He LOVES cheese and eggs, and some fruits/veggies, but I feel like I'm feeding him the same foods over and over.
LOL... I know what you mean, I feel like that too at times. The good news is that they don't seem to tired of the same foods as easily as we adults would. Thank goodness!
He still is eating a lot of the pureed Gerber foods
Is there some reason why you are still buying Gerber baby jars? We started out with Gerber foods too, and worked our way up the the level 3 jars. Then we decided that it would be better to let her eat the same foods we eat. Of course she couldn't eat them straight, so we would puree them ourselves using a mini-prep food processor. That has to be one of the best "baby" purchases I've made. It's a small 3-cup Cuisinart mini-prep style food processor. Making such a small amount in a regular size 7-, 11- or 14-cup food processor wouldn't work out as well. It took me a while to decide to get a mini-prep, but after getting it and using it the first few times to make baby food, it has got to be one of the best items I've bought and I wish I had picked one up earlier. And it's nice to know I can still use it for other cooking uses after I no longer need to make baby food, so it's not like it will be a total waste later on like other baby products can be. It felt good to make her food, knowing exactly what ingredients were going into her meals.
DD's dinner is usually the same thing we have for dinner. Anything not in small enough pieces or are "hard" get chopped up into smaller pieces and/or run through the food processor to make a consistency that is appropriate. As she learned to eat solids, they got chopped up into larger pieces and/or run through the food processor to make a "coarser" less pureed texture. We're still doing finely chopped meats; still in the process of transitioning into bigger meat chunks & "tougher" meats ... If your son is still eating a puree, you can add some liquid (water, broth, breast milk, formula, whatever) into the food processor, and it'll make a more "water" puree similar to the baby jar foods. You can gruadually change the texture from "watery" puree (like the baby food jars) to a fine/"coarse" chop as he gets the hang of eating solids.
DD loves noodles, so we give her noodles with veggies. I just make noodles, cooking real well until soft, let cool, then chop it up into tiny pieces. I add soft cooked veggies (usually zucchini, squash, carrots) that are chopped into tiny pieces. I also add some tofu for protein (an easy protein that's soft for beginner eaters!), and a bit of broth for flavor. I do something similar with spaghetti, except I drown it in pasta sauce which she loves loves loves!
DD loves Mac & Cheese. (Actually, she seems to love anything with melted cheese) The macaroni noodles are really soft, easy to gum. They can also be broken down to smaller bits with the fork as you feed.
I sometimes pick up a burrito for lunch and let DD nibble off my plate. It's very flavorful and she must love it cuz she's never turned it down, LOL. I only give the soft parts of the burrito to DD, which is mainly the beans. But she also gets bits of the other fillings (avocado, tomatoes, cheese, rice, etc). I make sure to tear up the meat pieces into very very tiny bits (with my fork & knife) before giving them to her and she's been ok with that. I suppose I could take a small chunk of my burrito and chop it up (or run through the food processor) before feeding it to her, but that hasn't been necessary so I don't do it. She's been ok with me picking out pieces with the fork for her.
I make her Cream Style Corn (you get it in cans in the canned veggies section) and crack an egg into it, making sure to stir it up so the egg gets cooked & mixed in real good. DD inhales the stuff, probably because it's slightly on the sweet side. I just add a bit of toast with it and she's got herself lunch. One can is good for about 3 to 4 servings, so I just save the leftovers for the next couple days.
Let's see, some foods I give DD include the following (some of which can be turned into finger food):
- Waffles (broken into small pieces for her to grab, & same with many items below)
- Bread, with or without a spread
- English Muffin, with or without a spread
- Cereals such as "O" ceceals (like Cheerios), Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies
- Gerber Veggie Puffs
- Gerber Fruit Puffs
- Yams or Sweet Potato (although I prefer to load up a spoon/fork to feed her, or let her grab the spoon/fork to feed herself, rather than using her hands
)
- Spaghetti
- Ramen
- Noodles
- Mashed Potatoes
- Pancakes
- Instant Oatmeal (they seem to have less husk(?) than the regular slow cook variety, I worry about the chocking factor of those husks)
- Nutrigrain bars
- Crackers
- French Toast
- Rice Cakes
- Macaroni & Cheese
- Grapes (again, prefer spoon fed than finger, but she'll pick them up; you might try coating them in cereal "dust" to make it easier to grab. also, make sure to peel the skin off and cut into small pieces to avoid choking, and no seeds of course. Sorry, I know this is obvious, but I thought I'd mention it anyways)
- Banana
- Peaches
- Avocado
- Apple (make sure it's soft enough if your LO can't handle "hard" apple yet)
- Applesauce
- Mango
- Melons (cantalope, honeydew, etc)
- Pineapple
- Berries (watch for possible rash/reactions)
- Orange (watch for possible rash/reactions)
- Carrot (cooked soft, not raw)
- Squash (zucchini, yellow squash, etc)
- Bok Choy
- Broccoli (I prefer not to do this finger style cuz the flowery bits get all over the place)
- Cauliflower
- Spinach
- Peas & Carrots (frozen pkg)
- Beans
- Chinese Broccoli
- Cream Style Corn
- Cheese, like cheddar, jack, etc (cut into small cubes), you can also try string cheese
- Yogurt
- Eggs (scrambled, although I prefer she doesn't use her fingers for this)
- Tofu (cubed)
- Hamburger
- Burrito
- Meatloaf
- Pizza (we cut it up into very small pieces for her, picking out anything too hard)
- Pizza Rolls (we cut them up into very small pieces for her)
- Bagel Bites (we cut them up into very small pieces for her)
Hope this helps you with some ideas...
