Baby/ Baby Food/ Recipes

Make Your Own Baby Food: Chicken with Kabocha Squash and Broccoli

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I’m back with a recipe!

Only this time it’s for little people.

Baby food has been the number one requested topic on here for quite some time. Seems like you guys are very curious as to what I am feeding this chunky boy! This recipe is for you. We started solids pretty early with Grayson, around 4.5 months, and he’s always been really into it. I’m not shocked, obviously, because Adam and I love food more than anyone I know. Anyway, it’s been super fun to introduce new flavors and foods and see what he likes best! We do a combination of baby led weaning and purees. Grayson eats three baby food “meals” a day and loves them!

Even though all the ingredients in this recipe have been deemed safe for babies 6 months and up by our pediatrician, you should always check with your doctor first before starting solids with your baby.

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I love making Grayson’s food. Hopefully this post will inspire you to do the same for your little ones! It’s so satisfying feeding them something you have cooked or grown yourself. I love making simple purees with all sorts of veggies and fruits and also protein-packed purees like this one! They all go right into the freezer, either in my handy dandy infantino squeeze pouches (best baby purchase ever!!!) or an ice cube tray. When it comes time to feed Grayson, I either just pop one of the pouches to defrost in the fridge overnight or place in a bowl of warm water.

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This recipe is a yummy blend of chicken, squash, broccoli, coconut milk and spices. Add salt and enjoy it yourself before you puree it up for your baby! It’s really yummy, if I do say so myself.

Someone else thought so, too!

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Y’all, his hair is CRAZY.

I love it so much.

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He gobbled it right up! I love that I have a good eater on my hands!

So, again, to store this you can scoop the puree into an ice cube tray…

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Just pop out individual frozen cubes when you need them.

Or in squeeze pouches! I just love the infantino squeeze station. I got it as a baby gift and it’s been so handy. A baby food maker? Not so much. I much prefer just using my vitamix to make purees. I haven’t had good luck at all with any baby food maker on the market.

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As you can see, I do still keep pretty busy in the kitchen…

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Chicken with Kabocha Squash and Broccoli

yields about four 3.5oz servings

Print this recipe!

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast, cut into cubes

1/2 kabocha squash, peeled, seeded and diced

10 small florets broccoli

1 small shallot, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbsp butter

3/4 cup coconut milk

1 cup vegetable stock or water

1/2 tsp ground cumin

Directions:

Heat the butter in a large skillet or pot over medium high heat. Once melted, add the chicken and saute until not pink anymore inside – about six minutes.

Add the garlic and shallot to the chicken and saute for 1 more minute. Add the  squash, broccoli, coconut milk, stock and cumin. Mix and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until veggies are very soft — about 15 or 20 minutes.

When veggies are tender, transfer mixture carefully to a high speed blender or food processor and blend until smooth. You may add additional coconut milk, stock, water or breast milk to make puree your ideal thickness.

Transfer puree into squeeze bags or an ice cube tray to store in the freezer. Defrost in the fridge overnight or in a bowl of warm water. Never defrost in the microwave.

Time:

30 minutes

 

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  • Nicole
    December 3, 2014 at 5:14 am

    Does he eat the contents of the pouch cold or do you warm them somehow?

    • jenna
      December 3, 2014 at 6:37 am

      I usually warm up the contents by placing the pouch in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes 🙂

  • Grace
    December 3, 2014 at 5:47 am

    I saw on Instagram awhile ago that you said you fed Grayson store-bought baby food, and I think it’s awesome that you’ve moved on to real homemade food! Making baby food was one of the best parts of early parenthood for me. It was so much fun, even though it only lasted a short while!
    We also did a mix of baby-led weaning and a few purees, but don’t be surprised if Grayson starts rejecting the purees and insists on feeding himself real food sooner than later; that’s what my daughter did around 7-8 months. She only wanted what WE were eating – ha! What we ended up doing was just feeding our daughter exactly what we ate, but I would just make sure to add salt (and any really spicy spices like ancho chili powder, spicy curry powder, etc) after I gave our daughter her portion. At that point I also switched out from any canned/jarred/boxed stocks, soups, etc to all homemade to avoid those unhealthy sodium bombs.
    The reusable pouches remained handy for green smoothies, and we still use them now, and our daughter is almost three! I would freeze them like you do, then pop them in my backpack or purse and they would defrost by the time snack time came around. We do the same with frozen veggies so she has a nice healthy fresh snack a few hours later while we’re out.

  • DessertForTwo
    December 3, 2014 at 6:21 am

    I never thought to mix in meat! I still have a lot to learn with baby food, obviously! Good thing I still have a few months 😉

    Thanks for the link to the pouches!

