and good for first foods include sweet potatoes, avocados, pears, apples, butternut squash and rice.

• Sweet potatoes are yummy baked; the insides scoop out easily and usually don’t require much extra blending. Bananas mash up easily when they’re ripe as well but it’s best to use a blender to puree them. You can add either a little baby formula or water to help it blend because otherwise it might be too thick.

• Cook peeled cored apples and pears with a little water on low over the stove for a yummy fruit blend. Once your child has tried a few foods you can experiment by blending a couple other ones together.

It’s better to make up a big batch and freeze it so that you can stock up ahead of time. I used ice cube trays and once they were frozen, just put them in zip lock bags.

Once your baby is around eight months you can start adding a little texture so don’t need to blend the food quite as much. Many babies can tolerate a little herbs and spices for flavor but that’s a personal preference.

• There’s an excellent blog called Simply Baby Food Recipes dedicated to homemade baby food with recipes, instructions and videos for babies from four months to toddlers.

I use vinegar to clean and disinfect things all over the house. It makes things shinier than bleach and is safer and less harsh. If a child puts a toy in their mouth that was just cleaned with vinegar it’s not a big deal.

It doesn’t smell the greatest so lately I have been adding a spoon or two of essential oil to my spray bottle mixture.

About a third of the bottle is vinegar and the rest is water. Last time I used lavender essential oil, it smelled great and I think it worked even better.

For windows try the same mixture minus the lavender and use lemon juice instead.

We have very hard water here so there’s a lot of lime build up and vinegar helps break that down. I run a mixture of half vinegar and half water through the coffee percolator and it cleans it out and speeds it up.

Vinegar also helps cut worse smells such as urine and you don’t smell the vinegar much once the washing machine goes through the whole cycle.

If you put half of a cup through the wash with your laundry detergent, the acid helps neutralize the urine. It also works great for sweaty work clothes and stinky socks. It’s better for sensitive skin since it helps rinse out more of the soap residue. You can always add some essential oil to freshen up the scent of your laundry as well.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I haven’t tried making my own laundry detergent yet but I have been researching it and finding recipes all over the internet. It appears that most have washing soda, borax and bars of soap.

Tip Nut has an article up called 10 Homemade Laundry Soap Detergent Recipes. If you have a recipe that works well for you, let us know. I would prefer something that doesn’t have too many ingredients because I’m trying to save money and not spend more.

I make so much of my own stuff you would probably think I was a freak if I told you everything but we’ll start with one thing a week.

Once I ran out of ketchup and read the ingredients on the bottle so made my own. The kids didn’t know the difference.

Today’s theme is coffee and there are a few tasty flavors I have tried. I don’t know about you but coffee often helps me get through the day with my family especially if I’m sleepy.

Vanilla Coffee: I simply add a couple teaspoons to a full pot of coffee. I make this the most so I have a monster jar of vanilla on hand. Everyone I serve it to asks, “What kind of coffee is this?” Even my husband keeps thinking its some new blend that I bought.

Cinnamon Coffee: This is great to flavor bland coffee and I simply add a half teaspoon to the pot.

Cafe Mocha: Add five or six spoons of cocoa to the pot and add milk. Chocolate syrup works well for this too.

Mexican Coffee: This is my favorite but I don’t make it as often. Add both chocolate and cinnamon to the coffee and top with shaved chocolate and whipped cream. Yum.

Black Forest Coffee: I have not tried this yet but it sounds delicious. It’s flavored with maraschino cherries, chocolate and whipped cream. See Sean Paajanen’s Black Forest Coffee Recipe for more.

Also, check out Sean’s excellent list of coffee recipes. There are iced, hot, alcoholic and espresso coffee recipes listed.