Fall into Butternut Squash

The folks at Marzetti were kind enough to send me a coupon good for a bottle of their Simply Dressed salad dressing.  I'm typically a make your own kinda gal.  But, free is free.  And, I loved the idea that these weren't loaded with preservatives like most of them.  We headed to the grocery on the way home from work to figure out what kind of dressing appealed to us.  Then, I'd figure out a recipe.  I loved the selection:  Greek Feta, Blue Cheese, Ginger Sesame, Champagne, Cole Slaw, Pomegranate, Strawberry Balsamic, Caesar and Balsamic.  What to choose?  Ah, the manager's special was Ginger Sesame for 99 cents.  The others were $3.99.  Ok, now we'll buy two.  I've always been a fan of Marzetti's Blue Cheese dressing so that was the other choice.  Homeward.


Let me interrupt and tell you what happened on the way home...  As we go into our car, Connie asked if I'd heard the woman yelling at the bank kitty-corner across the street.  No, I hadn't but I did see a gal walloping the heck out of a car with her purse.  I pulled out my phone to call 911 just as the guy dragged the gal into the car.  They headed out of the bank parking lot and went north.  We followed and managed to get the license plate.  The car stopped at the first stop sign but ignored the second.  At that point, the gal tried to open the passenger door.  Then, the car turned down a side street.  Oops, a cul de sac.  The car roared into a driveway and the gal bailed out.  He then hit her with the car.  Not hard enough to knock her down but hard enough to jostle her.  He pulled out of the driveway and headed east toward a major road.  By this time I'd given the operator all the info - license plate, address where she was dropped off and direction the vehicle was heading.  We headed home - WHEW!


Well, after all that excitement it was time to fix dinner.  I saw a butternut squash on the counter and my mind went to the roasted butternut squash and sweet potatoes with blue cheese.  How about doing a version of that?  Super simple.


What did we think?  Amazing.  And so incredibly easy.  I may make it again for dinner tonight.  The dressing was perfect with the nuts and butternut squash.  It was much thinner than the homemade blue cheese dressing that I make which meant that it coated everything beautifully.  The flavors played really well together too. 


Fall into Butternut Squash


Ingredients:


one small butternut squash
1/3 - 1/2 c chopped pecans
1 t olive oil
1-2 T Marzetti's Simply Dressed Blue Cheese Dressing


Directions: 

Cut a couple of slits in the squash to allow the steam to escape.  Put it in the microwave for about three minutes.  Once the squash comes out of the microwave, allow it to cool a few minutes before handling it.  I love the photo of the stuff that escaped through the slits!

While it's cooling, chop the pecans and toast them in a small skillet in the olive oil.  Peel, seed and chop the squash. 

Toss it with the pecans

and blue cheese dressing. 

Serve.

Marzetti's Simply Dressed Blue Cheese Dressing was provided to me as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemakers Program.