What are the best foods to introduce first with solids?

[mtgcnv67]

He's 6 months old and we're introducing solids. I want to make it at home, so I'm looking for easy fruits and vegetables to work with.

I did carrots already. But what other vegetables are nutritional and easy to prepare at home?

I was thinking maybe squash, but I've never worked with squash before, so I need a recommendation on what kind to get. Are russet potatoes nutritional enough? I seem to remember reading somewhere that potatoes are fairly empty calories. Asparagas and Brocolli seem like they'd be hard to prepare...would a blender be able to chop them up fine enough to not have the asparagas stringy and the dots from the end of the brocolli?
By the way...I'm not looking for recipes that involve anything but the vegetable itself. He's lactose intolerant, so I can't prepare them with milk or butter, and I don't really want to added flavors of dairy and sugar anyway...I'd rather him learn to like the foods the way they are naturally.

 

[Charlie'smummy]

Sweet potato and parsnip mash, lentils and potatoes, soup, mash nd a sauce.... Apple peach and mango is a good breakfast combo

 

[JillP]

Squash is a good one. I'd use a butternut (they're plentiful now, cheap, mild in flavor, and easy to prepare). You just cut them in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, and bake skin-side-down in a covered dish with a 1/2-inch of water in the bottom at 325F for about an hour or until soft, then mash or puree when cool.

I also made my own baby food when my son was a baby, and had good luck with peas, squash, pumpkin (prepare just like squash), and green beans.

Also, most experts actually recommend that you should not prepare your own carrots. Depending on the soil they're grown in, carrots can contain more nitrates than are healthy for a baby. Baby food manufacturers like Gerber use only carrots that are guaranteed to be low in nitrates.

Finally, you're correct about potatoes -- not much nutritional value. You want to stick with things that have a lot of color (color = vitamins).

Good luck and enjoy!

EDIT -- Forgot about fruits. Fruits are actually way easier than veggies and there's a wider variety. Bananas are super-easy to mash. Apples and pears cook and puree nicely. Berries and kiwis are easy to mash but have a lot of seeds. Melon is hard to mash without cooking but tastes a little funky if you cook it, so that one's a little tougher. Save citrus fruits for later when he can manage strings/chunks.

 

[jlb]

Try avocado or banana, just mash and serve. Sweet potatoes are easy too. Bake until fork tender and scoop out the insides. If you want to do squash, I'd try acorn squash 1st. Just bake it in the oven.

Hold off on the broccoli and asparagus for a few months, until he can pick up chunks himself. They don't puree well.