Butternut Squash
*This post has been sitting idle in my draft box for oh, almost 2 years (October, 2014 to be exact) ... what the heck? I'm sharing it NOW and then going to make sure I re-share again when the season hits!
I am not a huge fan of veggies, I'm sure you already know that, but I have been working on it!
And of course, butternut squash is running rampant at the grocery stores lately, with Whole Foods having the organic stuff at 89 cents a pound! Really? Nothing is ever 89 cents a pound at Whole Foods, you know, so yes, I grabbed a small squash.
Mind you, every 2 weeks, I get the bug, and pick up a butternut squash, a spaghetti squash, an acorn squash AND some zucchini. Generally it's the pretty display and the less than $1 per pound sign that lures me in ... after all, it's Frugal and it's supposed to be good for you ... so hook me up and reel me in, every time.
Then, 10 days later, I see the variety of squash STILL sitting in the guest kitchen refrigerator and end up tossing them out ... FOOD WASTE EXTRAORDINAIRE! There. I said it. :-( Boo.
So this time around, it's a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I've left the butternut and spaghetti squash sitting on the counter in the MAIN kitchen, so every time I do something, I have to move the damn things. But at least they were constantly in sight, which is why I decided to do something with the butternut squash, at least!
First up was figuring out how to manhandle the thing. Geesh.
I ended up cutting off the top and the bottom, and then peeling the skin off with a vegetable peeler. Well. That wasn't so very bad or difficult.
Then I cut it in half, which took a little more work. And at this time, my left finger pads were getting numb and tingly. Odd.
So I scrubbed my hands and put on some gloves. Way better now.
Then I sliced the halves into slices, about 1/4 inch thick, somewhat and cut those into cubes. Like so.
Cutting the cubes was by far way easier than cutting the slices! I really should have made a better attempt at cutting them a little more uniform in size, but oh well, I'm not a perfectionist and never insinuated I was ;-) (funny observation: the Princess and boyfriend were over and he snatched a cube, thinking it was cheese ... oops!)
Then I melted some olive oil and butter in a large skillet. I am LOVING the Kerrygold Butter I picked up for $2.00 each. Yes, I know that's $4.00 a pound, but so is regular butter. Doh. I've stashed quite a few in the freezer along with the decent deal on grass fed ground beef I picked up. *In the future, I will be using only ghee as I've found I have better results with ghee than olive oil/butter mixtures ... plus that would make it Whole30 Approved too!*
Dump in the squash and add a generous amount of salt, pepper and chili powder.
Stir well to mix up and then let it cook for about 10 minutes or so til softened and a little golden color ...
At the last minute, I decided to dump in the leftover diced onion I had in the fridge along with some garlic ... so glad I did ... this definitely changed things up so by all means, add some onions and garlic!
Done and ready to eat.
This will come to work with me for lunch this week ... I'm pretty stoked as it tasted way better than I anticipated. Yes, I still act like a kid sometimes when it comes to trying new veggies but this may be a new favorite. Step aside, green beans!
I am not a huge fan of veggies, I'm sure you already know that, but I have been working on it!
And of course, butternut squash is running rampant at the grocery stores lately, with Whole Foods having the organic stuff at 89 cents a pound! Really? Nothing is ever 89 cents a pound at Whole Foods, you know, so yes, I grabbed a small squash.
Mind you, every 2 weeks, I get the bug, and pick up a butternut squash, a spaghetti squash, an acorn squash AND some zucchini. Generally it's the pretty display and the less than $1 per pound sign that lures me in ... after all, it's Frugal and it's supposed to be good for you ... so hook me up and reel me in, every time.
Then, 10 days later, I see the variety of squash STILL sitting in the guest kitchen refrigerator and end up tossing them out ... FOOD WASTE EXTRAORDINAIRE! There. I said it. :-( Boo.
So this time around, it's a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I've left the butternut and spaghetti squash sitting on the counter in the MAIN kitchen, so every time I do something, I have to move the damn things. But at least they were constantly in sight, which is why I decided to do something with the butternut squash, at least!
First up was figuring out how to manhandle the thing. Geesh.
I ended up cutting off the top and the bottom, and then peeling the skin off with a vegetable peeler. Well. That wasn't so very bad or difficult.
Then I cut it in half, which took a little more work. And at this time, my left finger pads were getting numb and tingly. Odd.
So I scrubbed my hands and put on some gloves. Way better now.
Then I sliced the halves into slices, about 1/4 inch thick, somewhat and cut those into cubes. Like so.
Cutting the cubes was by far way easier than cutting the slices! I really should have made a better attempt at cutting them a little more uniform in size, but oh well, I'm not a perfectionist and never insinuated I was ;-) (funny observation: the Princess and boyfriend were over and he snatched a cube, thinking it was cheese ... oops!)
Then I melted some olive oil and butter in a large skillet. I am LOVING the Kerrygold Butter I picked up for $2.00 each. Yes, I know that's $4.00 a pound, but so is regular butter. Doh. I've stashed quite a few in the freezer along with the decent deal on grass fed ground beef I picked up. *In the future, I will be using only ghee as I've found I have better results with ghee than olive oil/butter mixtures ... plus that would make it Whole30 Approved too!*
Dump in the squash and add a generous amount of salt, pepper and chili powder.
Stir well to mix up and then let it cook for about 10 minutes or so til softened and a little golden color ...
At the last minute, I decided to dump in the leftover diced onion I had in the fridge along with some garlic ... so glad I did ... this definitely changed things up so by all means, add some onions and garlic!
Done and ready to eat.
This will come to work with me for lunch this week ... I'm pretty stoked as it tasted way better than I anticipated. Yes, I still act like a kid sometimes when it comes to trying new veggies but this may be a new favorite. Step aside, green beans!
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