PRODUCT REVIEW: Infantino Squeeze System & Homemade applesauce recipe (and fruit purees for the toddler)!

A little over a week ago, my friend Shary posted on her blog Atta Mama about using the Infantino Squeeze System to make baby food purees.  Up until this point I had only ever heard of the Baby Bullet which just seemed like a hot mess to me.  I so wish I had the squeeze station when my son, Bryce, was eating baby food - it truly is wonderful.  My son is now 22 months and up until this week I had been giving him Peter Rabbit Organics puree blends.  I love these for him - they're quick, easy, HEALTHY, and relatively mess free (unless your child throws it on the ground and steps on it or turns it upside down and gives it a sturdy shake - yes, I've been there); however they run me an average of $1.40 a pouch.  Ouch when he eats 1-2 a day ...

To better understand the remainder of this post, I highly recommend you read Shary's blog post and watch the Infantino demo video (just click video on the squeeze station button).

Yesterday was my first experimentation with the Squeeze Station and it did not go so well - I mixed blueberries, stawberries & banana however I had to figure out I needed to add water to get to the consistency where I could get it into the pouch.  Basically out of 1/4 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup strawberries and 1/2 a banana I got 2 1/2 pouches - I'll be refining my methods for the next go.  Tonight however I made homemade applesauce using a recipe from All Recipes (my go-to recipe website).  Below are the ingredients to make homemade applesauce (including my modifications to the All Recipes one) as well as my results with the Infantino Squeeze System.

Ingredients:

• 4 apples - peeled, cored and chopped
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/8 cup white sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

In a saucepan, combine the apples, water, sugar and cinnamon and heat over medium heat for 15-20 minutes or until apples are soft.  After cooling, mash with fork (or mashed potato masher if you have one).

You can find the secret to peeling apples here.  This is the way I did it and I was able to peel 4 apples in about 5 minutes.

After cooling, I put mine in the food processor which also got it to a good consistency - though I was purposely pureeing to use the Squeeze Station.

One lesson I learned from my failed berry pouches was that I shouldn't 100% trust the measurement lines on the squeeze station tubes as I had overfilled a pouch and it had oozed back out (and basically squirted my son in the face when he went to eat it), so I used my measuring cup tonight and measured 4 oz before transferring to the squeeze tubs (each pouch holds 4 oz).

The main lesson I learned tonight is that if you have excess liquid in the squeeze tube, when you apply pressure using the plunger - it may/will leak out around the pouch valve.  This wasn't a huge deal for me because the squeeze station has a bottom that caught the excess fluid and I was able to easily rinse it before I started on my next pouch - it was just an unintended side effect and a learning lesson for the next time I make pouches.  You need the right consistency to make it liquid enough to squeeze into the pouches, but not too much liquid or you may make a slight mess.

See pictures below demonstrating my progress.  All in all, I love this product - it's easy to use, I made a very minimal mess and it's kind of like using a blender, if you rinse everything right away there isn't much cleanup involved.

Disclaimer: I was not requested to review, nor was I compensated in any way.  The thoughts expressed above are mine and were observed firsthand.

Easy carb-free meatloaf dinner for family

I'm all about easy dinners that allow me to spend more time with my family while dinner is in the oven.  Prep on this meal takes all of 10 min, then bake for an hour - cool & serve.  Feel free to modify the recipe in any capacity and let me know any tips/tricks you've tried.

Ingredients:

• 1 - 1 1/2 lbs hamburger meat
• 1 egg
• 1/2 onion - chopped/diced relatively finely
• 1/2 cup milk
• salt, pepper, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, oregano to taste
• 1/3 cup ketchup (topping)

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except ketchup.  Mix by hand.
3. I use a stoneware 5x9 loaf pan so I don't need to grease it, but if you're using a metal loaf pan: lightly grease and then pack mixed ingredients into loaf pan semi-firmly.  Expect concoction to be quite moist due to the milk and lack of breadcrumbs, but the majority of extra liquid will evaporate in the oven.
4. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
5. Remove from oven carefully and drain excess grease.  Top with ketchup.  Allow to cool 5-10 minutes, then serve.  Goes well with pasta, rice or just vegetables.  Also good with provolone cheese and made into sandwiches.

• For onion chopping, I used my food processor I use to make my son's purees, but I also have the Pampered Chef food chopper.  If you have to do it manually with a knife, add about 5 more minutes to total prep time.

Here's where I got the original recipe that I modified: All Recipes

Neat idea for wrapping gifts!

What a fun idea for the holidays (or even birthdays)!  Use favorites photos instead of gift tags and bring back a beautiful memory in the process!