Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Bell Pepper Sauce

laura.smoak@gmail.com Prep Ahead, Vegan, Veggies 2 Comments

Sorry, I can’t talk.  I can’t stop stuffing my face with anything butternut squashy.  As promised last week I said I would give you my go-to roasted butternut squash recipe this week.  Well you’re getting that, PLUS a recipe I’ve been crushing on for a while that uses half of it… Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Bell Pepper Sauce.  Forgive me.  I’ve tried coming up with something better than <- THAT mouthful of a name, but nothing seems right.  Please don’t be scared away by such a long name.  If anything just remember that roasting = hands off, so yay for easy!

As you may have realized last week, I’m obsessed with roasting veggies.  Roasted veggies are just better than pretty much any other means of preparation IMO.  Okay, sautéed is also great, but mainly for stir fries.  I just can’t get past the mushiness that comes from boiling and steaming – bleh, so roasting it is!  My favorite right now is roasted butternut squash.  My grocery store sells 2 lb containers of it peeled, seeded and diced, which makes my life 1,000x easier (read: the amount of time I save by not peeling/seeding/dicing is worth the extra $.20/lb I would save buying it whole).  Almost every Sunday I roast the entire 2 lbs and use it throughout the week.  We’ll throw it into frittatas, have it by itself as a side or use it in a burrito for a meatless night during the week.  There are so many other things I do, and you’ll be getting some of those ideas later on.  Lately, though, I’ve been using half of it right away for this sauce.  Y’all, this sauce is ALL veggies with a little olive oil and seasoning thrown in.

Let me count the ways I love this sauce:

1. Everything roasts in the oven at the same time – you only need to give yourself about 5-10 minutes of prep, and then go relax while the oven does its roasting magic.
2. Once roasted and cooled, you throw everything into a food processor or blender and give it a whir, and that’s it – dunzo bunzo.
3. Very little clean-up! Roast the veggies on parchment paper, so you only have the food processor to clean.
4. I said it before, and I’ll say it again – ALL VEGGIES…healthy…healthy glow…goddess glow…you get it.
5. It is SO versatile. It should be obvious by now, but I love lists, so here are the ways I’ve already used it:
   • As a dip for raw veggies (or nuggets for kids – just mix with a little ketchup)
   • As a spread for sandwiches and wraps (esp on grilled cheese)
   • Thin it out with a little cooking liquid and use it as a pasta sauce
   • Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Bell Pepper Hummus (recipe coming later)
   • I haven’t tried this yet, but it just came to me and now I’m super excited…use as pizza sauce
6. It freezes really well, though we generally don’t have any trouble finishing it during the week.
7. The entire batch has just over 850 calories – 861 to be exact. It’s hard to give calories per serving because the number of servings will vary depending on how you use it.
8. It’s gluten free and vegan.

I’ll stop, so you can decide for yourself.  Seriously, you need to get this into your life right now – you can thank me later.

Ingredients:

2 lbs diced butternut squash*
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
3 red bell peppers halved and seeded
2 small shallots
1 cup cherry tomatoes
3-4 tbsp olive oil for roasting the veggies
2 tbsp olive oil for the sauce
1/4 tsp salt (or more to taste)
1/8 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Prepare veggies for roasting: (Start with the shallots because they need more roasting time.)
   • Peel shallots, drizzle with a little olive oil and wrap in aluminum foil. Place foil pack in oven (make sure to position it so oil doesn’t drip out and down).
   • Toss** butternut squash with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning. Spread onto a rimmed cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
   • Place bell pepper halves skin side up on another lined baking sheet.
   • Toss** tomatoes with a little olive oil and put on baking sheet with peppers. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
   • Once the shallots have been roasting for about 15-20 minutes, add the squash to the oven. After 20 more minutes, stir the squash and add the peppers and tomatoes to the oven.  Allow everything to roast for another 30 minutes or until soft.
3. Place bell peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow all of the veggies to cool.  Once cooled, peel the skin from the peppers, and place all of the veggies in a food processor or blender (remember to only add half of the butternut squash).
4. To the food processor add olive oil, salt and pepper (feel free to add some red pepper flakes if you want this spicy). Turn it on, and let everything come together as a thick sauce.
5. Keep in the fridge for up to a week or freeze for up to 3 months.

