Recipe: Steam, flip, blend and serve (Baby Food - Philips)

I am usually very sceptical when it comes to buying stuff which is age specific unless it is absolutely necessary, like a baby car seat but even that, I bought a convertible car seat because it can be used from birth up to 4 years old. Prior to a purchase, I would meticulously go over its pros and cons, read many reviews and have a debate with my husband.  Call me frugal and I wont deny it because I was brought up to appreciate ‘little is enough’. That was my family motto when dealing with food, clothes and everything else.

My dad had a hobby, he kept live stocks and planted fruit trees in our backyard. We pretty much had a self sustaining life (relying on our own grown food) which is considered a feat nowadays. He taught us to take only what we can consume and food wastage was unheard of in my house.

Despite owning a simple kitchen with only a couple of kitchen appliances - rice cooker and a blender, my mom made us wonderful food.

I feel like a millionaire when I compare my kitchen with the kitchen I grew up in. But each item was bought after weeks of deliberation and justification of its use, how long it would serve me and the with return of investment calculated! I am proud to say, almost all of what I have, has been fully utilised with exception of one - food processor but even that is going to be put to good use now that I have to start making my own butter.

When I first heard about Avent combined steamer and blender, I wasn't entirely sold. My initial thoughts were "What will I do with it after my baby graduates to adult food?" This is the kind of age specific products I am sceptical about.

Putting it to the test

Luckily for me, Philips sent me a demo Avent combined steamer and blender for review purposes. It came with a heavy promise of serving up nutritious food in a fraction of time and effort, anywhere and anytime as opposed to making it the traditional way - steaming/boiling on stove top and transferring it to a blender.

I agreed to take the challenge because the timing was impeccable. I was due for an annual camp with my whole family and cooking for a baby/toddler when you away at a camp can get a bit tricky. So I packed this little gadget which surprisingly didin’t take much space and only weighed 2kgs.

Before leaving for camp, I made a big batch of baby food from home so I would not have to worry about my baby’s food on our first day at camp. We were quite lucky this time because there were a big number of young participants at the camp and we were assigned a big room with many power points. Like minded mummies brought their own small kitchen appliances such as rice cooker and slow cooker to the camp too. Although daily food was served so but it was not suitable for babies and young toddler. Especially mine, who cannot handle spice.

Avent combined steamer and blender was an instant hit amongst the mummies at the camp, especially those with younger babies. It was truly a godsend as it only took a couple of powerful blending cycles to turn the steamed food into a smooth puree. Plus it was being blended in its own jar! All I had to do was flip it over once the vegetables were steamed and turn the knob to blender. This really impressed most mummies, especially those who hate washing up!

We made many types of baby food and Vegetable Medley seemed to be the most favoured by most of the babies and mummies at the camp. This recipe was taken from the recipe booklet which comes with this steamer and blender.

Vegetable medley

The recipe

120gm cauliflower

100gm sweet potato

145gm apple

The method

Chop all ingredients and put in the jar.

Add water as stated on the machine and let it steam.

Once done just flip it over and blend immediately. There is no need to wait for the vegetables to cool down a little like its usually done when I used to cook on stove top.

Walla! Baby puree is ready in less than 20 minutes and that my friends is inclusive of peeling, chopping and cleaning. As I waited for the baby puree to cool down a little, I managed to clean my kitchen counter and get ready to tackle the next big challenge, feeding my toddler.

We had a smooth puree for the younger babies and a little chunkier for some toddlers.

The leftover were immediately packed and refrigerated for later use.

So one week of camp with my toddler was a wonderful experience because I did not rely on instant cereal or store bought jar baby food thanks to Avent combined steamer and blender which provided me with freshly made baby food anytime, anywhere all with a turn of a knob.

It even passes the age specific factor which I mentioned at the opening of the post and stay tuned for my next story on Avent combined steamer and blender.

Some product details

• safety lock system for lid and bowl
• 70cm cord length
• can hold up to 800gm solid / 450ml liquid
• uses BPA free* material
• RM459
• comes with a recipe booklet which features 12 easy to follow recipes shown in picture diagrams
• 

 

Disclosure : I did not receive any compensation writing this review. I did receive a demo Avent steamer and blender from Philips (which has been returned) to help me share my experience using it and all opinions are mine alone. This article was featured in Babytalk magazine (August 2014 issue)

For more recipes, please head over to my Recipes page

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