My personal favorite recipe when starting solid foods is for rice cereal. It's not too time consuming, and it's so much more appealing than the deydrated boxed version of baby rice cereal, that even I eat it! I use brown rice for it's superior nutritional value, and spread the rice on a cookie sheet. I don't measure it out, just use about what I think my baby will eat up in two weeks time. I bake the rice at around 350 degrees for 15 minutes or so. I don't really keep track of the time, but when I start to smell that nutty aroma the rice gives off I check on it. If it's nicely browned I take it out to let it cool. *Put the rice in an airtight container to be used later. At feeding time, measure a couple tablespoons of the rice into a coffee grinder that you only use for baby food. *Grind it up so that its almost powdery, but it's ok if there are a few little chunks. *Put the ground up rice in a pot and add 2 cups of water, bring to a quick boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Let the rice cook for about 15 minutes or until it absorbs the water and is a nice consistency for baby. If you over cook, the rice will be too thick. *It tastes great and you can add some mashed banana too if you like!
~Hannah

TIP from Mom2b:
Em (6 months) loved to grab the spoon when I'm feeding her. I gave her herown spoon and the problem is solved.

Thanks to Pheebert for sending in this Baby Food Tip!
My tip is- Don't spend a bunch of money on "special" baby foods in little jars that are a little bit of food and a lot of water, filler, etc. My 10 month old son's favorite breakfast is oatmeal. I just buy organic quick oats at the health food store, put 'em in a bowl with apple juice and/or water, stick it in the microwave for less than a minute and voila! He loves it, and it's easy and good for him.

Spookymom33 writes:
Hi there! When I've given my son avacado, I've simply mashed it up and given it to him. I was making guacamole for the family and just took some of the plain avacado and put it aside. It is really good, but high in fat if that's a concern for you.

MissNoel writes:
Avacados are wonderful! A good source of protein and fat which is needed for the developing brain tissue. After rice cereal, that was my baby's first food. They are really easy, and don't really take much preparation. All I did was slice in in half, remove the pit, and scoop it into the baby food grinder. I mushed it through that and then put it into icecube trays and froze them. Our baby will eat one cube mixed with cereal and it's still one of her favorite meals! Hope this helps!

MerMoma writes:
I always started feeding my babies table food when they started to show areal interest in it (like grabbing my spoon and shoving it in their mouths).When my kids were little babies, they would eat any steamedveggie, especially the orange ones, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots. Iwould steam them, grind them in a little baby food grinder, and freeze theleftovers in little portions, like in an ice cube tray.

My daughter's favorite finger food, is cubes of firm tofu cooked either inmiso soup, or in a broth of tamari and water. She likes to take the tofuand dip it in a little dish of the broth. She calls it dip-dip. And shewill eat an amazing amount of it.

They also eat lots of pasta and cereal and fruit. I feel pretty lucky thatmy kids are still willing to eat some vegetables and are not as picky as Iwas as a kid.