Books teaches parents how to make homemade baby food.

Byline: Sharon Thompson

Food-savvy mothers who want their children's first taste of solid food to be wholesome and tasty are thinking outside the jar.

They're making the same delicious food for their babies that they and other family members eat.

It's definitely more work to cook for your child than to feed her out of a jar, but some mothers say it's more rewarding, knowing you're giving the baby the best there is.

"I think it's important to feed our children as well as we feed ourselves," said Joohee Muromcew, author of "The Baby Bistro Cookbook" (Rodale, $22.95). "Americans eat very well despite all the controversy. We cook more and we eat more organic, and we're eating vegetarian. And it seems so incongruous to have children eat out of boxes and jars when you're eating an organic filet mignon with steamed vegetables. My friends who really love food and eat out and entertain, seem to have a psychological hurdle about cooking for their children."

Her book shows parents how easy it is, but it's "definitely not aimed at having every mother cook every meal for their child, but cook as much for your child as you cook for yourself," said Muromcew, from her home in San Francisco.

Her son Alexei, 2 {, is "just like every other kid" and eats french fries and pancakes when they eat out. "He has what everyone else is having, but I feel better since he eats well at home," Muromcew…