Friday, August 27, 2010

Screw You Grillo's Pickles!...a Baby Food Rant (and some raves)

grillos2

Picture found on Pickle Freak.


F**k you Grillos Pickles! No seriously, my kid is on a hardcore food strike and will eat nothing but you. Oh yes, you had to be all tasty and what not and now? Mama's homemade baked peaches are just too bland for my kid. Ive tried it all, even offering my leftover boxed mac and cheese that I would normally never allow him to eat and here I am waving it in his face and nothing. All he wants is your tangy goodness. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. So thanks Grillos for creating the world's best tasting pickle and turning my normally easy child into a royal pain in the ass. You've not only ruined any chance of his daily food intake being nutritionally balanced but also ruined my day. To top it off, the pickles make him all burpy and while he may find this hilarious, I do not.


Okay, in all seriousness. I love me some Grillos Pickles and you will too so you should hurry and order some.

Back to my kiddos food strike. All of a sudden he seems to have some serious opinions about food and what he wants on his plate. I have been struggling to find finger foods he can handle with his mostly toothless grin that are good for him.

I started out making all his baby food. I then explored some easy to go pre-made foods and I have since compiled a pretty good list of what I think should be homemade and whats good store bought. I will say some of the stuff I bought I literally took one bite of and threw in the trash. Most of it never even hit Henry's lips.

Wanna know what sucked?

Anything Gerber...yuck. We bought the peaches and that was it. It smelled nothing like our homemade peaches. It looked nothing like real peaches and it tasted like poo.

Earth's Best Zucchini Broccoli Medley. One word...SLOP.

Happy Baby Pouch in Apricot and Sweet Potatoes. It was so overly pureed it was like water. The taste was mediocre at best.


The best?

Plum organics takes the cake for sure. I love every flavor. The Just Mangoes and the Just Peaches are bomb. The Blueberry, pear and purple carrot was super tasty and I mix the apple&carrot blend with Moroccan couscous for dinner. Delish!

Sprout Organics is super yummy. I wasn't able to find a lot of their flavors. I would have loved to try the  Pasta with Lentil Bolognese and the Summer Squash, Yukon Gold Potatoes, and Parmesan. Has anyone tried them?  Let me know what you think. However, Hendrix did try the Oatmeal with Roasted Cinnamon Applesauce (YUM!!!) and the Peach Rice Pudding. Both were fantastic.

Happy Baby frozen yes Peas (with mint) and Thank You Carrots are a good frozen option. But honestly, if I'm going to buy frozen I would just make it myself instead. The whole point, for me anyways, was to buy only pre-made baby food for situations where I couldn't thaw his meals out. I would recommend the peas though, H dug them.

He loves Earth's Best Carrot Tomato which I put over pasta like a sauce. The Pear Mango is pretty good and the Corn Butternut Squash was tasty.


Hendrix seems to have an affinity for things with a bit of a kick to them (hence the Grillos Pickles obsession). For example he refuses plain avocado but adores guacamole. He's not a fan of scrambled eggs unless you add a dollop of mild salsa. Likes his carrots with a pinch of curry. Mashed potatoes? Throw on some pepper, garlic, and parmesan and he will gobble 'em up.

I'm interested in trying some of the World Baby Foods but our local Whole Foods doesn't carry it. They are a company making baby food with exotic flavors from around the world. sounds enticing...

Since the beginning I have been making H his purees and some have been terrific and others have been major failures. I'll be posting some of my fav recipes on here over the next week or so.

I am curious... what do you all feed you lil ones? Store bought or homemade what are your favorites? What did you hate?

8 comments:

  1. my kid hardly likes food now too. it pisses me off! i feel so guilty about his very un-balanced meals. no veggies, ever. it's terrible. i tried to shove peas down his throat the other day and he screamed and cried. anyway, he eats mostly the yo baby yogurts, any sort of pasta with sauce, applesauce, and as terrible as it sounds...

    he likes those gerber instant meals. HEY! they say no preservatives... and sometimes i'm just desperate to get him to eat something different.

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  2. Sierra eats:

    Breakfast foods:
    cheerios and other dry cereal
    apples cut tiny, sometimes I bake em a little. Sometimes I let her bite into them, she likes that much better.
    blueberries, strawberries, other soft fruits except bananas which she hates but ate for the babysitter?!
    Tofu scramble and potatoes - our weekly Sunday vegan brunch at Pulse Cafe, which you should join us for, seriously.

    Lunch/DInner things:
    hummus on crackers or bread, she likes crushed red pepper hummus
    tofu pieces, plain or cooked with some olive oil and soy sauce
    veggies!!! she gobbles up steamed greens like kale and spinach. She likes carrots and peas, sometimes like green beans, and spits out corn every time.
    beans! black beans, pinto beans, chickpeas,
    guacamole, avocado,
    potatoes
    peanut butter
    tempeh
    pasta
    rice

    I try to give her whatever I am eating, or at least bits of whatever I am having along with her staples. If I am having a burrito while we are out, I just pick pieces out for her. If I am having a burrito at home, I give her all the things I am putting into mine. I usually make her extra veggies though because I want her to like veggies that I won't eat, such as carrots and peas.

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  3. Sebastian won't eat at all anymore. 29lbs and almost 5 years old. They might actually be doing some testing. BUT the days when he did eat? when he had those pudgy legs! he LOVED any food made by BEECH-NUT. It's also cheap which is a plus. I made some of his food in the very beginning but then simply didn't have the time.


    and I agree with Jess, when Sebastian REALLY won't eat I will sometimes get him those Gerber meals!

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  4. I always just fed them whatever we were eating, but ran it through the food processor first, LOL.

    At least pickles are kinda healthy . . . : )

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  5. *sorry.I.have.no.spacekey.on.this.computer*

    I.could.eat.Gerber's.Peaches.allllll.day!!!

    that's.right.ME!.Not.Evie.hehehe

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  6. I love sprout, try Harris Teeter! I could eat it all day...hehe....

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  7. When my daughter was about 8 months old, my Mother who LOVED to eat fed her a spoonful of vanilla ice cream. What baby wouldn't love that!!!

    www.FunnyPhotosContest.com. Submit CUTE or FUNNY photos and tell friends to vote. $2,000 in prizes. No entry fee.

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  8. Jess- A lot of the stuff H likes he hated at first. I read somewhere that a baby has to try something 10-15 times before the will accept some foods. I kept trying with some of it and he started to like it.

    am i the only one who feels guilt about the whole jarred food thing?I'm not saying i ahve a problem with others doing it but for me, I dunno, I dont eat microwavable/jarred foods so i feel like i suck if i give them to H. I try to do it all fresh.

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