Step 1: The Butternut Squash
I had never actually had butternut squash and was pleasently surprised. It looked and smelt a lot like pumpkin, and tasted like a mix of pumpkin and sweet potato. We'll def. be finding some recipes for adult uses of butternut squash.
Step 2. Cut it into small pieces.
My wonderful BFF had warned me about the pain that was cutting up a butternut squash, so I recruited my wonderful husband to do this part... besides, my family doesn't have the best history with sharp objects so Daniel tends to not let me cut things anyways :). This was byfar the most painful part. It was like cutting a pumpkin... just in a more awkward shape.
Anyways, we cut it in half and took out the seeds. Then diced it up and removed the skins.
Step 3: Steam it.
The Beaba made this SOOOO easy! We filled it with water to the level 3 mark, pour it into the babycook, placed the cubed butternut squash into the steaming basket, turned the dial, and continued on with our lives. It was that easy! After 15 minutes they were perfectly steamed! We then poured the water that was used during the steaming into a cup to use to thin the puree if we needed to (the water has a lot of the nutrients from the squash in it so don't waste it!).
Step 4: Puree
Again, SOOO easy! You pour the steamed butternut squash from the basket into the bowl and puree it until you get it to the right consistency. I probably did it for maybe a minute TOTAL. That includes stopping half thru to add some of the water to it. I still can't believe how easy it was!
Step 5: Pour into trays for freezing.
You spoon the squash into your trays. Regular ice trays work as long as you have lids for them. We use the BabyFresh trays. Set them in the freezer and let them set until fully frozen. We filled 2 whole trays and 2 more spots on another tray from this one squash!
Step 6: Put into freezer bags.
Once they were completely frozen in the trays we popped them out and put about 6 cubes into a pint size freezer bag. Make sure you label it with what it is and the date... frozen food is good for about 3 months... meats, 1 month. This makes for easy storage and makes it really easy to just reach in and grab out what you need each day. We do two cubes at a time for our little piggy :)
Step 7: Clean up.
No picture here, but I felt it was worthy of a step b/c it was SO easy! I am not a fan of washing dishes at all... and will do basically anything to avoid having to do so. It is a rare occasion that I ever use our blender, George Foreman Grill, or Coco Latte machine simply for the fact that I don't want to have to wash it when I'm done. Cleaning the Beaba was SO easy! I was once again shocked. And having it all in one little machine was very handy. The only dishes that got dirtied up were a knife, cutting board, small cup, spoon, and the Beaba bowl and basket. So easy!
Step 8: Feed the happy baby.
Haha!! In case you couldn't tell... he LOVED it! This was the face he made when he wanted more... he would reach for it and move his tongue in and out! He loves his cereal but he has never done this with cereal... I would say the Butternut Squash was a hit!
To sum up my first baby food making experience... I'm addicted! I've already made green beans and I can't wait for this snow to melt so I can get down to Target to buy some organic produce and make more! Not only was it easy and allows us to control what gets put into Daxton's little body, but it was so cheap! We got about 13 servings out of one squash! That would have cost us at least $9 to buy organic baby food... and it only cost us about $2!! I'd say homemade baby food is a success :)
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