Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Fruits of Our Labor; Day One of Butternut Squash Fest!

First let's take a look at some nutrition and health news from the week.



Questions About Soy
(This article talks about the myth that only fermented soy foods are good for us. It provides a very unbiased view of soy and its benefits).



Restaurants Will Have to Dish On Nutrition
(Starting next year you will see calories listed next to your favorite restaurant foods!)



The Healthy Skeptic: The ABCs of Restaurant Grades
(Read at your own risk. Seriously, sometimes I don't enjoy reading about pathogens and viruses being spread in restaurants, but it's a good reminder to be careful when you choose your restaurants. This was also a good review for me because I'm taking my ServeSafe exam soon!)



Is Everything In Moderation a Farce?!
(This was a blog post by Ashley at Good Taste, Healthy Me. I found it very interesting and I left my opinion in the comment section.)



Should All Obese People Lose Weight?
(When are we going to just get rid of BMIs, for good?!)



College Students Not Getting Enough Fruits and Vegetables
(Quote from article: Even after considering the meals the students skipped, researchers found they were not even getting one serving of fruits and vegetables per day on average.
Yikes.)


And the best news of the week.....

We picked out first tomatoes and butternut squash from our garden!


These were the first of about 35. No joke.



My goal for the rest of summer/fall/winter is to come up with a new way to use butternut squash, every week. So far, we've used it two ways;

After baking for an hour at 400 degrees...


I cut up some of the squash and threw it on top of my salad (with fresh tomatoes, avocado, spring mix, lean ground beef, and blueberry balsamic vinegar).



So delicious.


And Nick likes to be boring so his first butternut squash dish was simple; roasted and then cut into chunks and thrown in a bowl with butter and brown sugar. Equally as delicious, I'm sure.


QUESTION: Do you have any simple butternut squash recipes?? PLEASE send them my way! I will try to fit it into my squash schedule!

20 comments :

  1. I cannot wait for the butternut squash in my CSA - we are still getting summer squash though.

    Cooking Light has a butternut squash mac and cheese that sounds good http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-light-macaroni-cheese-50400000115195/

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  2. You are going to be enjoying butternut squash for a while! I will try to come up with a fun recipe!

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  3. Wow! Look at all that squash!!! Congrats! Have you thought of roasting some of it and then freezing it for later? I have never done that, so I have no idea if/how it works. But I think it would be nice if you could pull out some homegrown squash throughout the winter to add to soups, etc.

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  4. Sorry I've been MIA lately, but congrats on the engagement (ring is gorgeous!) and sorry to hear about your arm; hope it is healing well!

    Getting ready to move from Ann Arbor to Grand Rapids to do outpt nutrition!

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  5. I can't wait until restaurants have to start posting the nutritional information. I think it will change the way a lot of people order food.

    Looks like you are getting lots of good food from your garden. That is great!

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  6. Oh my gosh - I had no idea this even existed! What a cool event:)
    Hmmm, I like to make butternut squash soup, but that's about as creative as I get;) Excited to see what you come up with!

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  7. I'm so jealous of your 35 squashes! I wish I live close by so I can get some! :)

    I love roasted butternut squash as topping for salad, just as you did!

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  8. Yay for your garden! I need to grow butternut squash, I love them! I put it in my oatmeal which is pretty tasty :)

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  9. Holy cow that's a lot of butternut squash. Probably will be good to chop whatever is leftover up and freeze for use later, like in soups for the winter. I know they stay good for a while, but I am guessing eventually they will go bad. Thanks too for the links. I am so out of the loop on what's going on because we have been on the road for so long. At least we are settled now, for the most part.

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  10. Seriously? 35 butternut squash? That's impressive!

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  11. Your squashes are gorgeous!! Congrats!! Super impressive harvest!! If you roast them and then puree them or cut them into chunks, they freeze beautifully, and make a great substitute for pumpkin in fall and winter recipes... I've frozen batches of butternut squash in past years when I didn't feel like roasting entire huge pumpkins like I did last year... :-p

    Let's see, recipes... These butternut squash muffins are still my most-requested muffin recipe from friends/family...

    http://foodforlaughter.blogspot.com/2010/06/butternut-squash-muffins-with-graham.html

    LOVE how you topped a salad with the roasted squash! YUM! Such a great combo of textures!

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  12. Love your news links!

    Holy Squash!!! My mom makes a cubed butternut dish that has sauteed red onions, goat cheese, some herbs and sauteed spinach...and then craisins. It sounds weird but its really good! She also puts butternut in her chili...surprisingly yummy!

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  13. Amazing! I was just thinking the other day that butternut squash is one of my absolute favorite foods - mostly because of butternut squash soup. So easy to make and so many variations (I wrote about one here: http://feedbetweenthelines.blogspot.com/search/label/Squash) :)

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  14. Doesn't butternut squash multiply at an alarming rate? My 2 fave ways to use it last year was cut into fries and baked and in soup. I roasted pieces of the squash with EVOO and seasonings then transferred it to a pot with some broth, brought to a boil, then hit it with my immersion blender. YUM! I'm also pretty sure I have a recipe for butternut squash barley risotto...

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  15. I like how the butternut squashes are all standing proud. It the one veg i look forard to when the autumnal cold weather hits Scotland as its golden and warming for the soul. I have a number of butternut squash rcipes, please do check them out. You neve rknow yo may find one you like.
    http://allotment2kitchen.blogspot.com/search/label/squash%20-%20butternut%20recipes

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  16. Butternut squash is a great summer vegetable, especially from a home garden! If you're buying your fruits and veggies from a grocery store or farmer's market, make sure to always wash under cold water before preparing to avoid food poisoning from harmful bacteria and pesticides. Help spread the word about the importance of preventing foodborne illness and be entered in a drawing for a Starbucks gift card and an iPad! Visit http://www.homefoodsafety.org/about-blog-contest for home food safety tips and how to enter!

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  17. Hi Gina, WOW...your butternut squash cup runneth over!! Look forward to seeing all the stellar things you do with them. Have a good week.

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  18. a new way to eat butternut squash EVERY WEEK! do you know how many weeks there are in fall? i don't but i do know there are a lot! haha i can't wait to see what you come up with and i want you to post your ice cream!!! btw my ice cream guru check out my post today ;)

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  19. That article on obesity and BMI is interesting. As someone who leads a very healthy lifestyle and continues to struggle with weight, I can relate. And coming from a clinical side, I know mortality rates are lowest in my chronic patients who have a BMI of 26-32. Very interesting stuff!

    So jealous of your squash! They look AMAZING! I like to throw squash in with pasta, or even make pasta sauces out of them. Maybe making a butternut squash sauce to go over quinoa? Or a butternut squash soup or chili?? :)

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  20. oh you are so lucky to have all those veggies from your garden! YUM :)

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