What's Cooking?

The first unofficial Free Pagan Hot Meal was held last night. Gigi requested meatloaf and mashed potatoes from our Xena-Warrior-Princess Kitchen Witch. Xena made some yummy additions to the "meat" theme I'd come up with!

My mom first served buttercup squash long long ago, and I thought she'd done something different to the squash recipe. Turns out, she had just added a butterCUP to the butterNUT squash puree. I never forgot it. So, every fall I look for a buttercup to cook. Some stores list it as a Kubota or Kubocha, I forget. But it's a buttercup to me.

Sharpen a knife and cut that sucker in half. Scrape out the guts and place cut-side down on a cookie sheet. Add a bit of water, not too much that it sloshes out and makes a mess. Bake at 350-ish for 30 minutes or so until it's fork tender. Cool and scoop out sweet goodness. Mix with other squash puree or not. Add some salt, cinnamon, maple syrup, brown sugar, whatever floats your boat. But don't float it too much. You want a HINT of extra flavor, but let the buttercup yumminess shine through. Mash and bake until heated through.

I froze mine (plain and unseasoned) and then thawed it out about a week later to bake up. Served it last night and it was so sweet and so good. Even Gigi liked it, and she is The Picky Eater.

Orange foods are good, and good for you! This is a picture of a butterCUP squash.