Kat here! So, it's finally October! Which means cooler weather, crunchy leaves all over the ground, and best of all, fall fruits and veggies! I love this time of year; I finally get to bust out the sweatshirts and leggings, which always fills me with exuberance. But, let's get back to food. With October here, I decided it was time to find some great fall-food recipes! I found this amazing recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, Coffee and Quinoa. Unfortunately, Hil and I didn't find this blog until the author, Erica, had gone inactive. I still love going onto it though to find great recipes because Erica always made them simple and delicious (how I like it!). Anyway, this recipe is a healthier play off of Twice-Baked Potatoes, but using butternut squash, which are my favorite kind of squash because they taste so much like sweet potatoes! Erica cleverly mixed this sweetness with the rich, tanginess of the ricotta cheese and sage, which was brilliant, in my opinion. Once all of the ingredients came together, they created this wonderful medley of sweetness and tanginess, which made this dish like a tangy sweet potato! The onions mixed with the sage gave the final crunch to top it all off and make it so irresistible as a great marker for the beginning of fall. I think the idea to do half Greek Yogurt and half Ricotta was genius, because it added even more tanginess and made this recipe all-around more balanced. Plus, since it wasn't 100% Ricotta, that makes up for the fact that I eagerly gobbled up all the extra squash filling, right? Since, before this, I had always gotten my mom to cut the squash when we did these kind of recipes, I was kind of nervous that I might slice my finger off cutting these darn squash in half. I expected it to be easy, like sliding a knife through a cake. But, like the first time I used an apple slicer (don't judge; I was eight), it surprised me. Since I ended up cutting the squash pretty unevenly (like one was twice as big as the other), I cut them again, slicing off the extra. I roasted this by itself, then added it in later with the rest of the squashy insides. Problem solving! Now that I think about it, this was probably why I had so much extra filling at the end...hmm... When I was essentially gutting the squash, I thought of something. I had been talking all about how they were as hard as pumpkins (annoyingly), and I noticed the seeds of the butternut were like mini versions of pumpkin seeds (which, they kind of technically are)! Therefore, I took my olive oil, omelet pan, and salt, and decided to toast them just like pumpkin seeds (of course, there were way fewer). So, while the squash were baking the first time, I toasted these seeds. They make a great portable snack! I'll post pictures of the toasted seeds soon. I love you, butternut squash. Your perks never stop coming up. They're endless! Finally, if you want a great, filling squash recipe, try this! Because of all the vitamins and stuff in this recipe, it's so filling that I almost couldn't finish it! Since it's twice-baked, it does take a while (and takes up the whole oven, so don't plan on cooking anything else in there while this is going!) but it's so worth it! Ingredients2 Average-Sized Butternut Squash 2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter 1 Yellow Onion 1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt 8 Sage Leaves 1/2 Cup Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese 1/2 Cup Plain Greek Yogurt 1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese 1/2 Tsp Ground Black Pepper |
AuthorsHi! I'm Kat, and my friend is Hil! We have an affinity towards healthy food, so we bring that love with us to this blog. Archives
January 2019
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