For all the latest baby food news, updates to nutrition guidelines, product recalls, great new baby food recipes, hints, tips and more!
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October 29, 2007 08:21 - Make Your Own Cheese Straws
Homemade cheese straws are delicious and make a tasty finger food for older babies and toddlers. They have a crisp and light texture, but are fairly crumbly - so, whilst they're suitable for accomplished self feeders who are chewing well, they are not appropriate for younger babies just getting to grips with finger foods.
Preheat the oven to 350 deg F, 180 deg C. In a bowl, mix the flour and rub in the butter. Stir in the grated cheese and the egg yolks, then knead well until you have a smooth dough. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is around 1/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into fingers, about 1/2 an inch wide and 3 inches long, then place the fingers on a greased baking sheet. Bake until golden brown (about 15-20 mins). Put on a wire rack to cool as soon as the fingers are cooked, otherwise the bottoms may burn. Store in an airtight container.
Take a look at some more easy and tasty finger food recipes, including some ideas for younger babies...
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October 30, 2007 08:33 - Organic Food - Better For Baby, Better For You
New research has found that organic foods are far more nutritious than non-organic.
Consumers have always known that buying organic foods helps protect them from the risks that harmful pesticides pose to health - but this is the first time that studies have shown that these foods are actually more nutritious.
These findings come from a 12 million pound, 4 year study on the benefits of organic food, conducted by the European Union. The research, called the Quality Low Input Food Project, is the biggest study ever carried out to examine the advantages of organic food and farming.
And the results are impressive!
Researchers found...
Organically grown fruits and vegetables contain up to 40 per cent more antioxidants (cancer fighting and heart protective nutrients) than non-organic produce.
Organic milk contains up to 60 per cent more antioxidants and healthy fatty acids than non-organic.
Professor Leifert, who revealed these findings, suggested that eating organic food was as good as eating an extra portion of fruit or vegetables each day.
Good news for everyone...
...but these findings have extra significance for us parents. Not only are we able to boost our babies' nutrition by using organic produce, but we are also able to provide MORE nutrition is smaller amounts.
So how do you ensure that the foods you buy for your baby are truly organic?
Here's our guide to organic labeling to help you make an informed selection. Please note that the requirements stated here apply to US law and that legal requirements may differ in other areas.
The law requires that products labelled 100% organic are completely free of synthetic ingredients. Independent inspectors verify that the processes used to produce these foods meet federal standards.
Foods labelled simply organic are required to contain at least 95% organically produced ingredients.
If a product is marked Made With Organic Ingredients, it must contain at least 70% organic ingredients. The remainder must come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's approved list.
Products marked all natural or simply natural are NOT organically grown - labels like these have no legal definition, so they're actually meaningless! Meat or poultry products are the exception, though - in these cases, 'natural' means that the products are free from artificial flavouring, colouring and synthetic ingredients.
Looking for some great baby food recipes in which to use your organically grown produce? Then check out...
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October 31, 2007 08:46 - More Appetizing Recipes From our Readers
Congratulations - and a big thank you - to Nancy from the United States! Nancy is the winner of our Homemade Baby Food Recipes competition this month and wins a $20 Amazon voucher.
You can see Nancy's recipe for Toddlers Favorite Breakfast - plus two more yummy meal ideas (for Cuban Black Beans with Plantains and Cracked Wheat with Chicken and Potato) - on our Baby Food Ideas page.
You'll find lots more readers' recipes there, too - with some very inspiring and unusual ideas, calling for ingredients that you may not have used before!
Please keep your recipes rolling in...
just visit our competition page and complete the simple form... and next month our winner might be YOU!
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October 31, 2007 10:55 - Happy Halloween
For those of you celebrating Halloween today, we hope you and your little ones have lots of fun! If you're getting your baby all dressed up, then we'd love to see your photographs - just contact us with your email address and we'll tell you how to send your pictures. Once we've received them, we'll publish them here on our blog!
If you're wondering what to do with all that pumpkin left over from your Jack O' Lantern, then we have some great baby food ideas for you...
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November 1, 2007 00:17 - November's Beautiful Baby of the Month
It's the first of November - and that means we have a brand new sunny smile on our 'Baby of the Month' page, chosen from all the photographs submitted by our readers.
You'll notice that the page has a new look, too - and we've made it easier for you to submit your baby's photograph and details.
So come and check out November's Baby of the Month, see some more of the wonderful photographs we received and send in YOUR little one's photo... he or she may just be our Christmas Baby of the Month...
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November 3, 2007 14:50 - Preparing For a Storm
It's been a very unsettled week for us, as our area was hit head-on by Hurricane Noel on Thursday. Fortunately, it was only a category one hurricane, so no one was injured and damage to property in our area was minimal. Our thoughts this weekend are with families in the Caribbean who were not so fortunate and experienced loss of life and property.
Although the storm has now passed by, we are left with no power - a common situation for many people after severe weather. Luckily, we have a small generator that enables us to run our computers (and keep in contact with our visitors) and also allows us to run our refrigerator for short periods of time.
But situations like this can be very difficult when you have a young baby and you're storing quantities of food for him, either in the refrigerator or freezer. It's important to be aware of food safety 'rules', which can help you judge whether or not your little one's food is still safe for him to eat when you've been without power for some time.
If YOU"RE in an area prone to extreme weather conditions - or in an area where your power supply is unreliable - please take a look at our 'Storing Baby Food' page which gives you some helpful tips to ensure the safety of your baby's (and your) food.
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November 4, 2007 14:23 - Get More Free Baby Food Recipes, Tips and Advice
How? By subscribing to Baby Bites - our free, monthly newsletter.
Baby Bites is packed with useful articles to help you make your baby's food at home AND enjoy doing it! You'll also find product reviews, bonus tips and details of other sites that offer useful information for parents.
And that's not all - this month we reveal details of our special 'subscriber only' Christmas recipe competition!
So don't delay - sign up now and look forward to this month's issue, due out on November 7th.
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