Baked Squash

The Black Eyed Pea restaurant has a delicious squash casserole, but its made with butter, milk and sugar. This is my riff on the dish with indigenous ingredients.

Four small yellow squashes, two zucchinis, 1/2 cup agave syrup, 1/2 chopped sweet onion, 3/4 cup corn meal. Black pepper and hot sauce to taste.

Boil the squashes and onion until tender. Drain, put in casserole dish and add the corn meal, agave, pepper then mash. Cook in oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Josh says that it almost tastes like dessert, so maybe I added too much agave--but perhaps not!

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Squash Dinner

Here is a quick dinner made of squash, tomatoes, onions and spices. Cut a spaghetti squash in half and place cut side down on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 about 25 minutes or until it is soft.

In a skillet heated on medium, add sliced zucchini, yellow squash, onion, tomato, salt, black pepper and sage. Cook until tender.

Rake out the insides of the spaghetti squash with a fork into a bowl then top with the skillet ingredients.

The only clean up is the cuttng board and the squash leftovers.

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Squash hummus

Wild rice

Squash and rice "hummus"

Hummus is an Arab "mash" or spread made out of cooked chickpeas, ground sesame (Tahini), olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt. Variations include additional red bell pepper, pine nuts, cilantro, jalapenos, etc. Store bought hummus is very expensive, but you can make it yourself with garbanzo beans from the store (usually about a dollar a can).

I created two completely different kinds of hummus--not really hummus because these are made with squash. Still, is an interesting dip. Regular hummus is about 80 calories per 2 tablespoons (or two chips worth). In the first variation, I sauteed two zucchines, then mixed them in a food processor with 2 cups of cooked wild rice, plus 2 T olive oil, pepper and garlic. The result is above (in the processor). Its sort of gummy from the rice starch, but not bad. It needs to be eaten warm.

Below is another type. I sauteed two zucchines with onions, tomatoes, garlic and 2T of oilve oil.

Below is tabouleh, a Middle Eastern "salad" made of bulghur wheat, with added parsley, rice flour, onion, mint, etc. I bought this in a box as the store. Simply add hot water and olive oil and let it set. After reconstitution it looks like the picture on the left.

Mix the prepared tabouleh with the squash, onions and tomatoes (in a processor or blender). It will not have the same creamy texture as hummus, but it still is interesting. You can add other items such as hot peppers, cilantro, etc. Eat with crackers, carrots or celery. Josh put a bunch on his sandwich.

Squash/tabouleh hummus with a Trisket

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