Again this fall, I find myself looking for ways to use all the squash appearing in our farm share box (or as the kids call it the “surprise vegetables”). While I love butternut squash, one can only eat so much of it with pasta and greens.
So I made these pumpkin muffins, substituting baked and pureed butternut squash for the pumpkin. I added walnuts to the top, but you could add oats for a nut-free treat. Even the kids loved these muffins.
Then I made some fall chili, throwing in all the fall vegetables we had in the fridge — butternut squash, acorn squash, sweet potato and zucchini. I roasted the veggies in the oven with garlic and olive oil then added them to the chili (with cannellini beans, black beans, onions, celery, green and yellow peppers, green chilies and fire-roasted tomatoes) . Instead of the usual cilantro, I added a bundle of thyme and sage for more fall flavor, and topped it off with feta cheese.
I love that your children call the the “surprise vegetables”! I think I need to adopt that term for our box vegetables too.
Oooh, the muffins and chilli look delicious. I was already hungry…now my stomach has just started eating itself!
Those muffins look lovely, will have to try that with baked and pureed squash.
I make butternut squash (and other pumpkins/squash) muffins but use the vegetable raw following a Jamie Oliver recipe, it’s here if you fancy trying to make them another way some time –
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pastry-cake/butternut-squash-muffins
Yummy! The muffins and the soup look amazing! I’m sure they were delicious.
Wow! The chili looks great! I’ll be trying this soon. Thanks for the idea 🙂
I’m not a fan of winter squash soup, so I’m always looking for ANY new way to use such a hardy vegetable.
I found this idea in a Mark Bittman book – peel and shred the winter squash. I mixed it with shredded celeriac and shredded potatoes (I also rinse the shredded potatoes in the salad spinner to get rid of the extra gooey starch) and cook it all up like hash browns! The winter squash burns quickly the more you have(high sugar content?), but if you get a good combination of veges it’s rather tasty topped with a mild cheddar and/or chopped anaheims.
I also roast little squares of it and add it to spinach salad with a warm shallot dressing – yum!
A friend made this fabulous savory butternut bread pudding at a mom’s weekend getaway. I think it would be great with plenty of fresh sage. I found it tasty and appealing even though I am in the midst of terrible all-day-morning sickness. Hope you try and like it! It’s from Cooking Light in case the link doesn’t work. http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000701119
I love this risotto
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Risotto-with-Butternut-Squash-and-Leeks-102617 and I’ve been meaning to try these tamales, they are rated 5 stars! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/butternut-squash-tamales-recipe/index.html This is my favorite squash soup
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Winter-Squash-Soup-with-Gruyere-Croutons-2997
I love butternut squash! Our kids call any squash soup “Jamaica soup” since they had some in Jamaica and loved it, now any squash soup reminds them of the time they spent there. Heres to more “surprise veggies”!
Our favorite is making enchiladas with butternut squash (and peppers, and onions and whatever else we have on hand) and beans for the filling. Yum!
YUM! I cannot wait to try both. And what a great way to use squash.
These look delicious! I just made butternut squash pastries and have been looking to use it for something else. I think I will try your substitution method for pumpkin muffins!