We love eating seasonally! It’s not just good for the environment; it’s excellent for our diets. Eating what’s in season means changing what veggies we’re enjoying, adding in variety without effort. Butternut squash is in season, and we couldn’t be happier.
One cup of butternut squash has 457 percent of your daily vitamin A, 52 percent of your vitamin C, 18 percent of your manganese, 17 percent of your potassium and the list goes on! A cup also has 82 calories, 22 grams of carbs and seven grams of fiber. With that much fiber, we love this vegetable and use it in the place of sweet potatoes in many fall recipes! You can eat butternut squash raw in salads or smoothies, but here are some of our favorite recipes!
Lasagna is one of our team’s favorite comfort foods. It’s cheesy, delicious, warm, layered and did we mention cheesy? It’s also astronomically high in carbs. Cut out the noodles and use butternut squash slices instead! You can use a mandolin to get the slices of butternut squash the right thickness or eyeball it. It doesn’t have to be perfectly even, just the best you can. When you’re done cooking, you will have a lasagna with layers of meat, ricotta mix and “noodles,” and it will hit the spot! A slice has 720 calories, 14 grams of carbs and one gram of fiber. Get the recipe.
This is sort of like potatoes au gratin but with fewer carbs, more nutrients and a twist. It brings a change to this favorite dish that we can’t resist! Not only do you replace regular potatoes with squash, but you also use almond flour in the place of breadcrumbs making this a side you can enjoy without worry! If you know how to make potatoes au gratin, you already know how to make this! A serving has 233 calories, 19 grams of carbs and four grams of fiber. Get the recipe.
Last week we said we don’t share enough vegetarian recipes: this is a delicious vegetarian star dish! We aren’t sure we would call it chili. It’s got beans, tomato and the kick, but there is so much debate about what chili is. Whatever you want to call this, it’s so tasty and filling! We suggest using low sodium vegetable broth and adding salt at the end, this is pretty high in salt, and you should adjust it to your tastes. The cumin, chipotle powder, garlic and jalapeños give it flavor before adding salt, so you can play with that. We also like that this is a slow cooker meal. We’ve talked a lot about our love for slow cookers — they warm our houses on cold days, fill the home with yummy smells and make dinner a snap! A serving has 100 calories, 19 grams of carbs and three grams of fiber. Get the recipe.
Goodbye, sweet potatoes! We love sweet potatoes. And in moderation, they are fine, but the recipes for mashed sweet potatoes that usually sit on our Thanksgiving buffet are anything but low-carb! That’s why we love this recipe. It uses allspice and roasts the squash to make it sweeter. You can add pumpkin spice if that’s the flavor you’re aiming for! We think that this is absolutely delicious with the recipe just as it is written, but you can dress it up however you like. A serving has 141 calories, 22.4 grams of carbs and 3.9 grams of fiber. Get the recipe.
Butternut squash is a tasty, nutrient-rich vegetable that can stand in for potatoes, sweet potatoes and noodles while still bringing its own distinct taste to the dish. All of these recipes can help you enjoy the flavor! Enjoy them while they are in season this winter!
