Butternut Squash

Despite being a big fan of summer squash, I've never tried the autumn or winter varieties. I guess at some point I just refused to eat it and it was never offered again. Well that's changing! Carefully choosing foods is important to me, and one way to do that is to choose foods that are 1) locally grown and 2) seasonal. If you can do both at once, that's even better! At the co-op, I chose a locally grown, small-medium butternut squash to make for the first time.


To prepare my squash, I washed it, sliced it in half lengthwise, scooped out the seeds and put each half in an oven-safe baking dish. I rubbed some butter on top and added pumpkin spice - the kind you'd use to season a pumpkin pie. I also added a sprinkling of brown sugar. I set the oven to 375 and covered the squash halves with foil so the tops wouldn't burn, and placed the dishes on the bottom rack of the oven. On the top rack, I placed a tray with the seeds, which I rinsed and stirred in some olive oil and salt.


Both came out great! Not pictured are the other components of the meal - steamed broccoli and chicken, which I baked in a butter and brown sugar glaze. It was soooo good.