Win it: Beaba Babycook

UPDATE: Congratulations to Lindsey, our winner of the Beaba Babycook! Thank you all for entering! This week we are giving away a box of Milkscreen test strips. Enter here!

This week we are giving away a Beaba Babycook so you too can be your baby’s own personal chef! Scandinavian Child, a retailer of super cool baby gear, is graciously providing the Babycook.

Natali, Nathalee and myself all use the Babycook to make our babies’ food and are huge advocates! You can steam, puree, defrost and re-heat food for your little one. Nathalee actually recommended it to me right before I started feeding Taz solids and I’m so glad she did! My Babycook sits on top of my counter because it’s compact (which is good for city living), so it’s readily available when I need it. And the bowl and basket are top rack dishwasher safe. Score!

Here is one of my favorite video demos for the Babycook.

I sometimes wish it were a little bigger so that I could make larger batches of food to freeze. Similarly, Nathalee’s one complaint is it’s small size. But she says that a big positive is how easy it is to use and clean up .  She’s planning on keeping it in her kitchen for regular meal prep after she’s done with baby food.  She says, “I love that I can clean the whole thing in about 30 seconds.”

Natali loves her Beaba too. She says that even though it doesn't quite have the power of a professional grade blender like a Vita-Prep, it's able to puree most foods with ease (she does tend to throw corn and peas in the blender to get them ultra smooth).  She also recommends getting a couple extra baskets so they don't get dingy from all that use.

I really enjoy making food for Tazzy and I love that I have an easy way to do it! Just last week I mixed salmon, carrots and dill for her. She loved it! I actually need to make apples, pears & cinnamon for breakfast this week. The $149 investment was a good one for me!

If you'd like to win a Beaba Babycook here is all you have to do:

• Like us on Facebook.
• Post a comment in the comments section of this blog post (not on Facebook) about what you with do with your very own Beaba Babycook or why you want one. And feel free to include any baby food recipes that you can’t wait to try. You must enter a valid email address in the comment form so that we can notify you if you win.  The email address will not display and we will not spam you.
• For bonus points, you can like Scandinavian Child on Facebook.  (This doesn't effect your elligibility.)

Contest rules are here. This contest ends on Thursday, May 5 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Good luck!

Win It! Mumi & Bubi Solid Starter Kit

This week we are giving away a Mumi & Bubi Solid Starter Kit. I love, love, love this product!! Here is why.

A representative from Mumi & Bubi contacted me about 2 months ago about this product. She knew that we were about to start solids with Baby Mo and wanted me to know about this product, originally from New Zealand, just about to launch in the U.S.

I had just started to make Baby Mo's food using my trusty Beaba Babycook. I was freezing the servings in an ice cube tray that I picked up at Target. This is a good system, but by no means a great system. I had to use a butter knife to get the frozen servings out of the trays, which proved to be treaturous on my poor hands. Also, I had no assurance that the trays were BPA free.

Mumi & Bubi to the rescue! These BPA-free trays make it easy to spread the homemade food evenly and once the food is frozen, it slides out effortlessly so I can store it in freezer bags. The trays stack easily and take up almost no room at all in my already-packed freezer and they are dishwasher safe for easy clean up.

This Starter Kit costs $29.95, or free if you enter and win our contest! I know I am being overly-enthusiastic but I really do just love this product to pieces.

Recently a woman in her 50s told me how she used to make her own babyfood: with an old-fashioned food mill and glass jars to store her food. No thanks! Making your own baby food can be a really rewarding experience but you have to take the help where you need it. The Mumi & Bubi coupled with the Beaba make the babyfood-making mommy's life so much easier.

Here is how to win this product:

Like MommyBeta on Facebook

Tell us in the comment section (of this blog post, not on Facebook) if you plan to, do or did make your own baby food and why

And if you love Mumi & Bubi too, like them on Facebook (not required for entry)

The contest ends on Thursday, March 3, at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be announced on Friday. Click here for complete terms, rules and regulations.

Thank you to Mumi & Bubi for being so generous with Mommy Beta. Good luck to all of you homemade baby fooders!

Update on Friday, March 4, 2011 at 12:54PM by Nathalee

We have a winner!  Congratulations to Lindsey Beasley--she's won a Mumi & Bubi Solid Starter Kit!

Overselling The Veggies

Baby Mo has been eating solids for about a week and a half. We started with brown rice cereal for a week to let him get used to the idea and last night we started with peas. It doesn't seem like he is a big fan.

Of course Daddy is the fun one laughing and I am overselling it and then taking the end result a little too seriously. Typical.

I hope this doesn't mean he doesn't like my cooking! I did make this pea puree myself and I plan to make all of his food from scratch. I broke down and ordered the Beaba Babycook this weekend because after making one batch without it, I realized that I did not want to have to peel, chop, steam, purree, and freeze my baby food separately. The ability to do it all with one appliance was the selling point.

I also got a Mumi & Bubi solid starter kit. I love these freezing trays because you can pour in your puree and swipe a spatula across to distribute evenly. Much easier than ice cube trays, plus you can be sure that they are BPA free.

Now about this gagging reflex that my son is having to peas, should I keep trying to convince him that he likes them? If so, for how long? Are there any tips to making baby enjoy vegetables more? And please don't say to feed him fruit instead.