Comfort Food: Squash Recipes

Squash is abundant and in season so now is the time to try some new squash recipes.    Below you will my 3 favorite squash recipes - perfect for warming you up now that the weather has turned. 

First off this soup is TO DIE FOR! 

Recipe #1

Curried Carrot and Acorn Squash Soup

1 Tbs vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped
24 oz. chicken or vegetable broth
5 carrots, washed and chopped
1 large acorn squash, or 2 smaller ones
2/3 cup coconut milk
1 large clove of garlic, or more if desired
2 Tbs curry powder (less if you don’t like spicy)
A dash of cayenne pepper
1 tsp fresh ginger, ground
Cut acorn squash in half, scoop out seeds, lay face-down
in a baking dish with water and bake at 350 degrees for
about an hour or until tender. Allow squash to cool.
Pull off the skin, chop, and set aside.
In a large pot, cook the onion in the oil, then add the
garlic, and cook until soft. Add the carrots, broth,
squash, milk, curry, ginger, and cayenne. Bring to a
boil, then decrease heat and simmer until the carrots are
soft.

Using an immersion tool or a blender combine.

Squash Soup

Squash Risotto is like heaven in your mouth.  Oh my, oh my.

Recipe #2

Follow this link for the best recipe:  The Best Squash Risotto Around
I actually use quinoa for my risotto.  And by the way - this picture is about 4 servings.  This picture does not do this justice.

Squash Risotto

Last but not least, my spaghetti squash ratatouille bears repeating because it's healthy, delicious, and my kids have been requesting it (always a good thing):

Recipe #3

Spaghetti Squash Ratatouille

1 medium-sized spaghetti squash

1/4 cup white wine
1 small onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed
1 zucchini, sliced
2 cans stewed tomatoes (or make your own!)
1 cup spaghetti sauce
Oregano, basil, and pepper to taste

Prepare and cook squash as you would any other type of

winter squash (halve, remove seeds, place face-down in a
pan of water and bake in the oven @ 350 degrees for 45
minutes to an hour, until fork tender). Heat wine in a
skillet. Sauté onions and garlic in the wine for a few
minutes. Add both kinds of peppers and cook until tender.
Add zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes, cooking until soft.  Stir in spices and sauce dish on top of the spaghetti squash.  Kids hardly notice that they are not eating spaghetti noodles.  Delish.

Spaghetti Squash Ratatouille

What an amazing week.  Other than the usual difficulty of transitioning from summer to winter with 24 hours to acclimate, we've had a ton of fun.  Gus rode a mechanical bull:

Gus riding the mechanical bull

Graham blew us away with his football skills this year and we were sad to see the season end on Thursday.  He scored multiple touchdowns at every game except one.  Very proud.

Graham's last middle school game

And Greta worked very hard this week as she acted as Varsity Cheerleader for the Hayward Hurricanes.  She did a great job too!

Go Hurricanes - Greta is in the middle

 

 

In the beginning of the week, we took lots of walks and snapped lots of pictures of the leaves.

 

Gus, Graham and Greta - out for a walk

 

 

Then when the leaves blew off the trees we played in the leaves.

 

Playing in the leaves

 

 

 

And today, I'm making pumpkin bread and apple butter before we head out of town to Minneapolis.

What are you doing this weekend?

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Kristin