Recipe // Vegan Mashed Butternut Squash

Well looky there. A Thanksgiving recipe in a Christmas dish. Just try to ignore the candy cane stripes and pay more attention to the delicious recipe. I know, it's hard. The Christmas-y stripes are distracting me as well...

One of my favorite fall foods is butternut squash. I love it in soup, roasted in the oven, baked in mac 'n cheese, and now I love it mashed. William has a dairy intolerance of some sort (and to be honest, I do too but I usually just ignore because I love cheese) which means that I probably shouldn't eat dairy either since he gets his food from me. You have no idea how hard this is for me. Sometimes I cheat but then I pay for it by having to catch baby puke.

Awesome

. Knowing that Thanksgiving is coming and I need to limit my dairy intake on Turkey Day, I thought that I should combine my favorite fall food, butternut squash, with one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes, mashed potatoes, but make it William-friendly. And thus, Vegan Mashed Butternut Squash was born.

This is a smooth dish full of flavor and much lighter on the stomach than mashed potatoes would be. Don't go into this expecting a mashed potato texture or you will be sorely disappointed. Potatoes and squash have a much different texture when cooked, so this dish is a bit stringy compared to creamy mashed potatoes. But like I said, it's feels much lighter

and

 it includes no dairy whatsoever. 

Yields:

 4 servings          

Prep Time:

 45 minutes          

Cook Time:

 10 minutes        

Total Time:

 55 minutes

Ingredients:

1 medium-large butternut squash

1 cup (or more) unsweetened almond milk

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp dried sage leaves

Directions:

1. Peel and cut squash into cubes.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add peeled squash. Bring back to a boil and then let simmer for about 30 minutes or until tender. Drain and put squash into a large bowl.

3. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease an 8x8 baking dish or 4 individual oven-safe ramekins (placed on a baking sheet) with vegetable oil cooking spray. Set aside.

4. Add garlic and sea salt to squash. Using a fork, mash the squash while mixing it with the garlic and salt. Then, add 1/2 cup of almond milk and mash/mix the ingredients together. You can also use a hand mixer. Slowly add 1/4 cup more milk until you are happy with the consistency. Add dried sage and mix everything with a spatula or wooden spoon.

5. Pour the mashed quash into the greased baking dish or ramekins and smooth the top into an even layer. Top with a pinch of sea salt and the tiniest pinch of sage leaves. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes or until squash is warmed through a top is a bit set. Serve warm and if you would like, add some fresh, minced sage leaves on top.