Conquering Veggables #6.2 - Acorn Squash

Sooooo... didjya read my post about butternut squash?? Because the acorn squash is very similar! As in... the exact same. It's all about getting the right cutlery to really show that squash who is the BOSS. (Hint: it should always be you.)

Cut. Slather. Bake. Eat. Repeat!

Tops & bottoms cut off, seeds out

Slathered in olive oil and s&p goodness

My mom also has an excellent recipe for stuffed acorn squash - I think there's couscous, crasins, and italian sausage involved. Now that I'm not so timid I'll have to get that from her for next fall. (It's too spring-y now for me to think about winter meals. Unless there's suddenly some raging sale on acorn squash. In which case it is ON!)

¡Buen Provecho!

Conquering Vegetables #6.1 - Butternut Squash

One veggie conquered, nine more to go!

Thank goodness my friends Kassie and Rick decided to try being vegan for a month. It forced me to think about what I was cooking and definitely encourages the incorporation of more veggies. Like, lots of veggies. I'm no an expert on being vegan - I catch myself wondering if an egg baked in an avocado has any animal products - but I'm getting a little more adventurous because of it.

So one night I attempted roasting a butternut squash for a dinner with friends. This one wasn't vegan - it used butter and parmesan cheese - but it was damn delicious. The most intimidating part was learning how to cut open a giant butternut squash. This is easily overcome by searching YouTube for "How to cut a butternut squash." I found dozens of tutorials, but I liked this one the best. (This is the original site - I haven't taken a good look, but it all looks delicious!)

Taking what I learned from the original attempt (which, again, WAS DELICIOUS) I switched some of the ingredients - olive oil instead of butter, and I didn't mess with the bread crumb mixture this time.

So - step one, cut the damn thing open. You can see in my picture I eventually got fed up and just broke the two halves apart at the thin end. (And yes, I too giggle at the shape of the butternut squash.)

Step one-and-a-half - turn the oven on to 350-400ish. You might want to look that up.

Step two - smother in olive oil & salt & pepper. Just smear it all on there and shake the S&P to taste.

Step three - Bake! Place face down on a cookie sheet (I line mine with tin foil). It takes about an hour, or until you can jab your fork in and it doesn't stick.

Step four - Let it cool. The skin will probably be all bubbly and a little burnt, but generally the squash isn't. Once it's cool enough that you can handle it w/o burning yourself, the skin will peel right off!

Step five - slice and dice, and eat!

I put cubes of butternut and acorn squash on a spinach salad with crasins, black beans, and drizzled it with this vegan salad dressing which is kind of expensive but reeeeeeally delicious.

Ta-daaaaa! A completely veggie meal that I enjoy!

Chiggity-check #6.1!