Fruits have been my favorite introduction so far. It’s like making jam for my kid. Finally I can be the good cop parent. Not the parent stressing that he has all nine servings of green vegetables a day. Or that his food contain no salt or sugar is completely organic and chemical/unpronounceable word-free all while having less than 4 ingredients. I mean too many components and you will have things like xanthen gum in your jarred food, which is yes, pronounceable, but totally not a word I use on a weekly yearly lifely basis. So why feed it to my kid? Exactly.

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As with most introductory first foods, this one is rather plain and simple. A few zucchini simmered in broth then pureed until velvety. Perhaps if I found my love for zucchini before I introduced our tiniest mouth to its charm I would have come up with something a little more interesting then plainy plain jane summer squash. I would have thrown in a handful of microplaned parmesan, a few flecks of basil or thyme and the tiniest smidge of garlic and splash of lemon. Instead, I was in a rush and knew nothing of the things that could make zucchini sing.

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Alright folks. We’re going to play a round of catch up with a baby food blitz. Are you ready? I still have to tell you about baby’s first foods, and our introduction to fruits and second and third stage foods because the little guy is already starting on finger foods and my to-do list of things to tell you is practically drowning me.

After our gleeful spinach introduction followed by pea introduction I decided green beans would be next. Green beans were perhaps the one green vegetable I knew would be hastily eaten without a single complaint, but the thought of mushy green beans sounded, in a word, bleh. I’m finding baby is not at all a texture eater (like his mama). Or at least, he is not yet. He puts just about everything in his mouth (shoe soles watch out, you’re the current favorite) and though green beans cooked until slush sounds unappetizing to me, he, I’m sure would have no problem with it.

But here’s the thing. I have a problem (in the words of my husband) to make sure that he likes, loves and enjoys every single food I offer up to his tummy god. It’s not a ego thing, where I need him to like my food. Just a thing of, I don’t want him to be a picky eater. I don’t want him to be like me (and some of my friends) who only eat three vegetables: potatoes, pasta and cheese. I don’t want to have “eat your vegetables or else” ultimatums. My childhood had enough for the next three generation’s lifetimes.

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Whew! Where were we? Oh yes, it’s July and I still haven’t told you about the strawberry rhubarb jam, err sauce I fed Henry. Apologies, of course, though if you keep up on these pages I’m sure you understand the lack of getting to you all in a timely manner. Even now, I am only taking a short 5 minute break from packing tiny man pants with matching tank tops and bucket hats and sand castle gear, because really I can’t stall any longer.

Unfortunately all of my frozen baby food was ruined in the derecho last weekend and I have yet to make up some yummy compotes. We’ve been surviving off of organic gerber food, which I’m finding the baby does not enjoy with any kind of enthusiasm. After all, none of it tastes like jam, like this does, and I would be completely put out if I was fed some conglomeration of whole wheat pasta and harvest vegetables instead of sweet summer berry medleys too. Once we get back from the beach I will be whipping up a ton of new sauces and purees — I’m beginning to dread the thought because the backlog I still have to share with you isn’t even close to being done. I guess to take the pressure off, I will just share the recipes. You wouldn’t be too terribly upset, would you? The only thing missing will be me, rambling up a storm, and really, it won’t be missed, let’s not kid ourselves. So for now, I give you the best smelling and wonderfully jammy strawberry rhubarb sauce. It’s all the rage around these gums and company.

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I’m going to take a quick jump here to some dual fruited second stage sauces before plunging through our green vegetable introduction. I’ve got this cherry peach sauce and a jammy strawberry rhubarb sauce (coming next) that I’ve been dying to tell you about, and I just hope that your local farmer’s market or grocer still has or will be getting the last round of this seasons cherries and rhubarb.

In my long list of food combinations I wanted to feed my kid (the very first thing I made after seeing the second line show up on the knocked up stick, ya know, priorities), strawberry rhubarb was always at the top. Luckily for us, he began food right as it was coming in season and I made some, froze it and saved it until we were ready to start introducing the second stage of goo. Cherries, didn’t make the cut. They’re expensive, a lot of work for such little reward, and honestly there are so many better fruits out there. Well, needless to say, me and what my husband refers to as my “besetting sin” (am I the only one who gets suddenly greedy after seeing bright, fresh, wonderful smelling produce at the farmer’s market and get, errr, carried away and bring home far more than any two normal people could possibly eat?) got the better of me and I slew home a bundle of cherries and didn’t use nearly as many as I thought I would need.

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