Spiced Roasted Squash

When I was growing up, I was a huge fan of the American Girl Dolls. My personal favorite was Samantha, but I couldn't help reading all the books for each of the dolls, even if I didn't particularly like that doll. Molly was the one I never really liked. I still don't. But I do remember reading one of the Molly books where her mother serves her mashed squash for dinner (at least I remember it as squash. It could have been sweet potatoes, but that would make this story inapplicable to my post...so let's just say it was squash). Now Molly hated squash. And one day during WWII, her mother tried to feed her squash. Molly refused, and mother told her she couldn't leave the table until she finished her squash.

So Molly waited. She stared at the squash and hoped it would disappear. It didn't. So she waited longer.

And still refused to eat the squash. By this point, it had become cold and tasteless, possibly resembling cold baby food. Yuck.

Her mother finally took pity on her. She took the nasty squash and reheated it, added a bit of cinnamon (and I imagine a bit of butter), and suddenly the nasty squash was quite delicious. And edible. So Molly ate it and bonded with her mother and everything was ok.

When I was trying to think of what I could do with the squash sitting in my cupboard, I thought of Molly's cold squash. But I thought that maybe if Molly had been given this squash, this warm, buttery, cinnamon deliciousness, she might have just eaten it in the first place.

If you like the looks of this, but want your vegetables and meat all in one dish, try the Fall Pork Dinner.


Spiced Roasted Squash
Recipe by Kelly
Pictures by Caroline

Serves 4

1 small butternut squash, quartered and seeded
1 medium acorn squash, quartered and seeded
4 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 nutmeg
dash of cloves
dash of salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place squash on a large cookie sheet, face down (skin side up). Pour about 1/2 inch of water onto cookie sheet and bake 30-40 minutes, or until squash is almost tender when pierced with a fork.
2. Remove squash from cookie sheet and let cool about 5 minutes. Carefully peel skin off of squash (you may have to cut a few pieces that aren't quite done yet).
3. Chop squash into 1-inch cubes. Pour into a lightly greased 9 x 12 inch pan.
4. In a small bowl, melt butter. Add sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Pour over squash and stir.
5. Bake squash 10 more minutes, or until squash is tender.