Making Mush

Cooking has always been something that i enjoy doing. I have slipped the past 2 years or so, between deployments, pregnancy, and then taking care of the twins and hardly ever cook anymore. So when the babies started eating solids I was excited about putting my cooking interests to good use again. Of course in the beginning, while preparing healthy and natural food for the babies was ultimately satisfying, making simple purees isn't exactly hard or a fun creative outlet, although I did try to pick some fruits and vegetables that were not readily available in pre-made baby food. Here's the process in a nutshell.

Go shopping!

Cook. There are a variety of ways--bake, poach or steam...my personal favorite is steaming, made oh so easy by this sweet vegetable steamer i have Puree.

Freeze.

and that's it.

The fun part has come lately. I made a vegetable stock from scratch--with sweet potatoes, asparagus and leeks. This can be used to moisten other purees, put in a sippy cup with water for flavor or used in other recipes. One of these recipes I made tonight and it turned out GREAT! Jenn and I even ate some for dinner.

Mommy's out there, write this one down! Also, anyone else who is looking for something new this could be a great fall recipe to use in the place of mashed potatoes. The consistency is the same, it's just as easy to prepare, but its flavored naturally by the apples and butternut squash, therefore not needing all the cream and butter and salt that we put in regular mashed potatoes.

Potato and Butternut Squash Stew

Ingredients

butternut squash, 1/2 small, peeled and seeded

yellow potatoes, 6 small, peeled

fuji apple, 1 medium, peeled, halved, cored

extra virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp

vegetable stock, or water, 1 1/2 cups

Directions

Cut squash, potatoes and apple into 1 inch chunks

Heat oil in saucepan over med-high heat. Add squash, potatoes and apple and cook, stirring occasionally, 8-10 minutes. Apples will begin to turn golden. Add stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer, cover and simmer until vegetables are soft, 30-35 minutes.

Mash and combine with a wooden spoon, potato masher or food processor to a consistency that you prefer.