I’ve grown, stored, prepared, and eaten squash of various kinds my entire life, so I speak as an humble authority. They happen to be one of my favorite foods.

The standard procedure to make baby food is just to puree cooked food until smooth, adding water if needed. Following are specific tips on how to cook different types of squash.

Winter squash (with hard skins like pumpkin, acorn, and butternut) you don’t eat the seeds or the skin. You cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, then bake them until soft. We like to put them face down in a microwave dish with a couple spoonfuls of water and cook them that way. Or you can put microwave-safe plastic wrap around the tops and microwave them face up.

Butternut is also good in soup! Peel, halve, seed, and cube them, and toss them into the pot!

Spaghetti squash is a winter squash – you don’t eat the skin or the seeds. However, spaghetti squash tends to stay rather firm. You seed and cook them like other winter squash, then scrape the insides with a fork and it comes out like long strands of yellow spaghetti! It is done when it has a little bite to it (think pasta al dente) and is awesome with a little butter or even with your favorite pasta sauce. Very calorie friendly! I can’t imagine it as baby food but I guess you could do it. I’d overcook it a bit and blend the heck out of it, and even then I would wait until baby can handle some texture.

Pumpkin may have to be broken into smaller pieces to fit into the oven to bake. Always good as pumpkin pie, of course. Or you can fix it up like a sweet potato with brown sugar and cinnamon. You really should try eating it as a regular squash, either plain or with a little bit of butter – it is fantastic. (I’d only use fresh for this. Canned pumpkin is nearly always hubbard squash – still good but not the same, and definitely distinguishable without the sugar and spice of pie filling.)

Summer squash (like yellow squash, crookneck, and zucchini / courgettes) where you eat the outside, you can eat the whole thing, seeds too! They are technically a fruit. Cool, huh?

Summer squash is entirely edible. Just cut off the stem and flower ends, cut into pieces, and steam them up until soft. For baby food, first let them cool completely in a sieve so they drain more liquid, then blend or process them (seeds and all) and they turn out great. No need to strain. For our family, we quite often cook a big steamer full of yellow squash, zucchini, and sweet onions to go with dinner.

Here is the yellow squash I pureed and froze for baby food. Aren’t they a beautiful color?

Yellow Squash Baby Food Cubes

Zucchini (also known as courgettes) have to be canned with an acid so normally you find it with tomato sauce. You can grate raw zucchini, freeze, and use it for zucchini bread. I actually buy freeze-dried zucchini to toss in pasta sauces and stews during the winter months. I can’t stand the canned stuff because they put tons of salt in it and I don’t always want tomato sauce with them! So fresh is definitely the way to go. Plant a couple of seeds in the garden – the things are nearly impossible to kill – and you can feed the whole block! My grandpa used to say he wishes he could grow half of a zucchini plant! (You actually need two for pollination, though.) As an example, here are the results of my garden a few years ago: The best onion, the best potato (lol), and the best zucchini:

What are your favorite ways of eating squash?

Makes 28 cups, or 14 2-cup servings
0 Weight Watchers Points per serving
Prep time: 30 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking

The recipe that follows is a double batch of my original vegetable soup recipe, with the addition of zucchini and spinach. We liked it so well that it has become a permanent change!

The Ingredients:2 onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
2 large leeks, chopped
1 lb. carrots, sliced (about 4 cups)
4 lg. stalks celery, sliced (about 2 cups)
6 cups thinly sliced green cabbage (about 1 lb) (You can also use pre-packaged shredded cabbage)
2 lg. cloves garlic, crushed with press (or use 2 tsp minced garlic)
4 cans (14 oz. each) diced tomatoes, in juice (2 quarts)
2 cans green beans, drained (1 quart)
6 c chicken stock (48 oz)
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Thyme
3 zucchini, cut into chunks
12 oz fresh spinach leaves

Mise en place (all ingredients prepped and ready):

We did the vegetable preparation the night before. I put the carrots, onions, leeks, celery, and cabbage into a big bowl, put a layer of plastic wrap over the veggies, then put the zucchini on top before sealing the lid. That way I could lift the zucchini out in the morning and dump the big bowl of veggies into the pan, only dirtying one bowl.

