Oven Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Onions with Goat Cheese
You can see I got a little happy with the goat cheese...
Oh, my gosh. This is a good one for your Fall menus.
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut open a butternut squash and remove seeds. Peel the squash. This is a bit of work, but trust me — worth it in the end. You can use a small knife to trim the peel off. I find it easier to peel smaller pieces, so I cut the squash into uniform sized hunks or slices (it doesn’t matter) and THEN peeled. A slice or chunk that is about 1/2″ or 3/4″ thick works fine.
As an alternative, if you’re short on time, you might consider purchasing ready to cook butternut squash (already peeled and cut in chunks.)
Place peeled and cut butternut squash on a low-sided roasting pan or cookie sheet with sides. Cut up a large red onion or two small and add to the squash. Drizzle the squash and onions with olive oil, just enough to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and place in the 400 degree oven.
Make sure the chunks can spread out in a single layer. You don’t want piles of vegetables. They will brown properly if they can be in one single layer. They need breathing space. Don’t we all?
Stir and turn the veggies every 15 or 20 minutes. This helps them brown and cook evenly.
I hate to say this, but I didn’t keep good track of how much time it took to roast the veggies. I know it was at least a half hour and probably more like 45 minutes or so. If you allow an hour, you’ll be fine.
When the butternut squash is tender and the onions slightly browned and yummy, remove from the oven. Dot individual servings or the serving dish with Chevre goat cheese, in whatever amount you like.
You can see in my finished photo above that I got a little extra happy with the goat cheese….
That’s because I love goat cheese from Bosky Acres Farms in Waxhaw, NC. They employ sustainable practices, giving the goats plenty of fresh air, exercise, pasture and browse, and whole grain feed and hay. They love their goats, and happy dairy goats make wonderful milk. Wonderful anything!
I happened to have exquisite, mouthwatering Bosky Acres Chevre with garlic and chives.
Need I say more?
Consume slowly and with appreciation, enjoying every nuance of taste. The salty, creamy goat cheese is pretty much heaven against the roasted butternut squash.
Here’s to your Fall menus!!
Christie Lenee can play a guitar. She’s the 2017 International Finger Style Guitar Champion of the Year. In September of last year in London, she also won Acoustic Guitarist of the Year.
But lucky for us, she’s not just a champion guitar player. Christie Lenee is also quite the composer.
A friend of hers, Michael Pukac, requested that she write a song, one he described as “the story of love.” She scribbled notes and went to work.
Through Christie’s ability to imagine, his desire became music. Now she plays this song for the world with her love fingers. Lucky you, lucky me, lucky us.
Take very good care of yourself this week. Why not sing a little…
You’re broken down and tired Of living life on a merry go round And you can’t find the fighter But I see it in you so we gonna walk it out And move mountains We gonna walk it out And move mountains
And I’ll rise up I’ll rise like the day I’ll rise up I’ll rise unafraid I’ll rise up And I’ll do it a thousand times again And I’ll rise up High like the waves I’ll rise up In spite of the ache I’ll rise up And I’ll do it a thousand times again
For you For you For you For you
When the silence isn’t quiet And it feels like it’s getting hard to breathe And I know you feel like dying But I promise we’ll take the world to its feet And move mountains Bring it to its feet And move mountains
And I’ll rise up I’ll rise like the day I’ll rise up I’ll rise unafraid I’ll rise up And I’ll do it a thousand times again
For you For you For you For you
All we need, all we need is hope And for that we have each other And for that we have each other And we will rise We will rise We’ll rise, oh, oh We’ll rise
I’ll rise up Rise like the day I’ll rise up In spite of the ache I will rise a thousand times again And we’ll rise up High like the waves We’ll rise up In spite of the ache We’ll rise up And we’ll do it a thousand times again
During this strange time in history, I noticed y’all were tackling all sorts of interesting projects. I decided I needed one, too—something positive to remember the pandemic of 2020 by.
I decided to pay attention to something I had abandoned…
Nope, I’m not cleaning my garage. I am not organizing one single thing. I’m not planting a garden or cleaning up my yard.
Instead, I decided to take care of myself better. This, folks, has made all the difference for me.
With relatively little time and effort on my part, I feel so much better than I did a month ago.
On March 30, I got on the exercise bike and the yoga mat for the first time in a long time, and did 30 minutes each. I liked it so much that I decided to do it every day. But I fell short of that, and changed my commitment to every other day, which felt more manageable, reasonable, and doable.
I also get off the bike after every song, take a couple of sips of water, shake out my legs and arms for a few seconds, and get back on. This makes the bike project a reasonable proposition, too.
Daily walks of any length—by myself, or with my little guy, Jackson—are a fresh air bonus.
My recumbent exercise bike has pulleys to work my upper body while I pedal, which gets my heart rate up fast, and also helps my whole-body strength. It feels good to get up from writing, or doing a consulting session with a client, to do something physically challenging while listening to good music.
After only a month, I feel a sheet of muscles on the front of me I haven’t felt for a very, very long time. Goodness gracious. Who knew they were there. I’ll be posting rippling ab photos soon, I’m sure.
I have no idea what the scales have to say about my bike/yoga project—I don’t care. Paying attention to scales tends to send me sideways, and therefore, I’m ignoring them completely.
But—I LOVE the way I feel! Hang in there, everyone.
yummy, remove from the oven. Dot individual servings or the serving dish with Chevre goat cheese, in whatever amount you like.
You can see in my finished photo above that I got a little extra happy with the goat cheese….
That’s because I love goat cheese from Bosky Acres Farms in Waxhaw, NC. They employ sustainable practices, giving the goats plenty of fresh air, exercise, pasture and browse, and whole grain feed and hay. They love their goats, and happy dairy goats make wonderful milk. Wonderful anything!
I happened to have exquisite, mouthwatering Bosky Acres Chevre with garlic and chives.
Need I say more?
Consume slowly and with appreciation, enjoying every nuance of taste. The salty, creamy goat cheese is pretty much heaven against the roasted butternut squash.
Here’s to your Fall menus!!
