Local Winter Squash

I have a ton of recipes for preparing a variety of squash. There must be 50 tear sheets from a gazillion cooking magazines on file. Yet all I want to do is cut'em in half, scrape the seeds out and toss the halves into an oven warmed to 350.. and with no additional special treatment. It's crazy I know but I love the earthiness of just eating it plain and in the shell. Add freshly grated nutmeg over the top. Very simple.

I've tried this method with butternut, acorn, ambercup (like a small pumpkin), and I think the sweet dumpling.. it's whatever is in the farmers market bin on sundays, ($1/lb). One thought: stay clear of the pumpkin-carving pumpkins as they are difficult to manage, tough and stringy. They have a lower sugar content that makes them taste watery. Choose a smaller variety like the Sugar pumpkin instead.

Winter squash is a source of niacin, potassium, iron and beta carotene. 1 cup cooked (200g) is less than 100 calories. Add to your plate a favorite lean protein to give your squash a boost as it doesn't win in the protein catagory.

I bet it makes for good pie though... I'll be looking over those tear sheets again. Maybe there's a "crustless butternut squash pie" in our future!