I love butternut squash, but I hate peeling it. There must be an easier way. I did a quick search and came to a trio of butternut squash recipes on the Clean Cuisine website. By the way, I can't wait to explore that site more, especially the recipes page. Anyway, one of her recipes just called for quartering the squash. No peeling. Wahoo!
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| I can't believe I forgot to take a photo of the finished product. |
I may be the only middle-aged person in the US who hasn't made butternut squash that way before, but I'm still posting about it! After peeling and cubing it for years, this is a real break-through for me. Sadly, it's one that should have occurred to me. I've prepared other squashes this way. I blame the gluten brain fog I've suffered with for ages. That will be my excuse for everything stupid I've done in the past! :-D
I followed the recipe for quartering the squash almost to the letter. It took less than 5 minutes prep time. The only thing I did different from her recipe was that I omitted the brown sugar and substituted a dash of cinnamon instead. Butternut squash is fairly sweet already. Also, I'm avoiding refined sugar at the moment. If you aren't, by all means add it - I'll bet it's yummy!
Here's the quick How-To -
CUT a butternut squash in quarters. - Clean Cuisine recommended putting it on a towel while cutting it so it doesn't slip.
SCOOP out the seeds with a spoon.
SEASON - Place the four squash pieces on a foil-lined baking sheet, flesh side up. Rub a little extra virgin olive oil or extra virgin coconut oil on top of the butternut squash. I used the coconut oil. Season with some or all of the following - unrefined sea salt, pepper, cinnamon and/or a little bit of brown sugar.
BAKE - Roast at 400 degrees for about 35 to 40 minutes, or until flesh is fork tender.
I don't think you're supposed to eat the skin, but it was quite tender. I didn't taste the skin, but our dogs seemed to like it. :-D Maybe I should look into that.