Diane Keaton, eat your heart out

Today my social plans fell through and Liam napped for, literally, hours longer than normal. I already had beef stew started in the crockpot for dinner, and was feeling super-industrious. And, I had given the house a thorough cleaning last weekend (yes, I'm a loser who now spends Saturday nights washing the kitchen floor). So, in my neverending quest to partake of all things motherhood-related, I decided to whip up some baby food.

I wasn't entirely sure how this would go. I had visions of Diane Keaton in the movie Baby Boom. (For those who haven't seen it, she plays a big-city career woman who chucks it all and moves to the country when she inherits a baby from some far-removed relative. I think the baby food part comes in when her apple orchard goes into overdrive and she's trying to get rid of the apples. I don't remember the exact scene where this all starts, but I imagine it involves mountains of apple peels and pots boiling over and spatters of food all over the ceiling. This is what I was braced for.) I am happy to report though, that it went surprisingly well, was very easy to do, and our kitchen ceiling is still white.

Maybe I'm a sucker for punishment, but I decided to start with carrots. Liam hates carrots. I mean, he HATES them. I can't for the life of me figure this out: exactly what is so offensive about a carrot? If it were brussels sprouts or mushrooms that he were opposed to then at least I could sympathize with him. Anyway, I decided that it was the baby food carrots that he hates but that my carrots would be cooked and pureed with love and he would therefore gobble them up. I can't tell you how much I looked forward to dinner tonight, when I would serve him up some carrots the likes of which he'd never seen.

Here's the result:

OK, I admit defeat.

I also made some peas, because the puke-green colour of the jarred variety sickens me, even if they do smell decent. Here's what mine look like instead: the colour that a pea is truly supposed to be.

Unfortunately, the peas got the exact same reaction that the carrots did. This is even more puzzling, because Liam loves the peas that come out of the jar, even though they are a snotty kind of colour.

This food is supposed to keep for several months in the freezer. I'm not giving up hope just yet. I will pull some out in a couple of weeks and see if I can sneak it past him. I also still have a squash in the pantry that I had planned to roast and puree; if it doesn't work out, I'll feel dumb for trying, but the purchase was already made.

At least Chad ate his stew.