ROASTED AND SPICED BUTTERNUT SQUASH

 This butternut squash is SO GOOD. The blend of spices plus the sweetness of the squash make for an extra delicious dish. Plus, it's simple! Cut, put it all on a baking sheet, bake, DONE.

 

 

So much spicy goodness!

 

Butternut squash is a weekly dish at our table during winter months. The kids don't love it, which is a shame, except that the husband and I get to ALL THE SQUASH. If they'd rather eat carrot sticks instead of this deliciousness, that's on them. I will happily eat it all for them.

 

 

 

Roasted and Spiced Butternut Squash

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash

2 generous tablespoon olive oil

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp smoked paprika (regular paprika works too!)

1/2 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon mixed dried herbs such as oregano, rosemary, thyme (I use this)

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
With a fork, puncture the butternut squash all over. Place in the microwave for one minute, remove and peel (the microwave method makes this a lot easier. You can also but precut butternut squash, they have it at Costco!). Slice in half and scoop out the seeds. Dice into 1-2 inch chunks.
Place the cut up squash on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and all spices and herbs; toss until well coated. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, until squash is slightly browned. Eat it.

ROASTED GREEN BEANS

 

Growing up, green beans made an appearance on our table at least once a week. Unfortunately, they were of the canned variety, boiled until they were mushy. This resulted in me thinking that I did not like green beans, that they were something to be choked down but never enjoyed.

I was wrong.

When I was 18, I moved to Georgia. And let me tell you, Georgia knows how to cook fresh beans. I learned first hand how lovely fresh green beans are. The taste of a fresh green bean is simply not comparable to the canned ones. They are crisp and clean and delicious. As green bean season is approaching, my local grocery store has piles of them and my garden is full of buds on the bean plants (grow beans, grow!) Sometimes though, it's hard to think of a way to cook them other than just boiling them.  Enter: roasting. These roasted green beans are just yum.  I love the flavor of green beans cooked this way: lightly crispy and bursting with taste. Try them tonight!

 

 

Roasted Green Beans

from Shutterbean

 

 

Ingredients:

1lb green beans, trimmed

2 cloves garlic, sliced thin

2 swirls of olive oil

pinch of red pepper flakes

juice of half a lemon

salt and pepper

 

Preheat the oven to 400. On a large baking sheet, toss trimmed green beans with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes. Add salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes. Toss beans, and continue roasting for 15 minutes more, until beans are slightly browned and crispy looking. Serve warm.

 

Enjoy! 





IN THE GARDEN:SUGAR SNAP PEAS

Part of the reason we bought this house was the amazing space perfect for a garden on one side of the house. I love to garden and I feel that teaching our two children the joy of it is important. It's a outdoor hobby that they can enjoy their whole lives, hopefully, and the science in how food is grown is a valuable lesson for everyone, if you truly enjoy gardening or not.

In this early spring, there are few crops. But one that never fails is the sugar snap pea. Sugar snap peas are a perfect from-seed crop for kids to plant. The seeds are large enough for little hands to plant and they grow quickly (sprouts can appear in as little as two weeks). And it's also a circle-of-life sort of lesson, as the seeds look just like dried up peas.

Lake Valley Seeds, non-GMO

 



In California, where I live, it's a mild climate and we can plant these any time from fall to early spring (we planted ours in late January). In colder areas, plant as soon as you can work the ground; peas can handle the cold.
Two months later and our seeds have grown into 5 foot monsters, covered with peas.

 

 

 

 

 



Spring is showing it's face around here most days. And we are so happy to have her.

 

For more information about gardening with children, please read this awesome article over at Girl's Gone Child.