Before you ask, I will tell you: I am not talking about regular Sunday morning potato hash browns. No way potatay. When we change our diets, especially towards a plant based direction, certain things tend to creep in as staples. These things often include bread, pasta and potatoes. Why? Well, they satisfy that carb craving, they are sweet and starchy and man, oh, man are they filling.
I am not into pushing you towards plant-based eating, towards smoothie drinking, towards eating low GI, towards eating more raw, towards cooking from scratch, or knowing where your food comes from as a way to help you support the environment, help you save money, or help save animals. Though for better or worse, all of those things may happen. I introduce you to these new ways of eating to help you get healthier. Cutting down on meat and cheese in favour of processed soy foods, bread and potatoes is not going to make you healthier. Simple as that.
The thing about potatoes is not really that the potato all on its own is that bad. The problem is that it is very high on the glycemic index, which means it will spike our blood sugar, we also tend to peel and throw away the most mineral rich part. Additionally, we eat potatoes fried, deep fried, coated in salt and liquid sugar (read: ketchup), baked and slathered in sour cream, coated in melted cheese curds…. need I go on?
For this reason we are scrapping the potatenicks in favour of other options. You know I love a good sweet potato, but when I had some baked acorn squash kicking it leftover style, I thought, Hey! Who says a hash brown has to be made of potato?
I scooped this goodness out of it’s acorn squash shell, sauteed up some onions, cooked a little squash in with it, added a sprinkle of salt and hello healthy party in the tummy.
Baking squash is easy. Preheat oven to 400 and cut the little guy down the centre. Remove the seeds, lightly rub with olive oil and place open side down on parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake for about 45 mins or until flesh of squash is tender (put a fork in it to test it’s softness).
Scoop out the flesh of the squash and cut into 1 inch cubes.
Saute onion in olive oil until translucent and then throw in the squash. If things get sticky, add a little water to keep it clean.
Add sea salt and cayenne to taste and savour the savoury goodness!
Prep Time:10 minutes
Cook Time:50 minutes
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Hey Meghan… I’m a bit confused. I see that the 5 Days Vegan starts on the 21st but the tutorial menus start on menu. Is the 21st when we start prepping or when we start eating vegan?
Sounds yummy! I was once chatting with a farmer I bought vegetables from, and he told me that a great way to bake a squash is to just prick it a few times and bake it whole. It sort of steams itself from the inside, and it turns out really tender and moist. You just cut it in half and scoop out the seeds once it’s done. Ever tried that?
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Great idea for leftover squash!
Yum, this is a great idea! I love the blog and website, keep up the good work.
What an awesome idea! I’ll be making this over the weekend.
Hey Meghan… I’m a bit confused. I see that the 5 Days Vegan starts on the 21st but the tutorial menus start on menu. Is the 21st when we start prepping or when we start eating vegan?
Sounds yummy! I was once chatting with a farmer I bought vegetables from, and he told me that a great way to bake a squash is to just prick it a few times and bake it whole. It sort of steams itself from the inside, and it turns out really tender and moist. You just cut it in half and scoop out the seeds once it’s done. Ever tried that?
Thanks Meghan, can’t wait!