The simple things in life are often the best and in this case, fruits
and vegetables offer the simplest and most nutritious food your baby can
have. Our baby loves slow cooked pear but you can mix and match the
cubes to get a balanced diet.
Ingredients
1 Pear
200g of Pumpkin
1 Apple
Remove skin and dice ingredients. Place ingredients into separate
cleaned glass jars (do not use plastic). Pour 3cm (1 inch) of water into
slow cooker and cook on low for 5-8 hours until the ingredients are
soft.
Allow the jars to cool and lightly blend using a hand blender. Place
into ice cube maker and freeze. Try some for yourself. Its sooo
delicious!
Tip: Once frozen, you can transfer the cubes into re-sealable bags
or jars to re-use the ice cube maker.
When purchasing a slow cooker, look for one with a removable liner. They
are much easier to clean. If you have a non-removable liner, however, all is
not lost! Line your slow cooker with a cooking bag and you'll have no cleanup
at all. Spray the inside of the liner with cooking spray before you fill it
to make cleanup easier.
60C is the temperature the food needs to reach as quickly as possible.
If you are at home during the cooking times, test the food temperature after
four hours of cooking on LOW - the temp should be at least 60C.
For food safety reasons, it's a good idea to cook on HIGH for the first
hour to quickly bring the temperature up to 60C. Then turn the dial to
LOW and finish cooking.
Experts recommend you do not put frozen foods in the slow cooker. All
foods should be defrosted before cooking so the food temperature can reach
60C as soon as possible. However, since none of my family members are
in a high-risk group, I often cook frozen foods in the slow cooker. The
informed choice is up to you.
Remove cooked food from the slow cooker or liner before you refrigerate the
cooked food. Because the liner is made of such thick material, the food
won't cool down quickly enough to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria.
