Butternut Squash Recipes

Tonight is my opening night for Bean the Musical Fruit! And I'm so excited! So in honor of that, here are two recipes I made a while back ago. I normally don't eat squash. I'm not a big fan of the texture or the taste. But I was running low on ways to pack veggies and fruits into my diet. This was my compromise! 

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
created by Jessica Seinfeld

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup nonfat skim milk
• 1/2 cup butternut or cauliflower puree
• 1 1/2 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese (about 8 ounces)
• 4 ounces (almost 1/4 cup) reduced-fat or nonfat cream cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni

Directions

1- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the macaroni and cook according to package directions until al dente. Drain in a colander.

2- While the macaroni is cooking, coat a large saucepan with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add the oil, then the flour, and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture resembles a thick paste but has not browned, 1 to 2 minutes.

3- Add the milk and cook, stirring every now and then, until the mixture begins to thicken, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the vegetable puree, Cheddar, cream cheese and seasonings and stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth. Stir in the macaroni and serve warm.

Notes:

- I didn't use non-fat cheddar cheese. That stuff is like wax and I refuse to use it. However, I did use low-fat cream cheese. That's ok. 

 - I also added tofu to my puree, so I had some extra protein in there.

Because I had extra butter squash leftover I decided to make a bread from it. And may I say, this bread was ridiculously good! I added Theo Chocolate nibs, because  I love those things, and it made it so good! I give tours at Theo and I talk about this bread every time I talk about nibs. This is the best recipe; the bread was moist, sweet and didn't taste like squash at all. I'm going to make more of this, I swear!

Butternut Squash Bread

from mybakingaddiction.com

Ingredients
1 cup butternut squash purée
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1 cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cardamom

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the butternut squash puree, eggs, oil, water and sugars until thoroughly combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom.
3. Stir the dry ingredients into the butternut squash mixture. Combine just until incorporated; do not over mix. Pour into the prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Notes
- I didn't  use cardamom, cos it's really expensive. Instead I upped the cinnamon and nutmeg and added ginger. That made a huge difference.
- Like I said, I used nibs in mine. I might add dried cranberries next time. Real chocolate chips can be used, or white chocolate chips maybe? This would be great for Thanksgiving! Mom, if you want me to make this before you get here, let me know!