Tiny Painted Fingers: Butternut Squash Puree

This is great for babies of all stages and ages, from start to toddler-hood. It freezes well and mixes with so many different things, peaches being one of Connor's favorite. =)

What will ya need??

1 medium size butternut squash

A pan coated in cooking spray

An oven heated to 400 degrees

The first step is getting everything ready. As with all baking, it's much less stressful if you already have everything out (make sure to start the oven). Get your squash out and rinse it off.

Place it on a cutting board.

Starting at the top, slice the squash right down the center to make two halves.

If you have a bigger squash this part can be difficult, I usually have my husband do it.

Then your gonna need to remove all the "guts". I actually use a pumpkin carving scoop because it works so well. But anything will do, a spoon, an ice cream scoop...finger. =)

What you end up taking out should look like this.....

And after it's all cleaned up.....

Then place the halves face down in your greased pan and put in the oven for about 55 minutes. If you have a bigger squash you'll want to leave it in there longer. The softer it is the easier it's going to be to work with.

You'll also wanna get a fork and poke lots and lots of holes in the skinned side.

After it's done baking.....

Now if your feeding this to a new solids eater your probably going to wanna toss it in the blender. However if you little munchkin can eat some more chunky food (and you cook it soft enough) you can just used your finger to squish it up. Messy, but fun for the toddlers to help with.