Adventures in Real Food: Part 2

Now pushing 7 months, peanut has gone beyond his first foods.  He's also becoming more particular in his likes and dislikes.  He has a strong preference for fruits.  He really doesn't care for cereals at all any more.  I think this is because it's so bland and he recieved some with every meal for awhile there.  He'll tolerate cereal in the morning, but will throw a fit if you serve it with dinner or more than once a day. 
Since last food post, he's tried butternut and acorn squash.  I like thes because they're easy to cook and puree up very smoothly with just a little extra formula.  The acorn squash worked out exceptionally well, and is relatively thick for homemade squash baby foods.
Peanut has also had carrots, but they were his first strongly disliked food.  He now eats them, but usually makes a face for the first bite.  We learned a valuable lesson durring his first days of carrots--they go through him quickle.  We reguallarly combine his carrots with squash for "squarrots" which he likes better.
Another combo he likes--"guaccabeans" and "quaccapeas."  We tried avaccado since it is a very easy "instant" fresh baby food that I don't have to cook or run through the food processor.  He really didn't care for avacado by itself, as it has so little flavor on it's own. However, if you blend it with another green vegatable, you really have something.  It makes the homemade greenbeans a little bit smoother. I was surprised to discover that the remaining avacado can be frozen in an ice cube tray like our other homemade baby foods and doesn't brown up too bad.  It did begin to look a little discolored after being in the freezer for a few weeks, so I wouldn't recommend doing a large batch in advance.
On to the fruit.  As mentioned, there isn't a fruit he won't eat.  Apples were probably his first fruit.  We picked a bushel in the fall, and made homemade applesauce with no sugar or additives. 
He also eats bannanas--another great no-fuss baby food.  He wasn't crazy about them at first, I think because of the semi-slimmy texture.  However, if you add a little formula to cut the slime, he is less likely to object.  He also likes bannanas blended with other fruits or with cinamon.
His next fruit was slightly tropical--mango.  Wow, does he love mango.  I'm not a huge mango eater myself, but I figured it would blend up smoothly and it does.  He'd eat a whole meal of mango if you let him.
Most recently, we've blended fresh strawberries into an awesome purree.  We all also love blended bluberries. When combined it's a challenge to see who can eat more of them first.  Although they are delicious, the berry purees are also really messy--especially the bluberries.  We find mixing them with cereal or more solid fruits like bananas helps contain the mess.