I love Fall so much! Maybe it is because I spent 8 years without seasons while living in Florida or maybe it is all the delicious pumpkin and squash I get to eat…I don’t know but I love it!
Hopefully, you love it also and will enjoy reading some of my favorite Fall recipes as well as some tricks on how to store squash and/or pumpkins.
I admit that I mainly like to use butternut squash when I am cooking. I enjoy acorn and yellow squash as well. I do use pumpkin puree (Libby’s 100% pure pumpkin) when making desserts but that is about it. As much as it embarrasses me (not too much!), I will also admit that I will consume as many pumpkin spice lattes (PSL) from any coffee shop as I can get during the Fall season.
You can’t have a blog post on Fall recipes without a good butternut squash soup in it. Most of them have a lot of cream in it, so they can get pretty high in calories. I found a great recipe from The Busy Baker that can be vegan or vegetarian, depending on whether you use coconut milk (can get low fat) or half and half.
Creamy One Pot Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 tsp grated fresh ginger or 1 tsp powdered
- 3/4 tsp sea salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp fresh or dried thyme, finely chopped
- 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 4 cups vegetable stock (can use chicken stock also)
- 3/4 cup coconut mild or half and half
- Garnish – fresh thyme sprigs, cream (coconut or half and half)
Instructions:
- Heat a large pot over medium heat, add the olive oil
- Add onion, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, and thyme and saute until onion is soft and transparent, then add the squash
- Add the stock and stir to combine (liquid level should be slightly lower than the squash, can add more or less stock as needed)
- Cover the pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat
- Once soup is boiling, turn the heat down and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the butternut squash is very tender when you pierce it with a fork
- Remove the soup from the heat and add the coconut milk; then puree with a hand-held immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender
- Serve with a garnish of thyme and cream or yogurt (it can also be stored in fridge or freezer)
Pro Tip: I like to purchase several butternut squashes at cheap farmers’ markets or farms, roast them when I get home (cut in half lengthwise, season the fleshy side with olive oil and salt, roast in oven for 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees), then cut the squash in cubes, and freeze them in gallon bags. Then, when I want to make soup or anything else, I just defrost one of the bags. Since it is already cooked, it actually saves time when making soups!
I also wanted to include my favorite way to eat butternut squash, Argentine-style. You can do a few variations with this one. I always used to use the squash as the vessel but in recent years, I switched to small ramekins for individual servings my kids could easily eat. I don’t have any recent pictures but will post one soon since I haven’t made the recipe this season yet!
Ingredients:
Calabaza Rellena (Stuffed Squash)
- 1 butternut squash
- Creamed corn, 8 oz can
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 1 small onion, diced
- Olive oil 1-2 tbsp
- Flour, 3 tbsp (or as needed)
- Parsley, dried or chopped fresh, 2 tbsp
- Salt and pepper as needed
- Milk, 1/2 cup or as needed
- Parmesan cheese, as needed for grating
Instructions:
- Cut butternut squash in half and place in large pot with boiling water, boil until it is tender when piercing with a fork
- If you are using ramekins instead of the actual squash, you can roast it in the oven for 30-40 minutes (or defrost a bag from the freezer) and when it is soft, scoop out the flesh and mash it in a bowl, season it with salt, pepper, and a little butter
- Meanwhile, heat up the olive oil and cook the onion and red peppers (season with parsley, salt, and pepper) until onion is translucent (few minutes)
- Mix in the corn, cook for another 1-2 minutes, then add the flour and milk to a creamy consistency and season with salt and pepper again, cook for another 2-4 minutes
- Once the butternut squash is ready, you pull it out of the oven, and pour the corn, onion, and pepper mixture on top.
- Cover it with parmesan cheese and broil in the oven for a few minutes (until golden brown)
- If using the ramekins, layer the squash, then the corn mixture, and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. I broil the ramekins in the toaster oven or you can do them all at the same time in the regular oven (I typically make 6) until the cheese is golden brown.
Pro tip: serve as a side for tilapia, roasted chicken, or left over turkey from Thanksgiving!
There are lots of easy and healthy ways to eat squash. Yellow squash and zucchini can be sliced thin and tossed with olive oil on a skillet. I will do that with chopped onions, basil and garlic powder, and then sprinkle parmesan cheese until the squash is translucent and a little bit golden brown.
Spaghetti squash can be easily cooked in a microwave (score it, cook for 5 minutes, then cut in half, scoop out seeds, put in a microwave safe dish upside down with one inch of water and cook until soft 5-10 minutes more) and the inside can be used as healthy, low carb spaghetti. Mix it with tomato sauce and turkey meatballs for a healthy take on a classic meal that is ready in 20 minutes if you use frozen meatballs and a jar of sauce.
I am not a big dessert person, so I don’t have any tried and true healthy dessert pumpkin recipes to share. In the past, I have made pumpkin cheesecake using low fat cream cheese and the 100% pumpkin puree I mentioned earlier. I can’t say using low fat cream cheese is the best choice when making desserts! A good option to create delicious but more calorie conscious desserts is to make them small. Use cupcake or mini cupcake pans or even ramekins or small glass containers for small servings, instead of making a whole cake or large desserts.
I hope you can enjoy the crisp weather and falling leaves. I’ll be sure to do so while drinking a PSL (which is definitely not low calorie but I choose low fat milk, small size, and less pumps of the syrup!) with no shame.