My brilliant and resourceful friend Katie managed to get permission for us to raid a nearby farm for squash last week, as the owners had picked the crop to their satisfaction.  So of course, jumping on the opportunity, the kids and I hopped in the car, and drove down the steep and winding driveway to the squash patch which also happened to be a horse field.  Hello Horses!

We ducked under the electric fence, and went to work.  An hour or so later, we had almost literally filled our station wagon, and we will now be eating squash for the next several months…I hope!  I love butternut squash, and it is SO easy to prepare.

For a little while in my early twenties, I functioned under the illusion that elaborate things had to be done to squash in order to cook it:  cubing it, cutting it in half and taking the seeds out, etc.

But now I know better.

The easiest way to cook a squash?  Scrub the dirt off, and throw it in the oven.  Seriously.  With the oven on at 300 celcius for a couple of hours, cook the squash until it’s mushy, and then disembowel.

After that, you can do whatever you like:  turn it into soup, eat it as is, sprinkle with nutmeg, make a dip, make a sauce.

Ta da!  Squash recipes coming up.