Lions and Tigers and...Squash???

The Dilemma:

After Mark and I made it back from Ireland, we were SO excited to make a trip down to Iowa for the weekend to visit our two new little additions to the family - my nephew Reign, and niece Kaleigh! (Yep - they're adorable!)


While I was inside at the farm visiting with my sister and Mom, Mark headed outside to check out "the Great Pumpkin", and ended up striking a deal with my Uncle Kenny to take some butternut squash off his hands. I was pretty happy, thinking he might pick up a couple squash to take home with us. I obviously underestimated my husband: He picked up NINE decent-sized squash!!



Of course, we're REALLY big fans of butternut squash, so it wasn't even a question as to what we were going to do - bake them up and freeze them!

So I got started!

The Process:

I started out by washing all the squash, then drying it off and slicing it in two halfs lengthwise.


Next, I scooped out all the seeds.

I then filled my roasting pan, and a 9x13 pan about 1/3 full with water, and placed the squash face-down in the pan.

I then baked the squash at 350 for an hour.

After removing them from the oven, I let them cool for a bit before attempting to scoop out the innards and letting them cool even more. (Those puppies were HOT!!)

We ended up with a LOT of squash to freeze - probably around 20 cups! And now, we're SO ready for autumn meals! Between the corn and squash, bring on Thanksgiving!!