Cooking is an acquired talent. Planning to cook is something that you have time for but think that you don’t. Eating real food is an essential part of staying healthy and kicking the added sugar addiction that we all have.
The Washington Post has an article this morning on what to do with Butternut Squash. This is one of those things that you walk past every week in your local grocery. You might notice it and think, “Wonder how you use that”. The article made me think about how much information is available on the internet to help us make use of whatever might be available in the store that is in season. Eating foods in season is good for us, but it is also good for farmers in our neighborhood. Corn and Soybean farmers don’t need our help, they have the assistance of the Federal government in the form of subsidies. It doesn’t matter to them whether or not the price of their product goes up or down, it could go all the way to zero and they would make the same amount of money per acre. Your squash farmer though needs you. If he sells to the grocer or to you at the farmer’s market, he relies only on the money he gets from the market. You need your squash farmer.
• Offers 354 percent of the recommended dietary allowance of vitamin A, a powerful antioxidant that promotes healthy skin, eyes and mucous membranes.
• Delivers loads of B vitamins, especially folate for heart health and B6 for the immune and nervous systems.
• Provides iron, zinc, calcium, potassium, copper and phosphorous.
• Includes half of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C, which helps boost the immune system.
• Is free of saturated fats and cholesterol, and high in fiber.
If Butternut Squash had a label it would say, “A full day’s supply of Vitamin A, and other vital nutrients” or “Gluten-Free, Fat-Free, Sugar-Free”. Squash doesn’t need a label, though, because it is a single ingredient food. It also doesn’t come with instructions on what to do with it, so here are some:
From the Washington Post:
Basic cooking methods
• Halved, then roasted or grilled with the skin on or off.
• Sliced and roasted, with the skin on or off.
• Cubed and boiled in a soup, roasted, steamed or sauteed.
Ways to eat butternut squash
• Roasted with olive oil or coconut oil and sea salt, and served as a side dish or in a salad.
• Steamed, then pureed into a soup with stock and spices.
• Cubed and thrown into a stew or sauteed with oil, sea salt and spices.
• Steamed or roasted, mashed, then used in risotto or ravioli, or blended into a dip.
• Steamed, pureed and baked into any muffin or bread recipe that calls for pumpkin puree.
• Roasted, pureed and whipped into a creme brulee.
• Sliced into thin strips and then baked into chips.
• And don’t forget to roast the seeds!
Here is a video from YouTube of what to do with it.
They keep for months, which is why they are historically a winter food. Back in the day when you didn’t have refrigeration there was a vital need for foods that you could lay up and eat as needed until springtime foods became available again. They are vital for us, because we need foods that we can buy, keep until we have the time to cook them, and that are real, single ingredient foods that contain no artificial ingredients.