feeding mamatouille's baby: oatmeal

The second time around, I definitely wasn't going to make the same mistake I did with Matthew (our elder son): I gave him okayu (rice gruel) as his first food (as most Japanese mommies do), and even with the extra liquid I gave him, he still got clogged up, big time. Poor bean. And he wouldn't touch prunes with a ten-foot blankie, so we really were up a creek. (I'll spare you the gory details. This is a food blog, after all.)

So Joel got the better end of the deal. I started him off with oatmeal (though to be honest it was a box of the flaked stuff a friend gave me from the States, which was a lifesaver at the time). He's now on to the real thing, and per hubby's suggestion (I'm so glad he thought of this), I just grab some with a measuring cup out of our massive Costco-sized bag of whole-grain oats...

And whiz it up in the food processor before I cook it.
I store it in a zippy bag...
And cook some up when Joel runs out...
I use 1.5 cups of dust-ified oats with 3.5 cups of water, and that seems to work just fine. I then freeze it in ice-cube trays and defrost with whatever fruits or veggies he's having for his meal. I always make sure to puree the veggies in their cooking water so that not only do they get to keep their vitamins and minerals, but then I don't need to add extra liquid to his dish come meal time. Lunch today was spinach, tomatoes, carrots, and oatmeal for his main course, and then apples and prunes for dessert. Not a speck left. Joel can hoover it down, for sure.