I was super excited when I saw this salad on Pinterest because I was feeling the cozy fall vibes despite it being blistering cold in NYC this week. I thought this would be a tasty meal to add into the 500 calorie mix this week.
Ingredients: This one was pretty easy because it required minimal ingredients which always makes it a winner in my book. All I had to find was a butternut squash, Brussel sprouts, pumpkin seeds, maple syrup, and dried cranberries. Can you guess which one I couldn’t find at ShopRite? You are correct, that would be the dried cranberries. I swear that place is too big and I never know where to find anything there. Fun fact, I usually only walk through the perimeter of the store and only pop in the pasta and rice aisles. I am a lost cause for anything other than the veggie section and the ice cream aisle. Aside from all of that I have to be honest, I have never cooked butternut squash before. I really thought about buying it already cut up but figured I was up for the challenge.
Thankfully this one was pretty easy to prep and cook! I cut the Brussel sprouts into fourths instead of halves because they were quite large and put them into mixing bowl #1. These mixing bowls just arrived today and I am beyond excited to FINALLY have more than one bowl to work with them cooking! Thankfully Tania put instructions for how to cut a butternut squash in her recipe. I had no idea they even had a peel that you could take off. I was nervous that it was going to be a think skin and hard to take off, thankfully it is really thin. I got everything cut up without a hitch, added salt, pepper, and a little olive oil to each bowl and gave them a good mix before placing them on each tray. Tania recommended cooking each veggie on their own tray to avoid over crowding…I guess they end up soggy instead of roasted. Man, I really wish we had that air fryer tonight (coming soon)!
We popped both trays in the oven and I started to clean up. Suddenly my hands felt SO DRY and TIGHT. I looked down at them and it looked like I had covered my three fingers in Krazy Glue! I was freaked out and of course hit up google to see what was happening. Apparently a Butternut Squash is so smart and immediately dries out any area where the skin opens up to prevent the rest of it from going back. Unfortunately for me and many other people, when that residue gets on your hand it does the same exact thing! I did some more googling to see how to fix it. The best answer was mayonnaise because the oil helps remove it and the eggs help remove thee stickiness, who would have thought? Of course we don’t have any mayonnaise in the house so I was onto solution #2: packing tape. It helps pull off the residue, it’s just a little time consuming. I am happy to report that within two hours my hands were back to normal!
After all of that commotion the 15 minute timer was going off. I pulled both cooking sheets out of the oven and added a little maple syrup to each and stored the veggies around before placing back in the oven for 8 minutes. Tania was very precise in saying that the maple syrup can’t cook for longer than 10 minutes without burning. We pulled it all out of the oven and mixed it together in a bowl with the pumpkin seeds, unfortunately no cranberries for us but it definitely would have added a nice flavor!
Overall Rating: “Wow, I am actually full.” Ben really had his doubts when he filled his bowl for this one. I get it, it’s definitely more of a side dish at a Friendsgiving than a main course, however it was VERY FILLING. It had great flavor and felt light. We will definitely be making this one again in thee future! I may buy the pre-cut butternut squash or wear gloves when I cut the squash next time. LOL!
Let me know if you try it as the original recipe or with your own modifications!
Original Recipe: https://cookingformysoul.com/butternut-squash-brussels-sprouts-salad
xoxo
Krysta