  • Sonal
    December 3, 2014 at 6:44 am

    I fed my baby a lot of homemade food. I just got a Bella blender ($20 at Amazon) and a mini rice cooker ($10 on sale) and kept it exclusively for the little one. One of my kiddo’s favorite was brown rice cooked in organic chicken broth with lentils , squash, peas, carrots. He gobbled it down always. And he loved mashed avocados so those were handy to carry and feed when we were out.

  • JD
    December 3, 2014 at 6:58 am

    I think it’s so great that Grayson is such a hearty eater for you, and that you are making the effort to prepare him such delicious food! As a mom to an 11-month-old daughter with severe food allergies, right now we don’t have a single food that is safe for our little girl so she is still exclusively breastfeeding. I know that one day, God willing, we will find her a safe food to enjoy, but for now it’s so nice for me to see other moms making the effort to feed their babies nutritiously. Good job, Jenna 🙂

  • Lauren
    December 3, 2014 at 10:22 am

    How do you like the Infantino pouches? Are there other ones you considered? Also, how do you protect the food in the ice cube trays in the freezer? Do you cover with something?

    • Carrie
      December 3, 2014 at 10:28 am

      Lauren – After the cubes are frozen, I pop them out of the trays and put them in gallon-sized zip-lock bags. Then, anytime I need a cube, I just grab one from one of the sealed bags.

      • Lauren
        December 3, 2014 at 12:31 pm

        Thanks!

  • Carrie
    December 3, 2014 at 10:25 am

    I was excited to see this post, as my daughter is nearly 8 months old and I make all of her baby food. We didn’t start feeding her solids until she was over 6.5 months old and so far she’s just had oatmeal and age-appropriate fruits/veggies. I haven’t introduced meat yet, but maybe I will next month with this recipe. I freeze everything that I make in cubes, but then I warm them for a few seconds in the microwave. Why is that bad? There is no breastmilk mixed in. Since I’m not using the pouches, I’m not sure how else I would warm the frozen cubes…

    Please continue to post more baby food recipes! I figure that I still have a few more months of feeding her baby food before I start just giving her what we’re eating for dinner! Oh, and if you could post how much/often you’re feeding Grayson food, that would be helpful, too! I’m having such a hard time figuring that out for my daughter. Right now, at 8 months, she is nursed at 7am; gets 1 tablespoon of oatmeal mixed with breastmilk plus 1.5 oz. of fruit for breakfast; drinks 4.5 oz. of breastmilk for brunch; drinks 4.5 oz. of breastmilk for lunch; drinks 4.5 oz. of breastmilk for a snack, eats 2 oz. of veggies for dinner, is nursed before bed, and then, unfortunately, is nursed about twice in the middle of the night. So, lots of breastmilk with two solid feedings/day. But she’s getting older and will soon be able to eat more solids and less breastmilk. It’s just so hard to know when and how much, especially since she’s in daycare and I can’t just “go with the flow!”

    • Grace
      December 3, 2014 at 11:10 am

      I work full time too, and it’s tough to pack lunches for little ones! But honestly, just remember that “food before one is just for fun” – none of their nutrients or any real substantial caloric intake should be from solid food before twelve months, and my daughter didn’t start dropping nursing sessions until closer to 14 months (she self-weaned a few months shy of three). It’s really all about experimentation and exploration at that age. It sounds like your daughter is doing just fine – lots of nursing is really all she needs – solid food cannot even begin to compete with the levels of nutrients in breastmilk!
      For us, at 7/8 months I just started feeding my daughter what we were eating (as I mentioned in my other comment I would just set aside some food for her before adding salt). So for lunches I would just pack leftovers from dinner, fresh fruit, defrosted frozen organic veggies, and puffed kamut (since I avoided rice due to arsenic levels). But it was all in small amounts and lots would be sent home at the end of the day. It’s really just for them to play with and explore!

      • Dana
        December 3, 2014 at 12:29 pm

        I think she is saying don’t defrost the food in the microwave. But u can warm it for a few seconds. I think that’s totally fine.

      • Carrie
        December 4, 2014 at 3:09 pm

        Thanks for your reply, Grace! I agree that “food before one is just for fun,” which is why we did not start our daughter on solids before the 6-month mark and she is eating only small amounts of purees twice/day. I guess that I just need to stop stressing about her food intake! I’m a first-time mom, though, so I’m figuring this all out as I go.

