Food Revolution

While spending time at home searching for a job, I have been doing my research on baby food.  Let me just tell you baby girl, you are going to have a whole bunch of new things coming your way (of course with the obligatory 3 day waiting period in between).  I started my research at the American Academy of Pediatricians.  Ed has used this site for a lot of advice before.  They have a sample menu for an 8 to 12 month old:

Breakfast

•1⁄4–1⁄2 cup cereal or mashed egg
•1⁄4–1⁄2 cup fruit, diced (if your child is self- feeding)
•4–6 oz. formula/breastmilk

Snack
•4–6 oz. breastmilk/formula or water
•1⁄4 cup diced cheese or cooked vegetables

Lunch
•1⁄4–1⁄2 cup yogurt or cottage cheese or meat
•1⁄4–1⁄2 cup yellow or orange vegetables
•4–6 oz. formula/breastmilk

Snack
•1 teething biscuit or cracker
•1⁄4 cup yogurt or diced (if child is self-feeding) fruit Water

Dinner
•1⁄4 cup diced poultry, meat, or tofu
•1⁄4–1⁄2 cup green vegetables
•1⁄4 cup noodles, pasta, rice, or potato
•1⁄4 cup fruit
•4–6 oz. formula/breastmilk

Before Bedtime
•6–8 oz. formula/breastmilk or water (If formula or breastmilk, follow with water or brush teeth afterward.)

First reaction: holy food batman!  KA-POW! My girl is already very tall and overpowering to any kid in her age bracket I can't imagine what form of the Baby Hulk she will develop into with all this food! She does get a fruit and veggie feeding a day along with ~28-32 oz formula.  I know this is a sample menu for a kid at 12 months as well so I'm going to aspire to this. 
We are definitely missing the protein.  She has not had any meat, beans, or dairy.  The first thing I'm going to do is buy some plain yogurt and mix this with her pomegranate pears since she seems fine with the new element of pomegranate juice.  Also we haven't been giving her diced fruit but she is beyond ready for them.  She plows through the Gerber puffs and keeps making a chewing motion with her mouth.  I think small pieces of banana and Cheerios are perfect for her now.

We also buy a lot of organic food for her but we eat conventional produce...I mean, when we eat produce in our high yellow food diet (so not good, I know).  Luckily when you're only buying 2 apples at a time you don't notice a price difference.  I did some more research and found what you should buy organic and what you can simply wash and have be acceptable:

What to buy organic:

Peaches

Apples

Bell Peppers

Celery

Nectarines

Strawberries

Cherries

Pears

Grapes

Spinach

Lettuce

Potatoes

Can buy non-organic:

Papaya

Broccoli

Cabbage

Bananas

Kiwi

Frozen Sweet Peas

Asparagus

Mangoes

Pineapple

Sweet Corn

Avocado

Onion

That was really for my own record keeping.