Eat Seasonally: Butternut Squash, Pumpkin & Quinoa

Happy, happy Friday! AND happy, happy birthday to my father in law!

Since yesterday I was talking about recipes that I haven’t made in awhile, today I figured I’d share with you a new recipe that I was inspired by. I love trying new grains, but tend to go back and stick to my favorites which are quinoa and brown rice. They are two of the most nutritious grains out there.

I have shared many recipes with quinoa, like sweet quinoa for breakfast. I love quinoa because of it’s nutritional profile (AND TASTE, obviously) high in manganese as well as a good source of magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus, and it’s a complete protein. (read more about it’s benefits here.)

Plus, what I also love about it is that it was in my pantry and goes with my rule of use what you have available to you!

Now that’s it’s fall, gone are the fresh berries, but in are the abundance of squashes. I try to eat seasonal as much as I possibly can, so I’m embracing the squashes.

This seasonal recipe can be eaten as a main dish or a side dish or even a snack with it’s sweet taste. The addition of dijon mustard certainly makes this dish unique and deepens the flavor!

I’ve been getting lots of recipe inspiration from Emily lately. She is a master at cooking seasonally and healthy and making her dishes look amazing. How could I not want to make them? Emily originally made Butternut Squash and Cranberry Maple Millet. I made a bunch of switches to the dish because of what I had on hand. Here’s what I came up with.

Butternut Squash, Pumpkin & Quinoa

ingredients

1 3/4 cup quinoa
3.5 cups water
1 large butternut squash, peeled and cubed (or cheat and buy a pre-cubed package)
1/3 cup pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
sea salt

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Toss cubed butternut squash with 1-2 tbsp olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes in the oven. Once the squash has only 20 minutes remaining, in a large pot, cook your quinoa in 3.5 cups of water. Cover the pot and bring it to a boil, stir and then reduce to a simmer for 10-12 minutes until the white spiral comes out of each seed. Shut the flame.

In a small bowl combine olive oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and dijon mustard. Stir well to combine. When the squash is done baking, take out from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Add pepitas and dressing to pot of quinoa and stir well. Lastly add squash to the pot and stir to combine. Serve warm or cold.