I haven't posted on here in a long time, but I thought it would be a good time to start again, because for the past month and a half, I have been vegetarian! Well, I did eat fish one night, but otherwise I have been doing pretty well. I haven't even missed meat at all, and eating vegetarian has forced me to be more creative when cooking, which is definitely a good thing! This week while grocery shopping, I picked up a butternut squash since they are delicious. One squash yields a lot of food, so I had to find a lot of different ways to use it.
Last night, I roasted the squash so it would be ready to eat. I cut the squash in half, scooped out the seeds, sprinkled each half with salt and pepper, and placed the two halves on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. It roasted at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes until it was fork tender.
The skin burned a little and set off the overly sensitive smoke detectors in my apartment, but otherwise it turned out well. I cubed all of the squash and saved some of it for later.
For dinner, I made a wrap with cous cous, black beans, avocado, feta, and the squash. It might sound like a strange combination, but it was delicious! This picture was before I rolled it up and grilled it a little on my roommate's George Foreman grill (works just as nicely as a panini press), but it looked ugly after that so I didn't take a picture.
Tonight, I wanted to use the squash in a somewhat different recipe, so I decided on...mac and cheese! Except, I don't really think you can call it mac and cheese, because I used shells, and there was very little cheese involved. Since the squash was already cooked, I pureed it in the blender, and stuck it in a saucepan with some Greek yogurt (but cream cheese would work well too.) I added milk to thin down the mixture some, and then let it heat while the pasta cooked. The end result was a dish that looks exactly like macaroni and cheese, but it is much healthier and tastes much better than Kraft!
See, you can't even tell the difference! The Greek yogurt added a nice flavor too. I actually put a little mozzarella on top too, but it would taste fine without that too, and be totally cheese-free (if that's what you want). I suggest that you make this "mac and cheese" asap!
Last night, I roasted the squash so it would be ready to eat. I cut the squash in half, scooped out the seeds, sprinkled each half with salt and pepper, and placed the two halves on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. It roasted at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes until it was fork tender.
The skin burned a little and set off the overly sensitive smoke detectors in my apartment, but otherwise it turned out well. I cubed all of the squash and saved some of it for later.
For dinner, I made a wrap with cous cous, black beans, avocado, feta, and the squash. It might sound like a strange combination, but it was delicious! This picture was before I rolled it up and grilled it a little on my roommate's George Foreman grill (works just as nicely as a panini press), but it looked ugly after that so I didn't take a picture.
Tonight, I wanted to use the squash in a somewhat different recipe, so I decided on...mac and cheese! Except, I don't really think you can call it mac and cheese, because I used shells, and there was very little cheese involved. Since the squash was already cooked, I pureed it in the blender, and stuck it in a saucepan with some Greek yogurt (but cream cheese would work well too.) I added milk to thin down the mixture some, and then let it heat while the pasta cooked. The end result was a dish that looks exactly like macaroni and cheese, but it is much healthier and tastes much better than Kraft!
See, you can't even tell the difference! The Greek yogurt added a nice flavor too. I actually put a little mozzarella on top too, but it would taste fine without that too, and be totally cheese-free (if that's what you want). I suggest that you make this "mac and cheese" asap!
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