Coat a big stockpot (or two large pans) with non-stick cooking spray. Add the carrots, onions, leeks, celery, cabbage, and garlic.

Sauté for 9 minutes or until vegetables begin to soften.

Add tomatoes, green beans, chicken stock, salt, and thyme; heat to boiling over high heat, stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Increase heat to high; stir in zucchini and spinach and return to a boil.

Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes or until all vegetables are tender.

Either add another 48oz (6 cups) of stock to the entire thing (if you have space and a big enough bowl), or add 1/2c of stock to 1 1/2c soup before heating. We prefer the latter method for easier storage and to enable us to add different flavors of stock for different soup variations.

In order to eat what you store, you must store what you eat.

How many days of the week do you eat meat? How much of that can you store? What if the power goes out? How will you save all the meat that you have frozen?

That’s a lot of tuna fish, canned chicken, canned ham, TVP, and dried beef in your basement. And all of that can be expensive, too. If you want to store a pound of meat for every day of the year, that is 365 pounds of meat. Whew!

I’ll say again: In order to eat what you store, you must store what you eat.

What we need is an economical way to store a variety of meat that isn’t over-processed and tastes like an aluminum can – or SPAM.

The answer: Bottle your own!

Buy your meat in bulk when it is on sale or markdown, bottle it yourself, and only use what you need. You won’t need a lot of freezer space, and you can reuse your bottles. It is both economical and practical. You can bottle nearly any kind of meat, except for processed things like hot dogs and turkey ham. Don’t worry about rotation, either – the shelf life is three years and you can rotate an entire year’s worth by using only two jars per week. This isn’t SPAM we’re talking about, or other processed meats with excessive salt and things like sugar, msg, and other miscellaneous parts (eww). It tastes nothing like canned chicken from the store, nor is it like the funky dry beef chunks in canned stews. This is real chicken, ham, pork, and beef that you’ve selected yourself. The meat is tender, juicy, fully cooked, and fantastic. You won’t need to worry about defrosting it, and it works for a last-minute meal, too.

I first learned of this from Wendy DeWitt of Everything Under The Sun. I suggest reading through her instructions, as well. She has great ideas on how to store, rotate, and use the meat you bottle. She deserves credit for many of the instructions you see here.

You must use a pressure canner (not cooker) to bottle meats. Have your gauge tested at your local County Extension Office every year to be sure of safety and accuracy. You can also ask them at what pressure to can your meat, depending on your altitude. A good canner is a wise investment that will last forever. Check your canner and stove manuals before trying this on a glass-top stove!!! (I’d like to note that both Wendy and I have glass-top stoves and have done this with no problems. BE CAREFUL and do not slide your canner around on the stove; carefully put your cold and empty canner on the element and do not move it at all. After removing your bottles and waiting for the canner to cool completely, carefully lift it off – it is very heavy – to empty the water. This is no guarantee for your stove’s safety, however, so I wanted to provide this warning!)

A pint bottle will hold 1 pound of meat, a quart will hold 2 pounds. Invest in some good jars when you first start canning and reuse them; old or cheap jars can crack under the pressure needed.

You don’t need to cook your meat before you bottle it, nor will you add any water.
(The exception is ground meat, which turns out better if you brown it first, then pack it in water.)

Wash your jars and rings. You don’t need to sterilize them.

In a small pan, boil the lids for about 2 minutes to soften the seal. You’ll notice how I switch direction on every other lid to prevent them from sticking together so much.

Put your raw meat into clean jars. Fill jars with ½” headspace. Add ¼ to ½ tsp of salt (no other spices).

Make sure the rim of the jar is completely clean before you put the hot lid on, and put the ring on finger tight.

Pour about three inches of water into your canner and place the tray inside. Place your jars in the canner on the tray.

