I think it's important to follow your instincts as a mom, just give him/her natural foods, without anything added to them.
Start at your green grocer and just buy sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, apples, pears, avocoados, poatoes, beans and any other fruit or vegetables you eat in your own cooking. Steam, Boil or Microwave them until soft then puree or mash to your desired consistency.

You don't need a recipie to just steam food!

Just make sure the food is well cooked, wash them before cooking to remove anything unwanted and you're good to go!

I think you can start looking at recipies when your child's a bit older, but for now one fruit or vegetable at a time. It's important to only introduce one new food per week and watch for any symptoms of allergies such as vomiting, rashes, drastic changes in bowel movements and general upset in the baby.

I make all of my babies food from scratch and have done so for about three months now(My son is 8 months old). I started out giving him a mix of the two, according to when I was too lazy too cook and would just open a jar of baby food, but I stopped and made everything from scratch cause i had been giving him butternut puree but when i was eating real butternut and tried to give him some, he spat it out and refused to eat it!!

That showed me how the preservatives and flavourants they add make the food taste so different that babies don't even want the real thing!

It makes sense now that kids hate vegetables even though they have been eating those store-bought purees for years- they probably don't even know what the real vegetables taste like!

I understand that we all lead busy lives and that the convenience of store-bought does have its place, but if you can set aside one hour a WEEK (yes, just once a week), you can make a pound or more of vegetables or fruit by steaming/boiling/microwaving them and mashing them up or pureeing them and freezing them off.

It's not that difficult and the feeling of accomplishement is irreplacable.

I started using signs with my son about 4 weeks ago, when he was 7 months old. He just turned 8 months today and used his signs for the first time, signing for  'milk' and 'eat' 10 minutes before his dinner time!
I was over the moon as it proved that using it consistently really does work!
I didn't buy any DVD'S or books, I just downloaded one 'cheat sheet' off the internet with the signs i felt i wanted to teach and used them consistently- before, during and after the action i was signing. I feel this will greatly reduce the frustration my boy feels because he is quite impatient and starts grunting and groaning if he doesn't get what he wants pretty quickly! (I'll have to deal with that issue when he's little older, i think)

Keep signing, and remember- you are a good mother!

I'm from South Africa too- Midrand