One Hundred Jars of Baby Food on the Wall......

.....One hundred jars of baby food. Take one down, pass it around. Ninety-nine jars of baby food ....

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What does one do when a friend drops off ONE HUNDRED jars of baby food? It's time to get creative. As you may have gathered by past postings, I love free stuff. I also love the challenge of making free stuff useful. I'm already dreaming of the things I'll use the little glass jars for but first I must find some uses for the food. I do have Princess (daycare baby girl) who will eat up some but she's nearing the stage of eating "normal" foods. I sent a bunch home with Princess and will keep a stock just for her but she'll never eat her way through this pile. 


I started the morning with a baby food smoothie. Yes, I did and yes, it was yummy, despite the weird combo that I choose. One small jar of spinach/carrot combo, one small jar of banana (c'mon, who doesn't like banana baby food?), and one small jar of blueberry applesauce. I topped off my baby food with one raw egg, a little blob of homemade yogurt, a splash of milk and some chia seeds. Unlike yesterday's spinach-beet smoothie (which was more chunky than smooth), my baby food smoothie was just that. Smooth. Yummy and full of fruits and veggies.


While drinking my smoothie, the kids and I made a quick bread (using my baking mix) with one jar of banana baby food and one jar of applesauce baby food. Although the bread was good, next time I'll add another jar or two of banana to give the bread a more banana-y flavor. 


I also found that a handful of jars were just past expiration. These will get fed to the chickens. I'm sure with the new snow on the ground they will be happy to get some "produce"...even if it does come from a jar.


There are about 10 jars of baby food "meats". Princess makes a funny face and sometimes gags when I try to feed her these. I feel like I'm torturing her by feeding her the pale pink puree so pooch lucked out. Cooper, the dog, is very happy that no one wants the baby food meat. He is nuts over beef with beef broth. It's his favorite.


Applesauce Baby Food? Well it's just like regular, big-kid applesauce....only in a much smaller container. We had three jars with lunch. Applesauce can be eaten "as is". Blueberry banana will sweeten my morning smoothies, pears and bananas can be added to quick breads. The fruits will be easy to use up. 


Vegetables on the other hand...hmmm....peas? green beans? Ew. I don't know. Maybe I can hide a jar in the meatloaf I am making tonight or I could add some of the veggies to a batch of homemade dog food.  Hiding vegetables in entrees will need an extra dose of clever creativeness. Time to pull out my "Sneaky Chef" cookbook. I'll update if I come up with anything brilliant. 


Carrots will be used to make carrot cake, carrot quick bread, and carrot muffins....or accompany an apple in my blender for Apple Carrot Juice. 


I've already used (or given away) approximately half my stock. That leaves approximately..........

Fifty jars of baby food on the wall, fifty jars of baby food....