butternut squash

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As the weather gets colder, and the daylight dwindles, it’s nice to have a few comfort food recipes on hand. What’s even better is trying not to fall into that winter trap of eating tons of cheesy carbs and meat (not all the time anyway) that constitute traditional comfort food. With our health and waistlines in mind, I spent Sunday slowly developing a Moroccan-inspired veggie stew for dinner and three days of lunches. I love when I am prepared for the week!

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When we need a huge grocery haul, we often go to Market Basket. We really should just go there all the time. If you can tolerate the crowds and the slippery, sawdusty floors, you can get some incredible deals! Next time I need to wear shoes with better soles though; I almost fell trying to get up the momentum to push our cart!

butternut squash

Anyhow, the end result of our shopping trip was fabulous, lots of veggies for eating and juicing. My Moroccan-inspired stew was full of lots of bold flavors, lots of nutrients, and bright colors.

Ingredients

4 cups chopped carrots

4 cups chopped butternut squash

2 cups chopped sweet potato

3 cups chickpeas (cooked)

any other leftover veggies you have  – I tossed in about 3 cups of steamed broccoli and string beans

8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 habanero peppers, fine chopped, seeds and all!

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons coriander seeds, crushed as much as possible or roughly ground in a spice grinder

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 (6 ounce) can of tomato paste

2 cups chicken or veggie stock

1 cup orange juice

butternut squash

Once everything is chopped and ready, start the garlic, onions, and habanero off in a little olive oil, just until sizzling a little. Add in the firmer veggies, the carrots, potatoes, and butternut squash, pour in half of the chicken stock, and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes. After that time, add in the rest of the liquids, the tomato paste, the chickpeas, and the spices. Stir from the bottom repeatedly to break up the tomato paste and to bring up the garlic and onions. You want everything to get coated in the liquid.

tagine

 

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tomato paste

Cover and lower the heat to as low as it will go. Simmer for about 45 minutes, then add in the softer veggies. Stir, cover, and simmer for another 15 minutes or so. Shut the heat off, and leave the stew on the stove, covered until ready to eat.

vegetable tagine

Giving this stew a couple of hours before we ate it meant that the flavors really got together and the sauce thickened up a bit. And since I left it in my Le Creuset, it actually stayed warm enough for us to eat without reheating!

Every bite of this dish was surprising. I loved all of the spices, the pop of citrus from the orange, and the richness that the tomato provided. Each mouthful included a different array of vegetables, and it warmed me from my toes.

It was, of course, even better the next day and the day after. A delicious lunch really can make the day a million times better!

Tags: butternut squash, healthy, recipe, spices, vegetables, Vegetarian

Make this recipe ASAP. No really. It is an incredibly delicious comfort food that contains a good bit of healthy, making it one of my favorite dishes that I have ever made. On Friday afternoon I went to get my hair cut and colored (slow work day, not good!), and on my long, sunny walk home, tried to decide what to make for dinner. I had mussels and grilled bread on the brain, but at that very moment, I got a call from the hubs telling me he would be at work until 10. Since mussels don’t reheat well, I decided to make something that would. Despite the soaring temperatures and strong sun, I was craving butternut squash and pasta and decided to quickly Google a butternut squash lasagna recipe on my phone as I entered the store.

I decided to go with a Food Network recipe by Giada De Laurentiis. I love Giada, and just about everything she makes looks mouth-watering. I changed up the recipe by using about 2/3 of the cheese her recipe called for and adding pureed white beans in since I had a bunch left over and didn’t know what to do with them.

I started with a few cups of butternut squash.

 

butternut squash

I learned last winter at a cooking demo from Chef Corey Comeau how to make perfect butternut squash. . . by NOT adding water. I sautéed the squash in oil with a generous grind of black pepper. As it caramelized, the smell was tantalizing and incredible. Before it started to burn, I added a tiny bit of water and let it cook off. The result was tender, addictive squash.

butternut squash

I decided to puree it up with the beans to create a creamy, healthy lasagna filling, and boy was it a good idea!

butternut squash

It’s also my new favorite bean dip. Grilled bread plus this mixture, and you have an amazing, healthy appetizer.

butternut squash

Once the butternut squash was all set, I got started on the white sauce for the lasagna.

