mumi&bubi Trays for Freezing Cookie Dough

I did a little experiment recently.  I used my mumi&bubi trays to freeze chocolate chip cookie dough.  Here’s how I did it:

1. Made my FAVORITE , pretends-to-be-healthy cookie dough recipe (whole wheat flour and rolled oats).
2. I baked a dozen cookies right away and spread the rest of the dough into my mumi&bubi trays using a silicon spatula.
3. Froze the cookies overnight.
4. Removed the dough from the trays and put it into a freezer bag.  This is where I had a little trouble.  The dough didn’t “pop” out of the trays like purees usually do—I had to use a knife to get them out.  I think it’s because the dough is so sticky.  Maybe I should have oiled them first? 
5. Baked my perfectly sized little lumps of dough as needed (or ate them straight out of the bag).

In the end, I was really happy with how the frozen dough turned out, but the process was a bit more arduous than I had hoped (difficult dough removal combined with sticky handwashing of the trays).  Do you have a trick you use to freeze cookie dough?

Recipe Contest! Plus Protein

Where's the beef?

We are excited to announce the Mumi & Bubi Plus Protein Recipe Contest. And we are the judges! Actually, our babies are the judges because they will have to test your submissions.

Mumi & Bubi is working on a baby food recipe book and they want your entries. This contest is meant to help us all add some protein to our baby food. Veggies are pretty easy but I have had some hesitation as to how to add meat to my baby cuisine so I am excited to test out your suggestions.

Of course you don't have to be a carnivore to participate. Legumes and tofu are great sources of protein too!

What else is in it for you? Besides the honor of being included in a recipe book, you could also win Mumi & Bubi Solid Starter Kits, which I cannot live without! And one big winner will be interviewed on the MommyBeta podcast! 

The four of us are homemade baby fooders and we all use Mumi & Bubi trays so we are honored to judge this contest! We hope you enter and follow along and maybe even find a tip or two for making your little one's first meals with love and TLC.

Enter here!

You have until June 19 to submit and you are allowed two recipes. They must also be freezable in Mumi & Bubi trays. And don't worry about competing with Chef Alex. She's ineligible.

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.