little dumpling

 

Dumpling squash and acorn squash are easy, easy to find and make in the fall.  I bake mine and make two at a time.  One for baby and one to be shared with my witty, charming mister for dinner.  The one for baby will last for several meals, but we will gobble up a 1/2 a squash each in one sitting.

All squashes provide vitamin A and vitamin C, some of the B vitamins and are a good source of fiber. Deep-colored squashes have the most beta carotene. Winter squash does not lose any quality after picking, and, in storage, actually increases its carotenoid content, which adds even more vitamin A. Source and more info.  Bettina RD tells me that Vitamins A, B, and C are all important for baby's growth, including improved vision and bone development.  As a side benefit of this vitamin consumption, I suppose you could reinforce the message and good diet practices with your baby by singing the ABCs as you scoop morsels of squash during mealtime.  

Equipment:

• Baking dish
• Good sharp chef's knife
• Spoon
• Silicone ice trays – I use silicone because the food is easier to pop out, but you can use an ice tray made of any material.
• 4 oz. small single-serving containers. Good for storing fresh food or frozen food that you want to take with you.  Ice trays aren’t practical for to-go situations.

Ingredients:

• Two whole acorn or dumpling squashes
• Water

 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Wash and scrub the squash.  Cut each squash in half.  It really doesn't matter how you halve it.  I cut mine through the stem, but you can cut it the other way.  

Scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff with a spoon.

Cover the baking dish with a 1/4 inch of water.

Put the squash halves skin-side up/squash side down in the baking dish.  Bake for 45-55 minutes until tender.

For baby: Let cool.  Scoop out the squash.  It is ready to go.  You may mash it up more with a fork, but it is probably pretty mushy and ready to eat.  For a wee baby, you may want to mix  it (and amp up nutritional value) with baby cereal.  I love and continue to use Happy Bellies brand (available at diapers.com and Fresh Direct).  It is a powder-like probiotic and mixes seamlessly into purées, mashes, formula and milk.  If your baby is a little older, you may want to add a little butter to the squash and serve it with rice, quinoa or couscous.  At 18 months,  our daughter will eat 1/4 of a baked squash right out of the shell and about 4 oz. of grains for lunch or dinner.

To store, spoon mash into ice trays, cover with freezer-wrap and freeze.  

Our daughter started eating ½ a defrosted cube of purée at a time, then progressed to one cube.  When she moved to two cubes, I started making and freezing more than one vegetable at a time so that she would have a little variety at each meal.  I do not use a microwave to defrost.  I simply take a cube out the night before, place it (or them) in a 4 oz. single-serving container and let the food defrost gradually in the refrigerator. 

If you are an on-the-go type of person or you send your child to day-care, you’ll want to have some fresh and frozen meals saved in the single-serving containers so that they are easily packed up.  The ice trays are great, but not so practical for when you are out and about or need to pack a set of meals for day-care.  I also recommend storing meal-sized batches of food you plan to serve your child for that week in single-serve containers that you don’t freeze.   That way your baby will get super-fresh nutrient-rich foods (that have never been frozen) on a weekly basis.  The small single-serve containers also provide you with the benefit of monitoring (and communicating) how much food is to be served to your child at each meal if you're not the one feeding them all the time.

For you:  About once a week we go vegetarian for dinner.  A dumpling or acorn squash is a satisfying main especially when it is stuffed with wild rice or quinoa.  Unlike acorn squash, you can even eat the skin of a dumpling squash, but I wouldn't try this with baby -- might be a little rough on a young digestive system.  If you make this dish for yourself, making home-made baby food is barely an extra step!

 

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