Where do you enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner? Do you do all the cooking at home, bring a dish along to your gathering or do you just reap all the benefits of someone else doing the cooking? Well for me, I make a handful of dishes BUT we enjoy our holiday at my sister-in-laws house. While she hosts and makes some of the food, we have traditionally made it more of a ‘potluck style’ dinner so not one person is doing all the work — that said, not everyone eats like I do!
The turkey and/or ham is usually made my my mother-in-law and sides/desserts are brought in by all the family. While deviled eggs and the vegetable platter are along my route for eating the way I do, I steer clear of the sweet potatoes that are filled with brown sugar and marshmallow’s and likewise with the potatoes that are saturated with “wanna be butter”. I learned early on that if I want to eat a meal that looks the part of Thanksgiving, I had to bring all the sides that accommodate my lifestyle. My sides are passed around like everyone else’s and I am happy that they get just the same “…mmmmm’s” as all the other dishes!
My usual go-to’s are brussels w/bacon, spicy cranberry sauce, cauliflower mash and/or sweet potato mash and my desserts in hand are usually a paleo pumpkin pie, something chocolately (brownies/pie), a pumpkin or banana bread and some coconut whip.
This year I decided to create a butternut squash recipe so I can add a different side to the mix. I will definitely be taking this dish, as well as the others because there’s never too much food on Thanksgiving, right??? Well…..maybe there is BUT then there’s leftovers and who doesn’t love Thanksgiving leftovers?!?
Btw, this Roasted Butternut Squash recipe can be certainly made into a meal by adding your favorite protein. Add some of the leftover turkey, warm and toss & bam – a meal. I added some spicy sausage one night and the flavor combos of the sweet & spicy were delish! Definitely loved & devoured by the hubby!!
My hubby’s family is pretty big. He has 5 sisters & brothers and then there’s all the spouses, children and now tons of nieces and nephews ….and now grand nieces and nephews! We could use all the help we can get when it comes to making sure the food is plentiful on the table. Oh and olives – plenty of olives …..we need the olives for the little ones to walk around with on their fingers, as well as for us adults to nibble on while we wait for everything to fall into place!
I hope you all enjoy the recipe and your Thanksgiving holiday! No matter how or where you celebrate, I truly hope it’s filled with love and lots of laughter!!! 🙂
- 1 1/2 lbs butternut squash, cubed
- 1 1/2 tbsp avocado or olive oil
- 1/2 tsp finely chopped rosemary
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1 tbsp raw honey
- 1 tbsp ghee/butter
- 1/8 tsp+ cayenne pepper**
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- In a bowl, toss the cubed butternut squash with oil of choice, salt and pepper.
- Place the squash in a medium sized baking dish and bake in oven for 20 minutes.
- While squash is in oven, lightly roast pecans in a pan on stove. Toss around for about 2-3 minutes.
- Once timer goes off for squash, pull out of oven long enough to incorporate the honey, butter or ghee and cayenne pepper. Toss on the pecans and put back into oven for another 20 minutes.
- Give it a good mix to incorporate pecans once out of oven and serve along with your favorite protein.
- *Make it a meal by adding 1 lb of your favorite ground meat or ground or linked/sliced sausage. Cook it up on stove & add to the squash when you add your pecans ....but you might need to use a larger baking dish for this method 🙂
- **1/8 tsp gives it a subtle hint of spice, add accordingly if you prefer more of a bite! WARNING: I added spicy sausage and it was pretty intense, so be mindful when adding the cayenne if you're going to add a spicy protein!
