Karen Lynn’s Butternut Squash-n-Pasta

In 2016 I will be adding more meatless meal features!   You will love this recipe and ya’ll know I like to keep things simple and this is another one of those you get to just pile everything into the roasting pan and put the lid on it and forget about it for about 2 hours. We are adding more meatless meal features for a variety of reasons but the main one is we eat a lot of “low quality” meat in this country (USA) and we are going to be trying to find better sources of “high quality” meat and in between mixing in some meatless meals to keep us on budget.  We are also going to be cooking more with mushrooms, beans, tvp (textured vegetable protein), eggs, and cheese to make sure we keep our protein up in our meals.  Even adding the addition of nuts from time to time! 

What is also really cool is the butternut squash we used was from the end of October…..foods that store for long-term are definitely always a great investment and yes it was still delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1 Butternut squash peeled and cubed (they vary in size)
• 2 or 3 stems of rosemary
• 2 Cups chicken broth
• 1 Cup light cream
• dash of nutmeg
• 1/2 an onion chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Cup parmesan cheese
• 1 -2 TBSP. honey
• 1 Box of your favorite pasta

 Instructions:

• Throw all ingredients in roaster pan with lid on and put oven on 300 degrees for an hour.  If the butternut squash is not softening turn up to 350 degrees and roast for another hour if it is softening good keep oven at 300.  Ovens vary and so does the condition of your squash.
• Stir ingredients every 30 minutes.
• When you are left with about 15 minutes of roasting of your squash.
• Go ahead and boil some  water (I always add a tablespoon of olive oil and a dash of salt)
• Once boiling place your favorite pasta in you could use any type of pasta this marry’s well with all of them (gluten-free, protein enriched, you name it)
• We used a standard extra protein pasta and it was absolutely delicious!
• Drain pasta before serving.
• Serve butternut squash over drained pasta.
• Garnish with parmesan cheese and rosemary sprigs.
• Remove rosemary stems before serving but leave them on for the photo 🙂

I have to say the flavor of this butternut squash completely rocked my world they just blend together so well….I was like Oh Yum!

I truthfully have wanted to implement a meatless Monday but was worried I would not be satisfied and I could not have been more satisfied it was delicious filling and I even watched my portions.

I wish you all a beautiful week!  Until next time!

Fondly,