Sweat it Out:
Elliptical 50 Minutes
Spin Class 45 Minutes

Weigh in day, yay!  Actually it was weigh in night, last night.  My workout regimen is a pretty strict schedule, with classes at certain times and meeting people for weightlifting I have to be at the gym at a certain time in the morning.  My normal weigh in time would be either Wednesday or Thursday at 9:00, but this conflicts with the gym and lets face it, the gym is more important than the weigh in.  I’m trying to find a time that works and I am thinking that Wednesday night at 6:00 may be the keeper and then I will post the results on Thursday morning.  Anyway, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.  Today’s weight is……..263.8!  That is a 1.6 pound loss which means I am 1.1 pounds away from reaching 20 pounds!  I am so excited to do measurements next week!  That will be huge.  Just so ya know, I feel a difference in my body since killing myself at the gym every morning.  I feel muscles in my legs that haven’t been around in a while.  And I feel like my stomach is getting a little smaller.

Getting to 261 will be kind of a big deal to me.  The first time I lost weight when I was 21 that was the number that I started with.  Then over a course of about 6 years I managed to gain it all back, but as soon as I got to 261 again I held steady for about 3 years.  Then I hit 30 and it was like over night I gained 15 pounds and that is where I have been for the last couple of years.  So for some reason 261 sits in my head and once I pass that number it seems that everything will be real to me.  It’s weird how the mind works.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon making baby food and it led me to the topic for today’s post.  Where this all began.  Of course I have told you my driving force behind my weight loss, but one of the big things that got me to actually start the process was when my baby turned 6 months old and it was time to start solids.  everyone wants their children to not make their same mistakes.  Growing up my mom always had a vegetable with dinner, and we ate pretty healthy.  Still, I gravitated more towards junk food and soda than anything.  When I became an adult I realized the importance of fruits and vegetables, and even though I still enjoyed my junk food, I started to eat more varieties of F&V’s.  It got me thinking about Hanna and how I wanted her to have a diverse pallet, and love foods that are good for her body, no matter what lengths I had to go through.  When I first started to buy baby food I bought the organic jarred variety, but I couldn’t help but notice how unappetizing they looked.  When I would show Hanna how to eat the food, I would put the spoon in my own mouth and it made me want to gag. It was disgusting.  And expensive.

While lurking on Facebook one day, I had a friend that was starting to make her own baby food from a cookbook.  I immediately asked her what the book was called so that I could check it out.  I went to Barnes and Noble that same day to purchase the book “Cooking for Baby”.  

(I have no idea why this picture turned out so small)

This book has been life changing for me and Hanna and she will now eat ANYTHING I put in front of her.  Which for all you parents out there, you know this is no easy feat.  I fee like it has given her the reality of what fruits and vegetables taste like without any fillers or preservatives.

let me state that I am no super mom.  Making homemade baby food has been easy and stress free.  I even made it when I was on vacation for Fourth of July when I was in Utah for 2 weeks.  When we were on vacation I started with bottled food because I thought it would be inconvenient, but after Hanna didn’t poop for almost 3 days I figured out the tapioca that they use to thicken bottled baby food had BOUND HER UP.  She was miserable and her tummy was huge!  So I went to the store-bought a ton of fresh F&V’s and it took me two hours to make 6 different types of healthy options.  After about a day she finally started pooping again.  Nowadays she poops sometimes up to 6 TIMES A DAY!  That’s a healthy colon folks.

MY POINT: I was going out of my way to make sure that my little girl was starting out on the right track eating wise, but I wasn’t eating healthy myself.  How can I tell my daughter that she needs to eat healthy while mommy is shoving ice cream down her pie hole?

For anybody out there that may find this interesting I documented my process yesterday and wanted to share it with you!  First off let’s go over some of the benefits of making your own baby food:

• You know exactly what is going into your baby’s body (no tapioca, and no constipation, nuff said)
• It’s more economical than buying prepackaged foods.  Buy fruits and veggies that are in season and it stays cheap.
• You can choose your own fruits, vegetables, and other foods for purees, instead of relying on the flavors chosen by manufacturers. You’re not going to find melons or avocados in the baby food section of the supermarket.
• It gets the baby used to eating the same food as the rest of the family — just in puree form.

To make the purees you only need a few different kitchen tools:

• Stove, to roast or bake
• Steamer basket, steamer pot, or a steamer
• A good quality blender, or food processor
• Ice cube trays, to freeze the purees once they’ve cooled
• Cookbook is optional.  The only real ingredients is fruits and vegetables!

Since peaches are in season right now (and super cheap), I decided that I would make about 3 pounds of peach baby food (I also made green beans and sweet peas which I will show you the finished product of further down).  I started by washing, pitting, and halving the peaches:

Then I gave a slice to Hanna because I have to give her a slice of fruit whenever I’m eating it.  She is becoming a really good beggar.

After you can clearly see that the water is boiling in the steamer, steam pot, or steam rack, put the peaches into steam.

Let them steam for about 5 minutes or until the fuzz starts to peel back from the peach.

Once you can pierce them easily with a fork they are ready to go into the blender.

I was blessed with an awesome boss that bought me a Vita-mix one year for Christmas after I sat in awe of the one his wife had.  Because this is a powerful blender, there is no need to remove the skin (extra vitamins and nutrients!).  With peaches you don’t need to add any extra water.  With most vegetables you do need to add a little water to get it going.  You can also add breast milk or formula to make it that much more nutritious (but you don’t have to).  Once the peaches were pureed (after about 2 minutes in the blender on high), they are ready to go into the ice cube trays.  Baby food will keep up to 3 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer. I prefer freezer, that way I can make huge batches about twice a month and have plenty of options.

This is enough to feed Hanna for 24 meals. If the consistency is too runny I add some oatmeal cereals from Happy Bellies to thicken it up!

I spent about $10 as opposed to about $30 I would be spending on bottled food.  I only make baby food about twice a month and it takes me about 3 hours all together.  And last of all the comparison: