Did you all see the Harvest Moon last night?? It was big and bright, and made me think about re-harvesting my garden for the start of fall on Sunday. I’m big into squash right now in all of it’s forms- spaghetti, acorn, table queen and my favorite, butternut!
Butternut squash is low in fat, high in fiber and provides a tremendous amount of potassium, vitamin B6 and carotenoids- shown to protect against heart disease. What’s not to love? Pair that with some quinoa and you have a flavorful, satisfying, and low-calorie meal.. so have a glass a wine with it! It’s easy to cook and you can stuff it with just about anything… so let’s take a butternut boat ride!
Choose a big squash for your boats.
Butternut-Quinoa Stuffed Squash Boats- serves 2
Ingredients:
-1 large butternut suash
-1 cup quinoa
-1 bunch rosemary
-1 bunch basil
-1 bunch cilantro
-1 red onion
-1/2 cup mushrooms
-1 bunch thyme
-3 cloves garlic
-1 packet Oh My! Omega nuts from Trader Joe’s
-1/4 cup raisins
-zest from one orange
-2 T extra virgin olive oil (for side salad)
-2 T balsamic vinegar
-salt and pepper
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Cut the squash length-wise, remove the seeds, and place on a lightly greased sheet. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until soft. You can use a fork to judge if its easy to pull at. Let it cool for five minutes.
3. Chop up all the veggies.
4. While squash is baking, follow the cooking instructions for the quinoa and add the chopped rosemary in with it. It should start to smell delicious in your house!
5. While the quinoa boils, place the onions in a pan with a little coconut oil or spray, and sauté, adding the mushrooms, herbs, garlic and nuts toward the end when the onions are browning.
Quinoa should be fluffy!
6. Toss the quinoa in there and mix everything up.
7. Take a fork and mash at the squash to loosen it up, creating a “boat” look and then add your filling. I placed some greens on the side and dressed it with some EVOO and balsamic vinegar. Get out a fancy plate and enjoy!
Here’s a close-up!
Originally, I bought two butternut squash so I created a spice muffin this afternoon to use up the rest. You can make these gluten-free too by using almond flour instead of whole wheat. The consistency will be the same. Everyone keeps asking me if I’m gluten-free and the answer is no! I tend to cook this way so I can give my goodies out to gluten-free friends.. in hopes I won’t eat them all! So if you’re wanting to share a recipe or share food with me, by all means, please do!
Butternut Squash Spice Muffins- makes 15
Ingredients:
-1 butternut squash cut length-wise and de-seeded
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-1/2 cup Niccola’s apple butter or almond will do
-1 cup whole-wheat flour or almond flour
-1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
-2 eggs
-1 tea vanilla extract
-1/4 tsp salt
-2 T chia seeds
-1/4 tsp each nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice
Choose a smaller butternut squash for your muffins.
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Cut the squash length-wise, remove the seeds, and place on a lightly greased sheet. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until soft. You can use a fork to judge if its easy to pull at. Let it cool for five minutes.
3. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt. Whisk throughly.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, vanilla and coconut milk.
5. Skin the squash and scoop it into your food processor with the brown sugar and apple or almond butter.
7. Slowly fold in the flour mixture until all the squash is incorporated. Add the chia seeds last. Scoop into muffin tins.
8. Turn oven down to 375 and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
9. Add shredded coconut on top and enjoy!
Corduroy and Sugar always get to lick the bowl!
It’s dog-sitting central here at the Nelson Zoo this weekend. I’ve got my friend Jennifer’s little dog Bella, who has been hiding out in my closet the past two days, along with Buddy, a yoga student’s dog who has just as much energy as Corduroy. They make a great match and I get to relax while the pups occupy themselves!
Miss Bella.
Mr. Buddy.
Check out the Yummy Yogini Blog on Sunday for the first day of fall… I’ll be celebrating with cooking and baking. Recipes to be posted! Happy Friday!