SQUASH: It does a body good. Pass it on!
So last week I was all about the squash. Squash is yummy! When I was a kid, I thought squash was grody to the max. My mom only served it one way -- as runny orange baby food. Why would anyone like that? But over the years, I fell head over heels for zucchini (courgettes to y'all across the pond) and summer squash, and then I met butternut squash. I love butternut squash ravioli! And I thought, why not in pizza? And then I thought, why not experiment w/ lots of squashes? So I did! I made the butternut squash pizza, butternut squash casserole, garlic & parsley delicata squash, and maple acorn squash.
First up is the butternut squash pizza. I changed the recipe a bit. Oh! Here's the recipe. Instead of roasting the onions w/ the squash, I caramelized them. They smelled delicious!!! And here's the thing about onions: I used to hate them -- they're slippery, gross! But caramelized onions were really yummy:
Caramelizing the onions! Chopping the butternut squash! It's wicked difficult!
Then I had to peel the squash. Peeling a squash is very difficult! (Notice a theme here?) It was actually easier to peel the butternut than to peel the delicata later in my story. At any rate, the squash discs or what have you needed to be roasted w/ some rosemary before going on the pizzas.
Okay, I cheated on the cheese. The recipe called for just a teensy bit of Parmesan. Hell, no! I did the Parmesan and quite a bit more of Havarti. I like my pizza to be cheeserific! And it was AWESOME!!!!
Moving on, I totally forgot to take pics of the Butternut Squash Casserole. It was good. It's not anything I would make for a family gathering b/c my mum has an aversion to fruit. But it tasted good. My only problem was that I had one butternut squash and the remainder of the one I used to make the pizza, and they only provided about half the squash needed for the recipe. I halved all the other ingredients. If I was just making the casserole, I wold have bought the squash chunks already peeled and chopped.
Then came the delicata!! Now that was a process. People, how do you peel a delicata squash? It's hard as stone and has bumps and grooves. It took forever! Tips, anyone? Anyhow, it was quite tasty, but I've never seen it in the store already peeled for me, so I don't know how I feel about making it again. Also, it's just generally gross to rip out the guts and seeds. I don't really care, but that might deter some people from cooking w/ these puppies. Here's the recipe, and here are the pics:
This was yummy! I cooked half the squash one night, and the second half another night. The second night I didn't cook it long enough. Leave that sucker in!
Okay, moving on to my final dish, baked acorn squash! I totally changed this recipe, too! Instead of two tablespoons of brown sugar, I put in one plus one tablespoon of maple sugar, and I shook the cinnamon jar over it.
I thought this looked cool, with the big crater full of sweetness and then the reformed squash. This is another one you get messy making! And in the end, it looks like baby food! Ha! But still, great taste.
Baby food squash, yum!
And of course, the doggies have to have their say:
Kitty doesn't give a flying fuck about squash, and declined to have her picture taken.
And for everyone who's been to my house (apartment) before, let me tell you about our new display. You know how the road curves after you take the fork? (If you don't remember, it curves. It's a really big curve.) Then a little farther down is the first entrance to the complex? Well, I was walking back from the bus stop along the road tonight and stopped dead in my tracks at that curve. I thought the complex was on fire! Then I realized it wasn't. No, it's just Christmas lights season already, apparently. This particular display inspired in me an (out loud) utterance of "Dear God, what is that thing?" I believe it was supposed to be a nativity scene. It stretched through three windows and a balcony. The balcony had a floodlight on it, just in case you could miss it. It was so very scary! And really, really bright. I should take a pic of it.
And that's truly all! Tootles!
First up is the butternut squash pizza. I changed the recipe a bit. Oh! Here's the recipe. Instead of roasting the onions w/ the squash, I caramelized them. They smelled delicious!!! And here's the thing about onions: I used to hate them -- they're slippery, gross! But caramelized onions were really yummy:
Caramelizing the onions! Chopping the butternut squash! It's wicked difficult!
Then I had to peel the squash. Peeling a squash is very difficult! (Notice a theme here?) It was actually easier to peel the butternut than to peel the delicata later in my story. At any rate, the squash discs or what have you needed to be roasted w/ some rosemary before going on the pizzas.
Okay, I cheated on the cheese. The recipe called for just a teensy bit of Parmesan. Hell, no! I did the Parmesan and quite a bit more of Havarti. I like my pizza to be cheeserific! And it was AWESOME!!!!
Moving on, I totally forgot to take pics of the Butternut Squash Casserole. It was good. It's not anything I would make for a family gathering b/c my mum has an aversion to fruit. But it tasted good. My only problem was that I had one butternut squash and the remainder of the one I used to make the pizza, and they only provided about half the squash needed for the recipe. I halved all the other ingredients. If I was just making the casserole, I wold have bought the squash chunks already peeled and chopped.
Then came the delicata!! Now that was a process. People, how do you peel a delicata squash? It's hard as stone and has bumps and grooves. It took forever! Tips, anyone? Anyhow, it was quite tasty, but I've never seen it in the store already peeled for me, so I don't know how I feel about making it again. Also, it's just generally gross to rip out the guts and seeds. I don't really care, but that might deter some people from cooking w/ these puppies. Here's the recipe, and here are the pics:
This was yummy! I cooked half the squash one night, and the second half another night. The second night I didn't cook it long enough. Leave that sucker in!
Okay, moving on to my final dish, baked acorn squash! I totally changed this recipe, too! Instead of two tablespoons of brown sugar, I put in one plus one tablespoon of maple sugar, and I shook the cinnamon jar over it.
I thought this looked cool, with the big crater full of sweetness and then the reformed squash. This is another one you get messy making! And in the end, it looks like baby food! Ha! But still, great taste.
Baby food squash, yum!
And of course, the doggies have to have their say:
Kitty doesn't give a flying fuck about squash, and declined to have her picture taken.
And for everyone who's been to my house (apartment) before, let me tell you about our new display. You know how the road curves after you take the fork? (If you don't remember, it curves. It's a really big curve.) Then a little farther down is the first entrance to the complex? Well, I was walking back from the bus stop along the road tonight and stopped dead in my tracks at that curve. I thought the complex was on fire! Then I realized it wasn't. No, it's just Christmas lights season already, apparently. This particular display inspired in me an (out loud) utterance of "Dear God, what is that thing?" I believe it was supposed to be a nativity scene. It stretched through three windows and a balcony. The balcony had a floodlight on it, just in case you could miss it. It was so very scary! And really, really bright. I should take a pic of it.
And that's truly all! Tootles!