Week 45: Tasty Stuffed Squash With a Side of Overwhelm

What do you do when a “16 waking hours day” is no match for your to-do list? Do you meditate? Do yoga? Take a walk? Take deep cleansing breathes? Down a couple glasses of wine? Eat ice cream? Sit and cry? Or some form of all of the above?

This week, all of the above “solutions” failed, so my anxiety remedy was to make paper. Tearing the paper, whirling it up into pulp, and—quite literally—creating something beautiful and new out of something old and discarded resonated deeply in my soul.

 For the most part, the act of being creative tends to keep me grounded; even if it’s as simple as taking a walk and shooting photos along the way. There’s a calming effect in the mindfulness of creative expression.

I think my mom did the same thing…I can’t even imagine how much stress she was under; emotional, physical, and financial (although she and I never discussed it) — I suspect she felt the crushing weight of her stresses paralyzing her.

 As I reflect now, I remember times when she would trace and color (before it was trendy for adults to have coloring books), or sew and knit. Boy oh boy could that woman knit. I remember watching TV with her and hearing the click-click clicking of the needles. She would slip, pearl, and pass with her eyes closed. My sisters and I benefitted from her craft, because we were all in possession of the most beautiful sweaters and 6-to-8 foot scarves with matching hats, mittens, and figure skating pom-poms in amazing color blends and patterns.

Unfortunately, I suspect my mother also turned to food as a remedy for her anxiety. She wasn’t much of a drinker (her brother and mother were both alcoholics and that was a concern for her), so instead, I believe she appeased her stress, anger, despair, and emotional distress with food. I’m not sure when that started; probably, sometime before I was born. I’m not trying to psychoanalyze my now deceased mom, especially because I’m not a professional, but rather because I personally know about the psychological impact of addiction. What began for her as a reasonable weight gain from having many children, in addition to a presumed form of a metabolism issue and finding comfort in food insidiously turned into shame, despair, and a cycle of obesity, where a solution must have felt unattainable.

I’m not sure why I went off on this tangent this week, but for some reason my mind was there with her, remembering her knitting, as I maniacally made paper to calm my nerves. Eventually, I felt calmer, and creating and preparing this week’s recipe helped, as well.

Even though the chaos in the kitchen was ridiculous, the act of preparing food is like a work of art for me. It grounds my spirit — the aromas, textures, tastes, and, yes, the gratification of creating something delicious in the end.  At least when the recipe works, which it did this week.

 

Original Recipe

The Process

With the exception of spaghetti squash (cue stomach flu flashbacks), I enjoy all varieties of squash. But, with their delicately, sweet flavor and numerous health benefits, autumnal squashes are my favorites – with acorn, butternut, Delicata, and carnival topping the list. I was reminded how much I enjoy these sweet autumn balls of healthy goodness when my son-in-law (Lou) served a stuffed Delicata squash last week, which then inspired me to rummage through the recipe files in search of a squash dish.

As I think back to my childhood, it’s no wonder that I loved squash, because every recipe of my mother’s involved butter and brown sugar, so they were basically a dessert and dinner in one. This particular recipe – a peanut stuffed squash – escapes my memory, but the process of twice baking the squash and the addition of peanuts left me curious. 

The original recipe calls for acorn squash, which has a nuttier flavor than the Delicata or carnival squashes, but I wanted to mimic Lou’s “squash boats” and, to that end, the shape of the squash matters.

First ingredient to go in this recipe revamp was the ham – I avoid eating pork whenever possible.
So, I chose to use tofu, but if you’re going to make this recipe and happen to not be a tofu fan, you can use ham, sausage, or perhaps even ground turkey. With the guidance of my vegetarian kids, I’ve learned to make tofu in a way that has a meaty texture, and then I cooked it up with fennel, oregano, and sage to give it a sausage flavor.

Next ingredient to go was the brown sugar – in my opinion there is no need to add sugar to squash. Other than those two ingredients, the recipe remained virtually the same.

 I was feeling this squash session so much that I created a second stuffed squash dish. I’m not going to write the recipe—because it was pretty easy—but essentially I pre-baked the squash; stuffed it with cooked quinoa, roasted Brussel sprouts, my tofu “sausage”, walnuts, and dried cranberries; and put it back in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 temperature. It was delicious!

The Results



My tester this week, my friend Lex, tried both dishes – and they were both a hit! Her very first comment about the peanut stuffed squash was how sweet it tasted. So, you can imagine her surprise when I told her that original recipe had brown sugar as an ingredient. She’s not a big fan of sweets, so to her taste buds my revamp was like dessert. She also really enjoys Brussels sprouts, making the other recipe a hit thanks to the addition of those beautiful, green bulbs. We both agreed that either dish would be a perfect Thanksgiving menu item, especially if you’re hosting vegetarians. Oh and by the way…she even ate the squash skin becasue it was so tender. I’ve never done that, have you?

 

Orange Peanut Stuffed Squash Recipe

Ingredients:

2 Delicata or carnival squashes
3 Tbsp olive oil or butter
1-2 cups cooked tofu, ham, or sausage
2 Tbsp chopped onion
1 Tbsp grated orange peel
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped peanuts (raw or roasted)
1/4 cup chopped parsley

 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Halve the squash and remove seeds.

Place squash, cut side down, on a greased or parchment-covered baking sheet

Bake for 30 minutes or until tender.

Once cooled, scoop out squash pulp, leaving a thin shell.

Place pulp in a mixing bowl.

In a small skillet, brown the tofu, ham, or sausage with onion and some of the olive oil or butter.

Stir skillet mixture into squash pulp.

Add orange peel, fresh-squeezed orange juice (I have the coolest Alessi juicer thanks to my brother-in-law), salt, peanuts and parsley.

Fill the empty squash shells with the squash mixture.

Add a small pat of butter or a drizzle of olive oil on top an a drizzle of maple syrup (optional)

Return to the oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until heated through.

Garnish with twisted thin slices of orange and parsley.

Week 45 Recipe Pick

TBD

My best girlfriend from high school is visiting this week to help me with the aforementioned overwhelm and I want her to select the recipe to cook together.

Tags: autumn, squash