Baby's Gotta Eat!

The boys are still a couple months from starting solids, but fall veggies are ripe and ready, so it's the perfect time to stock the freezer. Pumpkins, squash, and apples all freeze exceptionally well, and with three growing boys, I have my work cut out for me!

I've been out to the pumpkin farm twice so far, but plan to make as many trips as my baby food operation can support. If you've never made baby food before, it's incredibly easy...not to mention cheap and LOCAL! William loved pumpkin (Let's be serious, I could eat it with a spoon too!), and since you get a lot of bang for your buck, it's a great place to start your baby food production.

Start by washing your pie pumpkins and chopping in half. You might think "bigger is better" and be tempted to get regular pumpkins, but in this case, go with the pie variety. They're small and dense, less watery, and the actual "meat" is a lot thicker.

Scoop out the insides and place scooped-side down in a shallow pan of water.

Next, bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour. If pumpkin skin is soft when poked, it's done.

Next, remove pumpkins, scrape cooked pumpkin into food processor, and discard skins. Puree until smooth and you've got yourself some baby food!

To further illustrate my point, a 2-pack of Gerber organic baby food consists of two 3.5 ounce packs for $1.60 (could be more, depending on where you shop). I paid $.50 per pie pumpkin, and THIS is what I got for a buck...7 oz for $1.60 vs. (approx) 64 oz for $1.00!!

Freeze puree in ice cube trays and transfer to freezer bags for storage. Done!

Give it a try! I think you're going to be pretty happy with the results, but you have to hurry because pumpkins are almost done for the year. And tell your baby I said, "You're welcome!!"