Homemade Harvest Pie Baby Food (AND Pumpkin Jars Tutorial)

PIE. Pumpkin pie. Sweet potato pie. Apple pie. Need I say more? I love pie and it’s one thing I am very thankful for at Thanksgiving time! My boys take after me and love anything sweet and sugary, so when the pie came out on Thanksgiving, I could see their eyes ogling it.

I decided to let my older son splurge on a piece of pie in the spirit of Thanksgiving, but I didn’t want my baby, just a little over a year old, all hyped up on a sugar rush. No pie for him. But pie is the best so, naturally, I felt really bad withholding it from him.

How could I allow him to enjoy the wonders of pumpkin, apple, and sweet potato pie without all that sugar? I started looking through my pantry for ideas. That’s when I saw the sweet potato puree. Hmm…I wonder if I could spice this up. While I enjoy sweet potato pie, being from the North I can say without a shadow of a doubt that pumpkin pie is where it’s at. I remember growing up and seeing all the pies set out at Thanksgiving and Christmas–pumpkin, pecan, lemon meringue, apple, custard. I always gravitated towards the pumpkin. I had to add pumpkin.

Now, pumpkin and sweet potato are great, but I needed something to sweeten them. I grabbed another fall flavor to add some sweetness–apple. I added some spices to make it taste like pie, a whipped cream substitute, and something that could replace the crust. I tried some. Yes, I ate baby food. I fed it to my husband. He approved. My oldest son approved. Of course, my baby approved. This is a delicious, fall-flavorful, nutritious pie alternative for those needing to cut back on sugar or stay away from eggs. It’s meant for babies, but can be enjoyed by others as well!

Ingredients

• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 Red Delicious apple, peeled and cubed without the seeds
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (pumpkin cannot be consumed raw so keep this in mind if you plan to use an actual pumpkin; canned pumpkin is cooked to can so it will be ok as-is)
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice seasoning (substitute for a mixture of clove, ginger, and cinnamon if your child cannot have the nutmeg)
• plain Greek yogurt (optional)
• Arrowroot cookies

Directions

1. Peel your potato and apple and cut them into cubes (remove any seeds or hard areas from the apples.)

2. Add to a pan with the water and simmer covered for about 10 minutes or until tender and a fork can be inserted easily.

3. Drain, rinse with cold water until cool, then add them to a food processor.

4. Puree the sweet potato and apple mixture until the desired texture, about 30-60 seconds, stirring and scraping from sides as needed.

5. Place the apple and sweet potato puree mix in a bowl and stir in the pumpkin puree and spices.

6. Fill into baby food jars; tap the jars carefully on the table to help the food settle into the jar and remove air pockets. See my cute pumpkin jars tutorial below!

7. Serve topped with plain Greek yogurt and an arrowroot cookie. This mixture makes about 4 servings.

*For homemade baby food storing safety instructions, read this post from foodsafety.gov.

Bonus DIY: Pumpkin Baby Food Jars

Why stop at just the baby food? A lot of time during the holiday season your treats are fancy and served on fancy, seasonal dishes. Why should Baby’s dessert be any different? I decided on a very simple, fun pumpkin jar tutorial. I actually washed the inside out after the pie was gone and we use it to store things (perhaps you could store some homemade pie seasonings!)

What You Need

• baby food jars (I reused old ones and just washed them very well and removed the labels) or jelly jars
• orange paint and a paint brush
• green star garland or green raffia (personally, I prefer raffia, but I did not have any)
• small, brown buttons
• craft glue or hot glue

Directions

1. Paint the top of the baby jar lids orange. I used acrylic paint and did a couple layers to cover everything.

2. When the paint is dried, take a piece of garland or raffia, fold it, and glue the center to the middle of the top of the lid.

3. Glue a stack of buttons on top of the garland/raffia piece. I used various buttons, but you can use all the same if you wish. Place glue between each button. Let dry.

Now I don’t need to leave my baby out on our sweet celebrations! In fact, we can make these as treats for all the solid-feeding babies that visit our house on Thanksgiving.

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You May Also Like

• Vegan Chicken Nugget and Apple Stuffing Recipe
• Cinnamon Apple Zucchini Muffin Recipe
• Sushi-Inspired Thanksgiving Turkey Rolls
• DIY Thankful Turkey Journal
• Caramel Apple Turkey Tutorial
• Handprint Scarecrow Art

-What is your favorite type of pie for Thanksgiving? Let me know in the comments below! Be sure to take pictures and share them on my Facebook page!