New Things and Butternut Squash Tutorial!!

Well last night Ollie and I were at my moms for dinner and some time spending, and I mentioned something about how much sugar is in juice and that I pretty much never want to give him any. My mom then says "Oh, do you want my juicer? It's just sitting in my cupboard collecting Dust." I then responded with much excitement "Are you sure?!", about a million times. I was so shocked that she wanted to give it to me first of all because it's only like half a year old, and two because it's huge and super nice. Probably because it's the Jack La Lanne's Super Juicer. It is amazing! It came with two different books with several interesting healthy recipes. I cleaned the dust off, threw in about 8 organic baby carrots, half a cucumber, and tada! Delicious {and good for you!} car-cucc-juice!!!! YUM!

Then she also found 14 of these amazing cook books in the dumpster behind her business. They all go together and were copy written in 1971. Each one is from some where different in the world. That's probably why they're called "Foods of The World". Also, they come with pretty much everything you need to know about the culture in that specific Country, not just about the food but everything! Pretty cool!!

The Cook Books

{In Rainbow Order}

Middle Eastern Cooking

Russian Cooking

The Cooking Of Provincial France

The Cooking Of India

The Cooking Of Vienna's Empire

The Cooking Of Italy

African Cooking

Pacific and Southeast Asian Cooking

The Cooking Of The Caribbean Islands

American Cooking: Southern Style

American Cooking: The Northwest

The Cooking Of Scandinavia

A Quintet Of Cuisines

Classic French Cooking

We plan on making several things from each cookbook and trying "Foods of the World".  I love trying new things and so does Justin. We hope to get a few favorites out of these books that we can share together and with Ollie when he starts really eating solids {still mostly breastfeeding and will for 3 years}. 

Speaking of which, I made some baby food today and wish I would have taken some tutorial photos. Yum yum yum! We got an organic butternut squash from Giant Eagle today. I took it home and washed it of course. Even though you don't eat the outer layer, tiny yucky things can get to the meaty inside when you cut it.  

After washing thoroughly, I prehreated the oven to 375. I cut it into quarters, removed seeds, then layed the pieces cut side down in a baking dish. I then added a 1/4 cup of water to the dish and baked it for about 45 minutes. When I {carefully} removed my crispy goodness from the oven, the outer part was rough while the meat was very tender. They kind of take a while to get soft because they are harder. Butternut Squash resembles a pumkin more than summer squash, meaning it's much thicker and "like a rock" {no pun intended}

I let the quartered pieces cool before touching them. When they were a decent temperature, I used a spoon to scoop out as much meat as I could. I had my Ninja Food Processor ready and added as much as I could without over flowing. Re-using the water your fruits or veggies were baked or boiled in saves a lot of nutrients by the way. Blend, pulse, blend! Finally finished and I have two medium sized containers full of orange goodness! I let it cool in the fridge over night before pouring it into freezing trays. They make these nifty little things that freeze your baby food into the perfect portion size. Once frozen, remove and store in a BPA free freezing container. Always label and you're good to go! You now have a nice little portion whenever you want for up to 6 months!! Even enjoy with your little one if you like. YUM!

From now on I will post a tutorial with photos of the foods I make for Ollie and some of our "interesting" dinners. 

Peace, Love, & Happy Foodies!

Whole Grain Baby & The Crunchy Mama