SQUASH IN NUTRITION

SQUASH
I am enjoying cooking a squash or two every week; using the pulp in recipes as well as a vegetable with our meal. On Saturday I cooked two squash. One was an acorn squash and the other a hubbard squash. I removed the seeds, cup each into pieces and cooked them together in a pot of 3 cups of water.
When they were cooked and cooled I scraped the flesh from the acorn squash. The skin of the other one was so soft and a yellow color so I left it on & it was completely mashed up. With a blender I pureed it with just enough of the cooking liquid so the puree was still nice & thick.

VEGETABLE
Spread 4 cups thick squash puree in a casserole or glass dish that can go into the oven. Top with 2 tablespoons of butter or melted coconut oil and 1 tablespoon brown sugar or palm sugar. Sprinkle with a bit of salt & pepper. Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 325 ° F. Delicious!

QUICK & EASY PUMPKIN PUDDING – 6 (1/2 cup) servings

Put the following ingredients into a bowl:
1 (102 gram) package of vanilla instant pudding
1 1/2 cups milk
1 3/4 cups thick squash puree
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
Mix smooth with a hand blender. Spoon into dessert dishes. Top with a spoon of whipped cream.
TO DECORATE THE PUDDING
If you have a ginger snap cookie on hand, crumble it in a fine shredder and sprinkle it on pudding or on the whipped cream.

Adding summer or winter squash to many different recipes, adds beneficial nutrients!
*Adding some to soups, it thickens the soup just enough so you will not have to thicken it with corn
starch or flour.
*Adding it to gravy will require less thickening of flour or corn starch as well.
*Use this squash in loaves, muffins, cakes and cookies.

Whole uncooked squash will keep for many months in a basement or garage that is just above freezing.

UPDATE ON THIS PUDDING RECIPE! Today I made this recipe with 2 cups of spaghetti squash that I had in the fridge. I decided to use all of it and use only 1 1/4 cups milk. It turned out really nice and thick and tasted just as good as the above recipe. I like to use as much squash as possible so I will definitely do this again next time. Both milk and squash are nutritious, but squash is a vegetable & has some great nutrients that we don’t get too often!
Enjoy!
Winnie