Apples

Apples can be a tasty treat or a nice sweet breakfast for your baby, and are a good source of fiber. Apples are a great selection for a first food. Be sure to choose apples that have a nice sweet flavor, for instance you wouldn't want to be giving your baby a bunch of green apples because they are sour and might not be well recieved, particularly at first. There are two methods for preparing apples for your baby. Both are great and pretty easy. Both retain the nutrients of apples. Though baking will allow for more natural sweetness.

Apples

What You Need
Apples
Water
Processor or Mixer

How to Cook
Steam Method (about 10 or so min)
1. Peel, core and seed apples.
2. Fill a pot with enough water to submerge the apples just a little.
3. Steam/boil until soft when poked with a fork.
4. Puree in a mixer or processor until desired consistency is reached.
5. Allow to cool and store in desired containers.

Baked Method
1. Core and seed apples. Leave the peels intact.
2. Put a couple of inches of water in a baking dish with your apples.
3. Bake at 400 for about 40 min or until the skin puckers up. The skin should come right off.
4. Puree in a mixer or processor until desired consistency is reached.
5. Allow to cool and store in desired containers.

Apples can be seasoned prior to, during, or after cooking with cinnamon for a nice touch of flavor. Toby loves cinnamon applesauce. Applesauce can be used for a replacement for oil when baking as well. So, it's a great thing for you to have around too!!

As a time saver, you could also buy jars of natural applesauce at the grocery store. Just be sure that the ingredients are only apples, water, and some also include ascorbic or citric acid. This sort of defeats the purpose of making your own baby food, but it's nice to know that you have alternatives sometimes. I see no problem in using this. It may also be a cheaper route sometimes.