        • Grace
          December 5, 2014 at 5:29 am

          Carrie, I was totally in your shoes for a long time! As my daughter has gotten older (she’s almost three now) I’ve relaxed a lot. What helped was reading Child of Mine; it’s a great book about how to help shape healthy, competent eaters. It’s mainly aimed at parents of picky eaters, but there was a lot that I found really helpful (I spent a lot of my adult life overweight and I really didn’t want my daughter to struggle with ANY food issues!). The basic idea is that you present the food, and let your child completely decide if and how much they eat. It prevents any food struggles, and it lets their own, healthy, natural self-regulation (which gets broken in so many children, resulting in unhealthy eating as adults) take control. It’s helpful too to remember that children regulate their food intake over the course of a week, rather than a day or meal, so it only needs to look “balanced” over the course of many days (some days may be all protein, some days all fruit, some days virtually nothing – it all works out in the end!). That’s also why it’s so healthy to breastfeed on demand for the first year, you want your child to maintain their innate appetites and hunger regulation as long as possible while their neural pathways are being set (which happens the most in the first three years of life), this is one of the biggest things you can do to help prevent childhood obesity and disordered eating down the line.

          • Carrie
            December 5, 2014 at 9:37 am

            I am a huge breastfeeding proponent, too, and my daughter has never had a drop of formula. Unfortunately, since she is in daycare now (she started daycare at 5 months), I can’t really feed her on demand anymore, but, of course, I nurse her often in the evenings and weekends (and I pump…all the time, it seems!). I definitely plan to breastfeed as long as possible!

  • Lisa
    December 3, 2014 at 10:53 am

    This looks great! I’m a mom to a 2 year old and 3 month old and it’s been so fun reading about your life as a mom! I love all the baby posts!!

  • Kelsey @ Snacking Squirrel
    December 3, 2014 at 11:28 am

    Happy Baby! Kabocha squash always puts a smile on my face. Chicken, broccoli and squash are total superfoods, especially when paired together! <3

  • Avery
    December 3, 2014 at 1:21 pm

    Why shouldn’t you defrost in the microwave?

  • Sarah
    December 3, 2014 at 2:18 pm

    Are those pouches refillable?? Or do you need to buy new ones after each use?

    • jenna
      December 3, 2014 at 6:20 pm

      They are not refillable. You can purchase them in boxes of 50 on Amazon.

  • Duffy
    December 4, 2014 at 6:51 am

    Do you worry about sodium levels in the coconut milk and vegetable stock? I like the idea of incorporating more advanced flavors and proteins, but would be wary of using store bought stock and coconut milk before one year just because their kidneys can’t handle it.

  • Jennifer @ Show Me the Yummy
    December 4, 2014 at 11:30 am

    You are amazing! Such an inspiration 🙂 I’m obsessed with your blog and I don’t have a baby yet!

  • AshleyL
    December 9, 2014 at 7:02 am

    Are you following the moms on call schedule for feeding too. I feel like it is so time consuming to feed her an hour after nursing so I feed her and then nurse to top her off. We started at 4 months but she wasn’t enjoying it at all. I felt like I was forcing it so we stopped and just started again. She’s much better now. Did you also follow their intro schedule. I didn’t the first time but I did this time. She loves her probiotic oat cereal!

    • jenna
      December 9, 2014 at 9:08 pm

      We used to follow it pretty closely, but to be honest in the past two months we have gone a little rogue with the schedule. I still do feed him three solid baby food meals a day but the times aren’t always on line with what MOC says.

  • anonymous
    December 9, 2014 at 11:36 am

    I hope your planning to post more baby recipes and soon! I made this over the weekend and my baby loves it!

  • Shannon D'J
    December 10, 2014 at 7:45 am

    This looks so yummy! Thanks for the recipe, Jenna. I look forward to you posting more recipes for baby food!

  • Kaleigh
    December 19, 2014 at 7:22 pm

    Please keep posting baby food recipes!! This is so great and it made me think outside the box a little more. I’ve been too focused on plain fruit and veggie mixes and this is awesome!

  • Grayson Allen: Seven Months
    January 8, 2015 at 1:33 pm

    […] are old fashioned oatmeal with apple butter (I make a big pot and we all eat it!), lunch is usually homemade chicken and veggies and “dinner” is either more chicken, smashed lentils & veggies or veggies and Greek […]

  • Joyce
    January 10, 2015 at 11:56 pm

    Looks so yum! What bib is he wearing? We need a catch bib and this one looks cute and comfortable for LO

    • jenna
      January 11, 2015 at 2:11 pm

      It’s a bib I got from Whole Foods. I love it because you can just throw it in the dishwasher!

  • Katie R
    January 12, 2015 at 12:24 pm

    Thank you for the recipe! Made it today and my little guy loves it. I had to sub kabocha for butternut- but it’s delish! Keep sharing!