The butternut!

The acorn!

The Spaghetti!

Not Just For Decorating!

Some of you are buying these wonderful specimens for decorating and you are missing out on some wonderful nutritive sustenance. Easy heathy eats.

With these three and most like them, you merely cut the squash in half-requires big sharp knife and tenacity as they are very hard, like cutting a watermelon. Then you scoop out all the seeds (dry them to plant in your garden mid-july for fall crop) and bake them flesh side down at 375 degrees until you can stick a fork through the rind, usually an hour for large ones and 30-45 minutes for smaller ones. Pumpkins are cooked the same way, by the way, if you would like to try a REAL pumpkin instead of from a can. All pumpkins taste about the same, but a lighter color typically tastes sweeter, darker can be a tad on the bitter side. Smaller is better. ( :

These can be topped with butter, brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon for a sweet yet healthy lunch. Our family just enjoyed a spaghetti squash to go along with our sandwiches. Very yummy. I have heard of people topping them with other things, like tomato sauce, sour cream and chili-but we prefer the sugar, butter, spice route.

These will last several months in your kitchen without going bad unlike most fresh veggies. They make a wonderful accompaniment to most any dish. We eat them straight out of the rind on a plate, but you could also scoop into a bowl for serving at a meal. Butternut and acorn are very similar in taste to a sweet potato without the stringy texture. Spaghetti squash tastes like nothing else but is sweet and delicious even without added sugar.

I hope at least one of my readers learned a new vegetable today. Squash and pumpkins are very good for you and the internet is full of recipes to use your fresh baked goodies.

Here is a recipe I will be trying soon:

Pumpkin Pancakes
2 cups flour
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger(Don't buy a whole "hand" of ginger, break off a "finger")
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin
1 egg
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons vinegar

Mix together milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Stir into the pumpkin mixture until just combined.
Heat griddle over medium high heat. Pour batter onto griddle using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides.

Great with a large dollop of whipped cream atop a stack of these delightful discs.