Pumpkin

It literally causes me pain to see rotting jack-o-lanterns  on the curb. I cannot handle it. Call me thrifty, call me cheap, but do not call me wasteful. Last year, Hubby and I rescued 16 abandoned pumpkins. And we ate them. All of them. Pumpkins are such a gigantic, yummy, nutritious food that it's a shame to throw away them away just because you've carved a face on them. Because of our fanatical pumpkin beliefs I have accumulated quite the collection of pumpkin recipes. So, the day after Halloween our beloved Jeffrey the Jack-o-lantern was unceremoniously hacked to 1-inch pieces and frozen to await his rebirth as our future meals. One of those meals is our family favorite, the "Vegetable Cobbler." 

Basically, it's a bunch of roasted veggies with some gravy and a crumbly topping. So, Buttercup had her first taste of pumpkin. She's always been a big fan of squash in general, and pumpkin proved no exception. She gobbled it up, begged for more, and ate that, too.

Sidenote: do not give your infant pumpkin seeds. They require much chewing with molars. I thought that seemed obvious, but I was actually asked on a forum a few weeks ago if it was a good snack for babies. Uh, no.

PROS: great texture and nutrition

CONS: labor-intensive, especially if you buy big pumpkins.

Winter squash

The great thing about not using commercially made baby food is that each change in season brings new fresh foods for your baby to try. Colder weather brings with it winter squash. There's not really much difference between summer squash and winter squash, except the hardness of the skin and seeds. Buttercup has always been a lover of squash, and I figured winter squash would prove no exception. I was right - she loves it.

This particular meal consisted of roasted chicken, roasted butternut squash and roasted tomatoes. Roasting is my new favorite cooking technique. It's so easy to just throw everything in the oven with a bit of olive oil and spices then walk away! The squash was roasted in long strips with the skins still on. When we gave one to Buttercup she put it in her mouth then promptly spat it out. While the roasting produced a peel was soft enough for the tooth-endowed adults, Buttercup liked hers much better with the peels removed. She ate gobs of it after we peeled some for her.

PROS: yummy, nutritious seasonal veggie

CONS: peeling is a necessity

Spaghetti squash

Because we've chosen to introduce solid foods to Buttercup using the baby-led solids method, she's had many foods that I didn't have until I was an adult. For example: spaghetti squash. I love spaghetti squash. Absolutely love it. I scoop out the "guts", bake it til tender, fork out the strings, and liberally apply butter, parmesan, salt and pepper. So good! Someday Buttercup will get to eat it the naughty way with me, but for now she gets it plain jane.

I set some squash aside for her before I doctored it all up for myself. I did cut it up a bit so that the strings weren't so long. I plopped a little pile in the middle of Buttercup's tray and she grabbed fists full and put them in her mouth. She made some weird faces at first (probably because of the strings going down her throat), but ate a laudable amount of the stuff.

PROS: yummy and nutritious vegetable

CONS: none

Summer squash

Squash is Buttercup's new favorite food! She liked this even more than sweet potato, as you can tell by the photo of her attacking a slice.

I had prepared a meal incorporating sliced patty pan squash, so I just pulled a few discs from of my plate and cut them into slices for Buttercup. As you can see, she destroyed them. She also ate like a pig at this meal consuming: two slices squash, one green bean, half a strawberry, quarter of a banana and a quarter of a plum.

But, she has enjoyed the squash with as much gusto at each subsequent offering, so I know it wasn't a fluke.

Squash seems like it has a really nice consistency for babies, and it's chock full of vitamins, so that makes mama happy. I highly recommend squash as one of the first vegetables you offer your baby.

Interesting sidenote: did you know that summer squash is any squash with an edible peel and soft seeds (ex: pattypan squash)? Winter squash (ex: pumpkin) has a hard exterior and seeds. Who knew?

PROS: great texture for baby, nutritious food

CONS: NONE!