Winter Squash and Root Veggies (Butternut, Acorn, Spaghetti Squash, Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes)

So I love winter season and its plethora of inexpensive root vegetables and winter squash varieties.  Full of nutrition and fiber that keeps tummies full, I often get a bit overzealous when they're on sale, or sometimes get a bunch harvested before the squash bugs claim my garden plants.  This year we harvested 403 pounds of potatoes from our garden, and you can bet I want to use them all.  So now I've got a race against the clock to use or store the squash and potatoes before they begin to get yucky.  But it's also one of the busiest (and funnest) seasons of the year, so I'd rather be baking pies and cookies than prepping squash.  The honest issue is that I get lazy and forget to prepare them squash in time, and so we miss using these delicious and inexpensive foods for meals.  So I've been searching for easy and convenient methods to cook them (like crock pot and microwave), or simple ways to freeze them to use later.  Happy harvest cooking!

Butternut Squash

Crock Pot: Rinse outside of squash to remove any dirt.  Cut in half lengthwise, remove seeds (these can be soaked and roasted if they are big enough).  Place halves in crockpot, skins down or touching the sides (if they are sideways, they will leak some juices onto the crockpot, its a bit messy but doesn't hurt anything).  Cook on low 5-6 hours, or until squash is tender.

Freezer: Rinse outside of squash to remove any dirt.  Use a paring knife or vegetable peeler to peel the skin off of the squash.  Cut in half, remove seeds, cut the flesh of the squash into 1-inch cubes.  Label bag with contents, date, and measurement.  Place cubes into freezer bags and place in the freezer (pre-measure so that you have the right amount for your recipes).  To make roasted butternut squash from frozen: When ready to use, preheat oven to 425, remove cubed squash from the freezer bag and place on roasting pan.  Add minced garlic, quartered onions, cubed sweet potatoes, and cubed carrots.  Drizzle with melted butter or coconut oil, roast for 20 minutes, or until veggies are tender.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve and enjoy.  You can make a delicious soup base by blending this mixture and adding some meat stock, plus some herbs and more veggies and meat.  There is an excellent soup recipe with measurements in Danielle Walker's "Against All Grain" cookbook on page 86.

Acorn Squash
coming :)

Spaghetti Squash

Microwave: Rinse outside of squash to remove any dirt.  Puncture squash skin with a fork or knife, make at least 10 holes.  Place squash on a microwavable plate and place in the microwave.  Cook on high for 8 minutes.  Squash should yield to pressure when you press on it with your hand.  When outside is soft, remove from microwave and cut open (be careful--inside is full of steam).  Remove seeds, scrape spaghetti squash out of skin.  Discard skin and seeds (or feed them to your chickens).  Serve with spaghetti sauce, alfredo, pesto, or your favorite sauce.  Or slather with butter and cinnamon and coconut sugar for a fun (and unusual) sweet treat.

Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes

Just FYI, baked and pureed sweet potatoes freeze and reheat very well.  Some homemade mashed potatoes do well, too.  It depends on how much butter/cream, etc are added.  Mashed potatoes reheat better if they will be slathered in gravy or sauce (or used in soup).  That's my favorite way, anyhow :)

Microwave: Wash outside of potato/sweet potato to remove any dirt.  Puncture potato skin with a fork or knife, make at least 10 holes.  This allows steam to release and keeps the potato from exploding in your microwave.  Cook on high for 1-4 minutes at a time (start with 4 minutes for medium to large potatoes).  Test for doneness by squeezing the potato.  When it is done, it will yield easily to a squeeze from your fingers, without any hard spots.  When done, cut open and enjoy (it will be the texture of a baked potato).  You can serve with sweet or savory toppings.  We love mashed sweet potatoes with butter, honey and a little cinnamon.

Sweet Potato Freezer:

Cube Method: Rinse outside of sweet potato to remove any dirt.  Use a paring knife or vegetable peeler to peel the skin off of the sweet potato.  Cut sweet potato into 1-inch cubes.  Place cubes into freezer bags and place in the freezer (pre-measure so that you have the right amount for your recipes).

To make roasted sweet potatoes from frozen: When ready to use, preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Remove cubed sweet potato from the freezer bag and place on roasting pan.

For savory recipe, add minced garlic, quartered onions, (optional: other veggies such as cubed potatoes, winter squash or cubed carrots).  Drizzle with melted butter or coconut oil, roast for 20 minutes, or until veggies are tender.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve and enjoy.

For sweet recipe, place frozen sweet potatoes in a casserole dish, drizzle with melted butter or coconut oil, roast for 20 minutes, or until tender.  Smash roasted sweet potatoes.  Drizzle with more butter, plus honey and/or coconut sugar and a dash of salt.  Bake in the oven for an additional 5 minutes, or until everything is melty goodness.  If desired, top with homemade honey marshmallows.  Serve and enjoy.

Potato or Sweet Potato Fries Method: 
Rinse outside of sweet potato to remove any dirt.  Use a paring knife or vegetable peeler to peel the skin off of the sweet potato.  Cut sweet potato into french fries (tip: you can do thin ones, but too thin will get black and overcrisp very fast).  Label bags with date, contents.  Place fries into freezer bags, add enough olive oil to coat to prevent freezer burn. Add seasoning (we like sea salt or Red Robin Seasoning).  Seal bags and place in freezer.

To make sweet potato fries from frozen: When ready to use, preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Remove sweet potato fries from the freezer bag and place on roasting pan.  Bake until fries can be spread evenly on pan, then spread them so they cook evenly (about 10 minutes).  Add more seasoning if desired, bake until cooked through and desired crispiness.  Enjoy.  

Crock Pot Mashed Potatoes:
Fill crock pot about halfway with water.  Add a dash of salt to the water.  Rinse potatoes to remove any dirt.  Peel potatoes if desired (we like skins in our mashed potatoes, and it's faster).  Cut potatoes into quarters (if they are huge potatoes, cut into about 2-inch cubes).  Place cut potatoes into crock pot water.  Water should cover potatoes.  Add or remove water as needed (if it's overflowing, remove some water).  Cover crock pot and cook on high for 3-4 hours, or until potatoes are soft, easily pierced with a fork.  Turn off crock pot.  Drain potato water (save it if you plan to make soup or potato bread or spudnuts...I'll be posting a recipe soon!).  Place cooked potatoes into a Bosch mixer or large mixing bowl.  Mix for a few seconds, until pieces start to smash.  Add milk, butter, cream, yogurt, salt...whatever you love in your mashed potatoes.  Mix until desired consistency (be careful not to overmix, it makes the potatoes get a weird texture).  Serve.

This can be prepped the night before (like when we have early church and want a yummy meal when we get home).  Just prep the potatoes, soak them in the water in the crock pot stone liner, refrigerate until ready to cook, then place the stone insert into the electric base and turn it on.

Hashbrowns: COMING SOON!

Best Sweet Potatoes EVER!!

3 huge sweet potatoes

¼ c Ghee and dash of salt (or salted butter)

¼ to ½ cup Honey

Cut ends off sweet potatoes and prick skins all over with a fork.  Place sweet potatoes in a baking dish and bake at 425 for 60 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool.  When cool, peel the skins off of the sweet potatoes.  Mash peeled sweet potatoes in baking dish.  Add butter/ghee and honey to the mashed sweet potatoes and stir.  Cover baking dish with foil and bake at 350 degrees until bubbly and heated through.  Stir and serve.