The sauce is simple, a butter and flour roux, four cups of whole milk, and a giant handful of basil. This beautiful, fragrant organic basil is nestled in a little jug that used to belong to my nana. My nana is in a nursing home, so I have some of her beautiful vases and dishes. She has had some health scares recently, including a bad fall last week, and I have been treasuring these items more than ever. She will be 97 on November 6, and I am so lucky to have her in my life.

basil

basil

Definitely be sure to add fresh basil to this dish. It made all the difference in the sauce. Smelled amazing.

lasagna noodles

For my lasagna noodles, I used these Culinary Circle noodles from Shaw’s. I kind of love it when a store brand has a fancy label, and these noodles were of good quality and very inexpensive.

lasagna noodles

white sauce

Once I had the sauce bubbling, I added the bit that is so important in a white sauce, fresh ground nutmeg. Thank you, Grenada honeymoon! We seriously have a never ending supply of nutmeg, and it’s as good today as it was five years ago. It makes such a nice addition to a cream or milk based sauce.

nutmeg

Putting the lasagna together was easy. I simply added some sauce to a casserole dish and started the layering, noodles, butternut squash puree, mozzarella cheese, sauce, repeat,

butternut squash lasagna

I wrapped the lasagna tightly in foil and cooked it for about 30 minutes at 375. At that point I removed the foil and added a generous sprinkle of grated parmesan and put the lasagna back in the oven for about 15 minutes to get all brown and bubbly.

 

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butternut squash lasagna

Yum. I can’t even describe how good this dish was. It was so rich and creamy with lots of different flavors from the sweet butternut squash, the basil, and the cheese. It was excellent reheated the next day as well. I loved being able to sneak an extra bit of nutrition in with the white beans, and they definitely made it more filling.

It still feels like summer (and I am a-okay with that!), but it was nice to delve a little bit into fall with a seasonal dish.

What’s your favorite butternut squash recipe?

Tags: butternut squash, dinner, fall, lasagna, recipe, Vegetarian

I folded this week. On a gray, dreary Tuesday, I headed into town for a meeting (another new project, yay!), and on my way back to my home office, got soaked by a chilly September rain. I knew then that I would have to admit that my beloved summer would be coming to an end. And I realized the 15 different types of tea I have stocked up will come in handy. I also knew I needed soup that day.

Enter the joys of a well-stocked house. I pulled out a bag of frozen butternut squash to thaw.

butternut squash

I also grabbed an apple (thanks, Mom!), a can of coconut milk, and a a piece of onion.

soup ingredients

To make the soup, I started by cooking down the onions in some olive oil in my beautiful Le Creuset French oven. I can’t believe it will be a year old soon!

 

onions

To the onions I added the diced apple, butternut squash, a shake of garlic powder and about a teaspoon of curry powder.

butternut squash

And some homemade turkey stock, the rich, flavorful result of my mom’s weekend turkey dinner. I love making homemade stock, and I am freezing much of this for my winter cooking and as a cure for those inevitable illnesses. This recipe could easily be made vegan by using veggie stock or water in place of the turkey stock, but I did love that extra bit of flavor.

turkey stock

To finish the soup, I used both my immersion blender and food processor. I was in the mood for a creamy soup, and the coconut milk definitely made it so. A few shakes of crushed red pepper, and we were good to go!

butternut apple soup

This soup would have been really great with some crème fraiche as well. It was the perfect combo of sweet and spicy, and it was definitely a good way to ease into fall. I am still expecting a few sunny boat days before it gets too cold though. Don’t let me down, Mother Nature.

Tags: butternut squash, coconut milk, Food, soup

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