*I recommend roasting the entire amount, so you’ll have half ready for other uses during the week.

**Tip: Use a gallon-size zipper bag to toss the veggies with the oil because it saves having to clean a big bowl, and I’ve found it’s the best way to evenly coat the ingredients.  Use the same bag for both the squash and tomatoes.

Weekly Veggie Prep and Roasted Cauliflower

laura.smoak@gmail.com Prep Ahead, Vegan, Veggies 7 Comments

I introduced this blog with the idea that Andy and I do a fair amount of food prep on the weekends, so I figure I need to actually dedicate entire posts every so often to show you what I mean by that.  The previous recipes on the blog don’t show just how “into” veggies I am, but I reallllly am.  As a rough estimate I can confidently say that most days we both get at least 6 servings of veggies and 4 servings of fruit, and that is possible because we prep.  I’ll start with our basic veggie prep and roasted cauliflower that we do almost every weekend – and I’ll try to keep myself from getting too wordy.

First thing I should clarify is that we do this on Sunday’s during Anna Ruth’s naptime.  I know a lot of people don’t have a guaranteed time they have to be home, so I’m lucky that I can make this a priority. You may not have an hour on the weekends where you can, or even want to, prep, but even 10-15 minutes can make a huge difference during the week.

One thing I always always always do is chop fresh veggies for Andy and me to eat for lunches or snacks during the week.  We prepare ten sandwich baggies of veggies that we eat each day.  Groundbreaking, I know…  I actually started doing this when I was pregnant with AR and had to force myself to eat veggies, and it stuck.  These bags usually include red bell pepper strips (5 peppers total), cucumber slices (2 English cucumbers total) and grape tomatoes (8-10 per bag), and I’ll add celery and carrots to Andy’s bags if we have it.  I’ll also make a separate bag for AR with just bell pepper strips and cucumber slices that she can snack on while I’m making dinner in the evenings.  We’ve got the whole process of rinsing, chopping and bagging down to about 10 minutes, which is time well spent in my book.  You guys, this automatically ensures you’re eating about 2 cups of whole, raw veggies every day without giving it much more thought.  <– Winning

The other two things I make almost every week are roasted cauliflower and butternut squash.  I roast them on Sunday and use them up throughout the week.  Next week’s post will include my roasted butternut squash go-to, so I’ll spend some time on cauliflower now.  Pic of pre- roasted cauliflower covered in curry powder and turmeric in yo face…

Cauliflower is loaded with nutrients, and has even been linked to cancer prevention (yay, health!).  I love it roasted because it takes on an almost nutty flavor.  Toss it with some curry powder and turmeric (spices shown to improve brain health), throw it in the oven then give yourself a nice hug for taking such good care of you.  Really, roasted cauliflower is great for so many things….

1. As a side
2. Added into stir-fry
3. As a salad topping (surprisingly good)
4. Added into pasta
5. Paired with butternut squash, sautéed spinach and an egg for a glorious breakfast bowl
6. Paired with baked falafel, butternut squash and avocado in a pita pocket

The list could go on.

I generally don’t even add it into our dinner plans for a specific night because I just throw it in whenever I feel like it, and we never end the week with leftovers.  It’s especially nice to have when I’m getting Andy’s lunches ready.  I usually try to make enough at dinner to send him lunch the next day, but some nights we don’t have quite enough left, so I’ll just add in roasted cauliflower – DONE.

Well, it seems I lied about not giving too many words…I’ll leave you now with my go-to roasted cauliflower recipe.  I’d love to hear what you, my lovely readers, do to prepare for the week.  I’m always looking for ways to eat healthier and easier!

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Chop the cauliflower into florets, rinse and drain well (dry as much as you can).
3. Put cauliflower into a gallon-size zipper bag and add oil and spices. Zip bag closed and shake, making sure the ingredients distribute evenly.
4. Pour cauliflower onto baking sheet* and roast for 30 minutes. Stir and cook an additional 10-15 minutes if you want them to brown a little more.
5. Eat as is, or store in the fridge for up to a week and use in any of the ways discussed above.

*I line my baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil with cooking spray – clean-up is done!