Butternut Squash Recipes: Good Enough for Thanksgiving

Butternut Squash is a winter squash, coming into its prime around the Thanksgiving holidays, and will make wonderful dishes for your Thanksgiving Day meal.

If you are gathering your squash, whether from the field or the grocery store, for your special Thanksgiving meal; make sure you store it in a cool, dry area, with good ventilation. 55° is the best for storing winter squash.

A good way of planning enough Butternut squash for your guests, is to plan on ½ pound per person

Stuffed Butternut Squash

The first thing you must do, is bake your butternut squash.

Preheat oven to 375° F

Cut squash in half - scooping out the seeds. Place halves on a cookie sheet or baking dish and bake until it can be easily pricked with a toothpick. Take out of oven and let cool.

When cool - scoop most of the butternut squash out of the shell and put into a mixing bowl, leaving about ¼" around the shell for strength and support.

Filling for Stuffed Butternut Squash (for 4 halves)

4 cups of mashed butternut squash

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

½ onion chopped fine

½ cup soft bread pieces (small) can use stuffing cubes if no herbs. Soak in a little milk.

1 egg, beaten (helps everything hold together)

½ teaspoon salt

Pepper to taste

½ cup cracker crumbs - for topping

Under low heat, put butter and onion and let brown lightly. Add the bread and squash. Cook together for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the salt and pepper and the beaten egg. Place mixture back into the Butternut squash shells, dividing evenly. Sprinkle the cracker crumbs over the top. Return to 375° F oven to brown.

If you prefer a sweeter taste to your Butternut squash, try this. The kids will love it.

Bake your Butternut squash same as above, in a 375° F oven. (for 4 halves)

2 cups butternut squash mashed

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

1 teaspoon brown sugar

Pinch of salt

Pinch of ginger

Beat all of this mixture well with just enough warm orange juice for a nice consistency.

Add ¼ cup crushed pineapple

Put back into squash shells. Top with finely chopped nut meats. Sprinkle with a little brown sugar and return to 375° F oven to brown. The brown sugar will put a nice glaze over the top. They are really quite pretty.

There really isn't much work to preparing a good butternut squash dish. Just a little bit of time is all it takes.