Squash with Maple Syrup and Pecans

This can go several different ways depending on your desired outcome. You can make this as is, chunky or mashed, as a side dish. You can add some brown sugar to make a sweet dessert. Or you can add chunks of cooked sweet Italian sauage to make a savory main dish or side. You could probably do a lot of other things, too. Go nuts.

The basics you will need:

2 moderately sized fall/winter squash
(ie. butternut, acorn, pattypan, cooking pumpkins, and things that look like squashes but are ambiguously named, but not zuchini or summer/yellow squash)

1 Tablespoon of butter
1/2 cup of maple syrup (1/3 c + the rest later)
1 cup roughly chopped pecans
salt to taste

To prepare your squash: cut the ends off, peel and halve, scrape out the seeds, and chop into 1/2" cubes. The cooking method is flexible, but we steamed it in the microwave about 7 minutes since it took the least amount of time, prep, and dirty dishes.

While that's cooking you should start most of your maple syrup and the butter cooking at med-low in a skillet that will be able to hold everything by the end. After about 5 minutes add the pecans and let it cook down for another 3 minutes. (If you want sausage add it and 3 additional minutes before the pecans go in.) Add squash and a little salt; cook covered for about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the maple syrup (and the brown sugar if you chose that adventure), and cook for another 10 minutes or until done. Mash it if you want- or don't. Enjoy.

Invalid Command

What's this? Here in my AutoCAD window? How'd that get there? It's as though someone small and furry walked across my keyboard. Or rather, walked halfway across and decided to sit down.

and now for something completely different

I give you: A kitten wedged into the side of the couch. Yes, he did that himself.













What does he have to say about me posting this?
"azz s21"
Yes, he did that himself, too. Do you know how hard it is to keep cats from walking on your laptop keyboard?