Wednesday, October 14, 2015

The Fall of the Squash

Recently mom and I were watching The Food Network and we saw a Chef preparing Acorn Squash. "What's that?" my mom asked. "Have you ever had Acorn Squash?"  



And no, I had never had Acorn Squash so we said next time we went grocery shopping we would pick one up, and we did.

We were going to make it the way we saw on the Food Network in a dish called Acorn Squash Agrodolce. Argodolce is Italian for Sour/Sweet.

Their recipe started out with cutting the acorn squash in half then scooping out the seeds then slicing it into 1 inch slices. Which I did, easy-peasy! 

Then you toss with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and roast about 30 minutes. Then it said to remove the peel. 

Well, I did all of the above but when it came out of the oven I tasted it with the peel as other websites said you can eat the peel and O.M.Goodness!!! It was so delicious. I almost ate the whole thing right then and there. Mom loved it too and she's a very picky eater.

Here you see a few slices that I had with my dinner that night, alongside some coleslaw and some cubed Parmesan crusted pork chop.


The rest of the recipe called for the agrodolce, which sounds terrific but it's very high in carbs due to sugar content. It calls for red wine vinegar as the Agro (Sour) and Dolce (Sweet) in the form of dried currants or raisins and honey. Also some crush red pepper, fresh mint and salted almonds. You can find the complete recipe HERE.

After I had eaten my fill of Acorn Squash I had to log it in to my food tracker which I will share more about in another post. 

Turns out that Acorn Squash is pretty high in carbs. Which makes sense because it was so delicious. 1 cup cooked has 30 carbs, then you minus the dietary fiber and you end up with 21 net carbs. Again, too high when you stick with 20 to 24 carbs per day. 

However I can eat a slice here and there once in a while. It is very low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. It's a great source of Vitamin A, Thiamin, Vitamin B6 and Magnesium and Dietary Fiber, Potassium, Manganese and Vitamin C.

Photo Credit - Nutritiondata.self.com
Have you ever had Acorn Squash? What other squashes would you recommend? I think this fall I am going to try different ones. A friend of mine recommended I try Carnival and Kabocha Squash, so I'm on the hunt for those.

~~~Alicia



6 comments:

  1. I love acorn squash, butter nut squash, and I guess all kinds of squash! At this time of year I try to make it as often as I can. I mostly roast it or bake it in the oven. Depending what I serving it with. I either use butter or olive oil, salt, and black pepper or butter and your choice of honey or maple syrup...I knew carbs...

    One thing I have not done so far is eat the skin...I'll try to taste it next time I make it!

    Enjoy it!

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    1. Mostly I've just had zucchini, but definitely this winter I will be trying other squashes simply for the health benefits, so packed with fiber! And I want to try roasting more vegetable too. I grew up with a mom that was not a big fan of veggies. She mostly used canned veggies and those were limited to spinach, green beans and corn. If she ever cooked a fresh veggie it was broccoli or cauliflower and she boiled them until you could mash them up with a fork, she didn't like them crunchy. Me...I love crunchy veggies, just barely steamed...yum. And I love the skins on most things, like potatoes. Thanks for commenting and I am going to try a butternut squash next!

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  2. No, I don't believe I"ve ever had acorn squash either, but it sounds and looks delicious.

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    1. I think you would like it JarieLyn, it's kinda sweet, yet the salt and pepper give it that savory flavor. Let me know if you do!.

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  3. Alicia, all winter squashes are delicious but butternut squash is my favorite and I think you would like it. I love kabocha too. I have several recipes in my blog you might be interested on. This preparation you're sharing looks good.
    Prieta

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    1. Hi Prieta! Welcome to my blog. I actually bought a butternut squash as so many people raved about it on Facebook. I'm going to be preparing that next. I will check out your blog as you suggested for some recipe ideas!

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Please leave a comment.I would love to know your thoughts!