Screw down the canner lid, making sure the top is even, and turn your stove on high. Don’t put the weight on the pressure valve until steam has spouted out of the valve for about 10 minutes. This expresses the air out of the jars and the canner. After venting the air, put the weight onto the pressure valve or close the pepcock (depending on your type of canner) to start building pressure.

When the gauge gets to the correct pressure, begin timing 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts for all meat except for fish, which is 90 minutes for pints and 105 minutes for quarts. You will need to start turning down the heat to keep the pressure stable and may need to continue turning it down while it is cooking. Never leave your canner during this time! When the pressure drops or increases, a vacuum effect causes the juices in the jar to be pulled out. Keep the gauge at the correct pressure. Be prepared in advance so you do not have to leave the room!

At the end of the processing time you will turn the heat completely off. Don’t move the canner or touch the valves; just let the pressure go down on its own. When it’s back to zero, release the pressure valve (or remove the weight), take off the lid, put the jars on the counter away from cool drafts and let them cool completely. You’ll hear the beautiful plinking sound of success when the lids seal. If a jar doesn’t seal, you can just refrigerate it for later use. (Have some bread or buns and some barbecue sauce handy – you’ll want to break one open even if they all seal!) After they are cool, remove the ring, wipe the bottles clean, and put them into your pantry or back in the box for storage.

This is my beef after it is done. I just used beef stew meat for this, and used boneless skinless chicken breasts for the chicken you see pictured. This meat is so good that we look forward to the diet days that we get to use it!

Here are the ingredients – I have milk pictured but it is not needed – there is plenty of liquid from the clams.

Ingredients:
3 Potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp Flour
1/4 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
1/4 tsp Salt
12 oz clams, canned, liquid reserved (2 small cans minced or chopped)
1/2 Onion, chopped
1/8 tsp Paprika

Mise en place (all ingredients prepped and ready):

This video shows the assembly of the Clam and Potato Casserole recipe. The first few minutes show how to make a roux.

Instructions:
1. Cover cubed potatoes with water and microwave 10 minutes (stirring after 5 minutes) or until tender. (Or boil on the stove about 15 minutes.)
2. Drain clams and save liquid. Chop onion.
3. (This is the roux.) Melt butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat. Blend in flour and seasonings. Stir constantly and cook until it gets some color. Slowly add clam juice to flour blend; stir constantly until mixture is thick and smooth.
4. Stir clams into the butter and flour mixture.
5. Place drained potatoes in greased casserole, add onions and cover with the sauce. Mix well. Sprinkle with paprika.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

This one also tastes MUCH better than it looks! I guess I should find a pretty dish next, eh?

Serve with a green vegetable or salad and fresh fruit.

Baked Chicken and Orzo
Serves: 4
Time: 20 minutes preparation, 30-40 minutes baking

Here are the ingredients:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c orzo (small rice-like pasta)
2 tbsp olive oil
4 chicken breasts, boneless
2 c vegetable broth
2 c chicken broth
1 tsp salt
1 tsp granulated garlic
2 tsp poultry seasoning

Mise en place (all ingredients prepped and ready):

For a long and boring video of the assembly of this dish:

Instructions:
1. Toast orzo (or other tiny pasta) in a DRY skillet for a few minutes on medium-high heat until it gets some color. Pour the toasted orzo into a glass baking dish and add the vegetable broth to it.
2. Add the olive oil to the skillet, heat for a minute or two, then brown the chicken breasts for about 5 minutes a side (they won’t cook all the way), adding the salt, garlic, and poultry seasonings.
3. When the chicken is seasoned and browned on both sides, remove them from the skillet and add to the baking dish with orzo and broth.
4. Deglaze the skillet with the chicken broth. Pour it into the baking dish, giving a quick stir to mix the ingredients.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. It’s done when the chicken is cooked through and the orzo has absorbed all or most of the broth.

Serve with an orange or yellow vegetable and fresh fruit.