You know what I love? I love squash, all kinds of squash – butternut, acorn, zucchini, yellow straightneck, etc. I love to roast, puree, and pan fry squash. I like to use squash in soups, salads, entrees, and even dessert. Hands down this is one of the most versatile vegetables there is. Love it!
A few months ago, I came across a recipe for butternut squash mac n’ cheese. For some dumb reason, I never actually made the dish. I just thought about it a lot. Food is always on my mind. Then about two weeks ago, I decided to get creative in the kitchen. All I knew was that whatever I made had to include butternut squash and kale. Those two things had been sitting in the fridge for over a week, and like I’ve mentioned before, we do NOT like to waste food. So using the recipe I saw in passing as my inspiration, I decided to make lasagna with a kale filling and a butternut squash sauce.
After a quick Google search on “butternut squash sauce,” I came across this recipe by Ashley at Edible Perspective. I scanned the ingredient list and got to work. Now if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that my propensity to do everything quickly gets me in trouble sometimes. Luckily, that wasn’t the case this time around. Despite the fact that I looked at the recipe for all of 10 seconds, the sauce came out great. Phew! The not so great thing was that I because I modified the original recipe a bit and didn’t measure or write anything out, I had nothing but a picture on Instagram to show for it. Sorry about that!
No worries though because I’m about to more than make up for it. I recreated the butternut squash sauce, and this time it was even better than take one.
Same scenario – an “almost too old to eat” butternut squash and a package of mushrooms led to a unique meal on Tuesday night.
I present to you…mushroom and onion quinoa with a creamy butternut squash sauce.
This simple dish was so flavorful and full of texture – a little meaty from mushrooms, chewy from the quinoa, and sweet and spicy from the sauce. It makes for great leftovers as well.
All I did to prepare the vegetables was sauté them in a little bit of olive oil with some chopped garlic, salt, and black pepper. After the quinoa was done cooking, I mixed it in with the veggies. When we were ready to eat, I portioned out the quinoa and topped it off with lots of sauce. Simple yet incredibly delicious!
Butternut Squash Sauce
Adapted from this recipe
1 medium butternut squash
1 cup vegetable broth
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 handfuls cherry tomatoes
1/2 small sweet onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic
1/2 roasted red pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoon Indian chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
salt and pepper to taste
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Peel and cube the butternut squash (tip: use a spoon to scoop out the seeds). Add squash to boiling water. Cook until tender – about 25-30 minutes. Drain the squash and allow to cool. Add the rest of the ingredients to a high-powered blender adding the squash last. Blend until combined. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
Oh butternut squash, how I love thee!
What’s your favorite vegetable AND what’s your favorite way to eat it?