New MVP thrifty kitchen tool

My lovely daughter turns one in a few weeks. She still has ZERO teeth! Because of this, we aren't as far along on her eating "real food" as some babies are at this point. However, now that she has quite a bit of experience in gumming foods, I have stopped using the food processor to puree everything. My new best friend for making her homemade food is....



a potato masher.

It's perfect. I can steam or boil vegetables, drain, and then mash them up right in the pan. A current favorite is the frozen carrot/pea/corn/green bean mixture. It makes a colorful, nutritious mash. She eats that alone or mixed into yogurt. Who needs to spend a bunch of money on processed "stage three" baby food when you can mash it yourself! I did the same thing with canned peaches- mashed them up and mixed in rice cereal. Viola- peach cereal! The masher also works for meals like lasagna and mac and cheese.

So those of you out there who are registering for baby gifts, maybe a potato masher should be your next addition.