Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Roasted Butternut Squash Recipe & Dinner Idea

This evening I had a few different items that needed to be used in the fridge. I put them all together to make a simple and delicious meal that was wheat free, grain free and gluten free, but all made with fresh simple ingredients; no junky pre-packaged gluten-free items containing insulin spiking starches. Eliminating wheat and grains doesn't have to be time consuming or complicated to be delicious. I made simple grilled chicken breast cutlets by spraying with olive oil spray, sprinkling with McCormick Spicy Montreal Steak Seasoning and grilling for about 2-3 minutes per side. When I served them, I placed a couple small pats of Kerrygold's Garlic & Herb Butter on top to melt in and add flavor...so no sauce was required. For our veggies and sides, I made roasted butternut squash and roasted brussels sprouts so I could "cook two birds with one stone"...LOL. I lined a large cookie sheet with foil and on one half I placed fresh brussels sprouts (that I had trimmed the ends off of and cut in half) and on the other half of my cookie sheet I placed diced butternut squash. I tossed both of them with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper (keeping them on their own side of the pan). I roasted them at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes (the cooking time varies based on the size of your sprouts and the size of your butternut cubes). While cooking, I tossed them around a couple times to evenly roast. So...my easy grilled chicken cutlets took about 10 minutes from start to finish and I cooked 2 different kinds of veggies at the same time side by side in the oven...and the only clean up was tossing the foil from the cookie sheet (and our plates, of course). It was quick, easy and exceptionally good. Hubby kept raving about how good it was and it was one of the easiest meals I've made! Moral of the story is that it doesn't have to be complicated and time consuming to be delicious. I snapped a few photos below as well as the easy recipe for the roasted butternut squash (the same basic method applies to cooking the sprouts, too). Enjoy!








Roasted Butternut Squash

4-6 cups of cubed fresh butternut squash
Celtic salt or sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line a cookie sheet with foil and place the cubed butternut squash in a single layer on it.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste; toss squash cubes with olive oil and spread back out in a single layer.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned; stirring a couple of times to evenly brown,  Remove from oven when squash is tender on the inside and lightly browned on the outside. The cooking time will vary depending on the size of your cubed squash (the larger they are, the longer they take to cook).

2 comments:

Art by Susie Krichbaum said...

So glad I found you. Amazing recipes. My daughter is 19 and diagnosed with crohns, I am 47 and overweight. Both of us are removing wheat from our diets (about 3 weeks now) but have been eating organic/non GMO for a year. We read every label and I am always appalled when I read the contents in the "non-gluten" products, so much junk added and so many people buying into it. Thank you for posting yummy food ideas, it helps us so much.
susie

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Susie -- Thanks. You are right about all the junk added to pre-packaged gluten-free products. They are filled with "starch fillers" that have absolutely no nutritional value and they cause insulin spikes, raise blood sugar, which in turn increases the body's fat storage. It's a vicious circle and unfortunately people assume "gluten-free" means healthy. Gluten-free is simply the buzz word that replaced fat-free. Gluten-free is only good if you aren't replacing the grain gluten with junk starches. Hope you find some recipes and ideas to help you and your daughter -- welcome aboard the wheat-free life! :-)