Lazy Girls Butternut Squash

I love to cook, don't get me wrong. And there's nothing more satisfying than making a homemade delicious meal for the whole family. However, last night I was just mentally and physically exhausted and didn't want to spend the time preparing dinner. Luckily, my mom was preparing the brunt of dinner for my dad, sister, niece, nephew and I. But what's a healthy dinner without veggies? That's where I usually come into the picture.

We had a butternut squash on the counter and I decided it was time to put it to good use and roast it! Check out the nutrient profile for 1 cup of butternut squash:

source

Ordinarily, when I roast veggies, I'd cut them up into cubes, coat them with a bit of olive oil, salt and maybe some spices (rosemary, thyme, pepper, etc) and cook them in the oven. Not this time. I got my baking sheet out, preheated the oven to 400 and literally stuck the entire squash on the pan and into the oven it went. About an hour later I came back, stuck a fork inside to make sure it was soft and took it out of the oven.

I proceeded then to let the massive squash cool for a few minutes before removing the skin. Cooking squash whole like this makes peeling the skin so easy! This works the same with any squash and even beets. At this point it's up to you how you want to serve the squash. My recommendation is to put the cut up squash directly into a high speed blender or food processor, such as the Vita Mix, and puree to a smooth consistency.

All I did was add a bit of Celtic sea salt and black pepper. I choose Celtic sea salt because it is not processed, contains no additives and retains all of its essential minerals. In just 20 seconds, my dish was complete and tasted oh so delicious!

Try this "lazy" roasting method out yourself and you'll see how incredible of a cook you truly are and how fun cooking can be :)