Hello Sunshine Soup and Baby Solids

Ahhh...September is so nice in New England.  Hello sunny skies and days that are a little breezy, goodbye August heat and humidity.  So what have I been up to? 

There are T-16 days until baby Levi turns 6 months!  While I am excited for him to turn 6 months and start eating solids, I am a little sad that it is going by so fast! As the date approaches, I am starting to do a little research on solid foods.  I have been a little tempted to start early, but I am holding steadfast to the recommendation to exclusively breastfeed for his first 6 months. 

So why should you wait?  Firstly, your milk is the best thing to fill up baby's little tummy.  When you fill him or her up with other things, you are missing the opportunity for your little one to be eating the perfect food.  Secondly, waiting helps the baby avoid digestive problems and potential for allergies.  Just because your baby may appear ready for food, their little digestive systems may not be as ready as you think! 

Here is a helpful article from http://www.wholesomebabyfoods.com/ that helps you learn how to tell whether your baby is ready for solids:  http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/readyforsolids.htm.

On a side note, the website http://www.wholesomebabyfoods.com/ is FANTASTIC!!!  I highly recommend looking through it before you start solids and throughout your baby's introduction to solids.  There are recipes for baby food (which is so simple to make and outlined so easily on the website).  Also, there is even instructions on how to make your baby homemade cereals, which are WAY more nutritious and healthful for your baby!

Here is a recipe for a little fall soup, that I whipped up last week.  It is a perfect recipe for fall, but also an easy recipe to whip up while introducing solids.  Simply keep some sunshine squash aside from the rest of the soup, add some water, puree, and freeze the leftovers into ice cube trays. When you serve the baby, stir in a little breastmilk or formula to thin it out.

Sunshine Squash and Corn Soup

Ingredients:
Sunshine Squash (or other winter squash)
1/2 large onion
2 ears of corn on the cob
Vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Couple leaves of fresh sage or 1 tsp dried sage

Directions:

1. Cut the sunshine squash and scoop out the seeds.
2. Place face down in a baking dish, add a bit of water into the bottom and bake at 400 for 40-45 min, until fork slides in easily.
3. Meanwhile, saute the onions in a little bit of olive oil until soft. 
4. Once it is cooked, scoop out the squash from the skin and put some of it into a food processor.
5. Add the onions to the processor and a bit of the vegetable stock. 
6. Puree. Add a little more vegetable stock until it is a nice smooth consistency that you like.  Add more or less if you like thicker/thinner.  If you have too much squash to fit in one batch, then do this step in multiple batches.
7. Place the smooth squash mixture into a sauce pan.
8. Cut the corn off the cob (I place it in a bowl and cut downwards). 
9. Add the corn to the squash mixture in the sauce pan.
10. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add the sage to taste.
11. Simmer on a medium low heat until the corn is cooked (about 5-10 minutes). If needed, you can add more vegetable stock.

Hope you enjoy this nice soup that brings us nicely into autumn days! You could even add a grain to the soup like wild rice or barley to make it a bit heartier!

In health and wellness,
Nicole Harter