Okay, I admit it.  I did not plant the butternut squash.  It came up from the compost.

It has taken over my vegetable garden and the neighbors’ yard.

The leaves are lovely.

It has produced dozens of giant squash.

I have made various delicious recipes with them.

BUT…

When I try to give them away, there is a pause, then a polite ” No thank you.”

Why are folks rejecting my gifts of yummy squash?

The ones who do take one ask “How do I cook it?”

So I figured I would do some Butternut squash PR for my poor rejected produce.

First, a stout knife is needed to cut off both ends. This is the secret to easily cutting up the rest.

After the ends are removed you can do one of two things.

Baking requires removing the seeds, brushing the flesh with olive oil,  and putting the halves skin side up on a sheet covered with parchment  paper. Bake the halves until you can easily stick a knife in them.

Then let them cool and scope out the flesh or use your knife to cut off the skin.

I then go either salty or sweet with this. It can be sauteed with onions and garlic OR baked with nutmeg, ginger, pumpkin spice… It’s good no matter.

I ate some last night with no spices at all.

I also make soup in my Instant Pot.

Saute onions and sage in olive oil. Then saute a couple handfuls of the raw squash cubes with that. Then add four cups of vegetable broth with fresh ginger and nutmeg with the rest of the squash cubes.

Cook on the “soup” setting. Then I pour some out into my Ninja blender. Do NOT over-fill or it blows out the spout onto the wall and the coffee maker and the bag of coffee and the tea bag box…

This is COMFORT FOOD! I feel like I am drinking vitamins.

So now you know.

Embrace a BUTTERNUT and get cooking.

FLOW