Marvelous Meals with Rachel: Butternut Squash
Welcome to Marvelous Meals with Rachel, a regular feature here on A Better Bag of Groceries. Rachel Rodek, MS, RD, LDN is Manager of Nutrition Communications at NuVal. Rachel and I are headed out to NY this weekend to represent NuVal at Price Chopper’s Healthy U Open House. We are looking forward to a fun and busy trip. In the meantime, Rachel and her fiance, Fernando, got in the kitchen this week and collaborated on this wonderful recipe. I love how it brings their families and backgrounds together – much like their wedding will this June! So without further ado, I bring you Rachel!
Have you ever started out on a path where you thought you knew the end point, but by the time you arrived you were in a completely different spot?
Well, that was this past dinner. You see, I’ve had this butternut squash sitting on my counter for the last month, not knowing what to do with it. So I started looking up recipes and came across a beef stroganoff with butternut squash. What an interesting twist to a family favorite. My mom used to make this dish all the time (minus the squash, of course) – and we enjoyed every bite. But then again, everything my mom made (makes!) is simply wonderful.
What I loved best about my mom’s cooking, other than its utter deliciousness, was how it brought everyone to the table. Family meals were a fundamental part of my childhood – helping to create the eater and nutrition-lover I am today. Did you know that lifelong nutrition habits are formed by the time a child is around four years old? That’s why it’s so important to role-model good eating habits and continue to introduce new foods – even to a picky eater. For someone who used to hate it if my pork chop touched my lima beans (intermingling of foods was never allowed in my tiny world – I’m not even sure I ate those lima beans even if they didn’t touch), I now have adventurous taste buds and an appetite to experiment. Thanks Mom!
But back to this past dinner. I realized upon searching my cupboard and fridge that not only did I not have mushrooms (a staple for beef stroganoff), I also didn’t have sour cream. And where did those noodles disappear to? Hmmm. Time for experimentation!
Instead of mushrooms I used water chestnuts, adding a nice crunch; and instead of sour cream I added spaghetti sauce. Then we had it all over polenta (my fiancé’s specialty!). As Tina from NuVal’s TradingUpDownTown would say: Holy Yum! It’s basically a hearty spaghetti sauce with the boost of veggies over mushed up spaghetti.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground turkey (I used 99% lean, however we only have a score for 93% lean [33], but skinless turkey breast scores a 48)
1 yellow onion, diced (NuVal Score 93)
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed (Score 100)
1 jar Classico Tomato Basil (Score 43) Or your favorite high-scoring spaghetti sauce
1 (8oz) can sliced water chestnuts (Score 83)
½ cup Quaker Enriched Corn Meal (Score 89!)
2 cups water
2 tsp olive oil (Score 11)
2 tsp canola oil (Score 24)
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp garlic powder
Salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
Saute chopped onion in 2 tsp olive oil until translucent. Add ground turkey and cook through. Add butternut squash cubes, water chestnuts, spaghetti sauce, paprika, salt and pepper, and cook until squash is tender, about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium-sized pot, bring 2 cups water to a boil with salt, pepper, garlic, and 2 tsp canola oil. Add corn meal and whisk on high until thick.
Pour polenta (corn meal) into the bottom of 4 bowls, and spread to cover the bottom. Let cool until firm, but not cold.
Top with Butternut squash mixture.
Enjoy!
Nuts About Nuts Winner
Congratulations to Commenter #39, Stacie! You have won yesterday’s giveaway. A care package of almonds, walnuts and a NuVal t-shirt is coming your way. Just email me at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com with your mailing address and t-shirt size.
Posted by: Melissa 3 comments
Posted in: Marvelous Meals
Tags: Butternut Squash
on Mar 24th, 2010 at 11:23 am
Hmm. This one sounds interesting and very creative! Is the butternut squash hard to cube? I’ve cooked spaghetti squash and we can barely do anything with it before it’s softened in the oven. And polenta – it’s corn meal? Wow! I’ve really learned something!
Ok I’m definitely going to try this.
Love the recipes, Rachel – but when is this mom of yours going to write a guest blog??
on Mar 24th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
What a wonderful combination – polenta and pumped up spaghetti sauce! Such a great alternative to pasta, too. Thanks to adding to our family’s recipe box Rachel – we’ll try this one out this weekend!
on Mar 24th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
I’ve never tried polenta, but now I will. Thanks!