Monday, March 7, 2011

Roasted Butternut Squash with Smoked Paprika (sugar free • gluten free • low carb • dairy free)


I love me some butternut squash. The munchkin does too. I have made it in many different ways but this one is by far my favorite! It took me a while to track down the smoked paprika. They don't carry it at any of the regular grocery stores around here. I'm sure you can order it online somewhere else too, but I ran across it at World Market while we were killing time waiting for our movie to start. As an extra bonus, they also had packages with 2 whole vanilla beans for $2.99!! If you have bought these before, you know what a great deal that is. I had just seen them at Whole Foods a couple of days earlier for about $13!

Smoked paprika has quickly become one of my favorite seasonings. It is delicious and adds a deep smokey flavor with out any heat. You can buy a butternut squash and cut it up yourself, or you can buy it already cubed, which I often do. I found the original recipe at Kalyn's Kitchen, but I made some changes. I found that the original cooking time was way too long and made my squash really mushy. The original recipe calls for sweet smoked paprika. I just used smoked.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Smoked Paprika

  • 2 lbs butternut squash, peeled and cubed
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 Tb extra virgin olive oil

  1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
  2. Whisk together everything but the squash in a large bowl.
  3. Add squash to bowl, stir around and mix well with seasonings.
  4. Spread some olive oil onto a cookie sheet and spoon on squash spreading it out onto one layer.
  5. Place in oven and cook for 25 minutes.
  6. Remove from oven, stir around and cook for another 10-15 minutes until soft.
  7. Serve immediately.

I really hope you try this. It is fantastic!

3 comments:

Gina said...

Where do you find your squash? I haven't found organic squash anywhere and I want to let G try it!

Laura said...

I can't find it organic either. I do however feel okay using some fruits and veggies that have a really thick outer skin that is removed and not eaten. Bananas, pineapples and Mangoes for example are okay to buy non organic as well. The fruits that I always buy organic because they have a thin edible skin are all berries, apples, peaches, etc. These fruits have no protection from pesticides and freely soak them up. When studies are done on these conventionally grown fruits, they are very high on the toxic list.

Anonymous said...

Mmmmmm, that sounds yummy! I was just reading yours and Gina's comments. We spray our fruit with a homemade solution of water, vinegar, lemon juice, and baking soda. That helps get rid of any toxins or pesticides. I let the solution sit on the fruit for a mintute, then just rinse.