Butternut Squash

Once upon a time, I was a new wife, and was ready to try being domestic (this was probably 7 years ago). I wanted to try out a few recipes on my husband, and he being a good sport despite his being the far superior cook, let me. First, I made meat loaf, which was really tasty, but gave Kevin the WORST gas, and his fellow co-workers forbade me from ever making that dish again for fear of asphyxiation. Next, I created a lasagna dish that I still make today with all kinds of fresh vegetables, which always makes it a little soupy. I have modified it over the years in an effort to make less so (like leaving out the tomatoes). The third thing I created I like to call "Pumpkin Mush." I love pumpkin! Anything with pumpkin in it- pie, bread, Starbucks coffee, scones, you name it! So I decided to create something of my own. I took a small sweet pumpkin, cleaned it, cut it up into little pieces, and boiled it until it was soft. Then I peeled it and threw the pieces back into the pot and added butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and then just a bit of ginger for a little zing. I heated it back up and mashed that all up just like mashed potatoes, and voila! Pumpkin Mush was born. It's kinda like pie filling, only much better. Plus there's a ton of vitamin A, although I suppose most of it is destroyed in the heating process. Now you are probably wondering why the name of this blog is Butternut Squash. It's because this recipe also works well with this kind of squash, and I made it for my boys for the first time for dessert. They were skeptical at first, as they always are with new foods, but once they tried it, they ate it up like it was cake! Even Kevin wasn't so sure about it- he said it looked like baby crap in a bowl (which it does in this picture), but he ate his share without complaint. Just a little of my history for you. :) (I painted those bowls for my boys- an expensive and very time-consuming hobbie I don't get to do nearly enough, but which I love- painting pottery!)