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Homemade Baby Food Recipes: Pumpkin and Zucchini

When my daughter turned six months old, I stopped exclusively breastfeeding her and began introducing complementary foods into her diet. Instead of buying commercial baby food from the store, I primarily fed her food that I had turned into homemade baby food. Not only is making your own baby food cheaper, but homemade baby food is often healthier and more full of taste than store-bought varieties.

In addition to plain fruits and vegetables, I have also experimented with mixtures of foods for my daughter’s baby food. Because she likes both pumpkin and zucchini so much, I thought that I would try a pumpkin and zucchini mixture. The results turned out wonderfully. My daughter is very fond of her homemade pumpkin and zucchini baby food. She always gobbles up each and every bite!

Both pumpkin and zucchini are excellent first foods for young babies. Pumpkin is low in saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and calories but high in nutritious vitamins and minerals like vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, iron, thiamin, niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, riboflavin, potassium, copper, and manganese. Zucchini is also low in saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and calories but high in protein, vitamin A, thiamin, niacin, phosphorus, copper, vitamin C, vitamin K, riboflavin, vitamin B6, folic acid, magnesium, potassium, and manganese. Pumpkin and zucchini also excellent sources of dietary fiber.

Zucchini Cutting the Zucchini

Chopped Zucchini Cooked Zucchini

To make your own homemade pumpkin and zucchini, start with fresh pumpkin and zucchini. Wash and chop up the zucchini but do not remove the skin. Place the chopped zucchini in the bottom of a glass dish with a little bit of distilled water. Cook the zucchini in the microwave until soft and tender. While the zucchini is cooking, wash and remove the innards from the pumpkin. Remove the rind of the pumpkin and then chop the fruit up into small pieces. Place the chopped pumpkin in the bottom of another glass dish with a little bit of distilled water. Cook the pumpkin in the microwave until soft and tender.

Pumpkin Inside a Pumpkin

Clean Pumpkin Raw Pumpkin Chunks

Allow the cooked zucchini and pumpkin to cool slightly. Then blend the cooked vegetables into a baby food processor until smooth. Leave some small chunks in the blend for older babies. Transfer the blended pumpkin and zucchini baby food into small containers or an ice cube tray. Refrigerate or freeze your homemade pumpkin and zucchini baby food until your baby is ready to chow down. I personally prefer to store my frozen baby food cubes in freezer bags to save on space in my freezer. When my daughter is ready to eat, I either zap the frozen food in the microwave for about 20 seconds or let the baby food thaw in the refrigerator over night.

Cooked Pumpkin Chunks Blending Pumpkin and Zucchini

Making Pumpkin and Zucchini Baby Food Freezing Pumpkin and Zucchini Baby Food in Ice Cube Trays

What baby food mixtures does your child like?

Image Credits

Zucchini © 2013 Heather Johnson
Cutting the Zucchini © 2013 Heather Johnson
Chopped Zucchini © 2013 Heather Johnson
Cooked Zucchini © 2013 Heather Johnson
Pumpkin © 2013 Heather Johnson
Inside a Pumpkin © 2013 Heather Johnson
Clean Pumpkin © 2013 Heather Johnson
Raw Pumpkin Chunks © 2013 Heather Johnson
Cooked Pumpkin Chunks © 2013 Heather Johnson
Blending Pumpkin and Zucchini © 2013 Heather Johnson
Making Pumpkin and Zucchini Baby Food © 2013 Heather Johnson
Freezing Pumpkin and Zucchini Baby Food in Ice Cube Trays © 2013 Heather Johnson

Grammatical Functions of English Adjectives and Adjective Phrases

Grammatical Functions of English Adjectives and Adjective Phrases

Using Adjectives as Adjective Phrase Heads

Using Adjectives as Adjective Phrase Heads