Michael picked up an acorn squash a couple weeks ago and has been threatening to bake it with butter and cinnamon sugar for a while. I was mostly worried if such a thing should occur because I expected the results would be… disappointing. Now, don’t get me wrong, I normally love squash, but most of the time it’s so sweet already that the sugar/butter seemed overkill, in theory. I’m not a big fan of very sweet dinner-time food, especially vegetables. I tend to like my food clearly separated into sweet/savory/dessert/dinner categories.
Michael halved the squash and gutted them. He put the cut-side face down on a cooking pan and poured water onto the pan and baked them. The water insures that the squash stays moist. After emptying the water from the pan, he coated them with butter, salt, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and a few other spices I don’t recall and returned the squash to the oven with the cut-side up. This is the skeleton of a recipe, but many recipes are available online for the same thing.
He served the squash along with LightLife broccoli and cheese stuffed vegetable-protein “chicken”. I ate this fake food first, then moved onto the squash.
It was amazing. Astounding. The texture and flavor of the squash lent a deeper richness to the butter. The sugar had crusted on the rim of the squash, giving a delightful crunch. I told Michael that this tasted better than bread with cinnamon sugar, better than a cinnamon roll. I wasn’t just boosting his ego, it honestly did. And with a better glycemic index than either of those choices and the added bonus of valuable vitamins and fiber - I’m voting for baked acorn squash on cold mornings when my sugar cravings strike me like a ton of bricks.
One half of the acorn squash was 2.5 servings of vegetables, Michael informs me. It was hard for me to eat an entire half. Amazing how filling your vegetables can be…
One Comment
yum! N likes it when I cook it that way too.
Mmm squash!
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