Spiced Carrot and Rice Puree in honor of Pregnancy Awareness Month

I started weelicious almost 5 years ago, because I was having a difficult time figuring out what--and how--to feed my new eater. I was fairly shocked by the lack of information organized online especially since there are so many avenues available to parents and knew there had to be a better way.

I experienced a somewhat similar situation the first time I was pregnant, assuming like many women that my only option was to find an OBGYN and have my baby at a hospital. Around that same time, one of my dearest friends, Keri, told me she was going to become a doula. A what?! I had never heard of such a thing. Sure, I had heard of midwives, but they were something I associated with the turn of the last century. Obviously, I was not very enlightened when it came to the world of child birth but I was a quick study. Keri became my doula and my husband and I worked with her to review all of the birth options available to us in the hospital so I could have the exact birth I wanted -- something I would have likely not been able to do without her.

Cut to two years later: me 5 months pregnant with Chloe and someone having given us a DVD of Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein's brilliant documentary The Business of Being Born. Within minutes of finishing the film, my husband and I decided that we were going to have a home birth and set out to find a midwife. Long story short, having Chloe at home was one of the most magical experiences of my life. As well it should have been. Pregnancy and birth should be one of the most life changing times in a woman's life, yet all too often birth is treated as a medical condition rather than something natural which has occurred since the beginning of time.*

Several years ago I met Anna Getty and Alisa Donner, the founders of Pregnancy Awareness Month, and was roused by their mission to educate and inspire women through birth. This year Ricki Lake, Dr. Alan Greene, Josie Maren and other incredible experts will be speaking at the P.A.M. event for moms-to-be, new moms and their families to discuss everything from prenatal nutrition and feeding babies and children to celebrating pregnancy and learning more about the birth process. I'll actually be on a roundtable talking about food for babies and kids with Dr. Greene. I hope you can come out to celebrate P.A.M. this Sunday, May 6th, and enjoy this event with me and my family!

In honor of Pregnancy Awareness Month, I'm putting up one of my favorite baby food purees. I came up with it back when I started weelicious but never actually posted it before! It's super easy to make and will give your baby a great head start towards loving the fresh tastes and flavors of wholesome foods. Recipes like this one are the building blocks to creating great eaters for a lifetime!

* It's worth making clear here that I love my OBGYN and he was supportive of my decision to have a home birth.