What's Cookin' Baby

While my kids are solely on finger foods now, they aren't up to eating what I typically eat since they really only have 2 teeth. So, I've spent most of my morning cooking up fruits and veggies for my kids. I'm not a big cooker so I try to do this in batches and only cook 1x a week for them. Several years ago my husband bought me an electric steamer and I have used the heck out of it since we've been on solid foods. Have to say this would make my top 5 of "mommy must-haves". It has two compartments so I throw veggies in one side and fruits in the other and let it go for about 20 - 30 minutes then viola we have all our fruits and veggies ready for the week. Now it's a pain to clean (must be hand washed and it's big and bulky), but it really is great since I can cook everything in it. I use it all the time for me when I want salmon. I throw in a little rice on one side, some veggies in the other and place the salmon on the grill at the top and 15 minutes later I have a complete meal (the steamers called Emeril by T-fal).
I also hate trying to come up with different things for the kids to eat. It's so hard, but I found a great website that's been helpful (http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/) and given me a lot of great ideas like veggie pancakes. My kids love these. They're super easy to make and freeze well. I make about a dozen and freeze them. Then I just pop them out when we need one.
We also eat a lot of sandwich meat. I'm still a little unsure how much they can chew meat with only 2 teeth so we eat chicken, turkey, roast beef and ham via sandwich meat. I get it shaved at the deli counter so it's super easy for the kids to eat and they seam to like it. Again, it's super easy.
Their favorite meal is probably pasta with Parmesan, avocado and baked apples. We eat that a lot for lunch and there's never a drop left. Although their favorite food is green beans for Abby and butternut squash for Jake. They're so funny. Abby will actually throw a fit when the green beans are gone and she's still hungry. She also can't concentrate on anything if there is a stray green bean on her tray that she can't reach. She will stop at nothing to get it.