Butternut squash with quinoa, feta, and basil

I’m a horrible wife.

I got back from another trip to Albuquerque and called Nick to let him know I was on my way home from the airport.  He said he had something for dinner.  I was skeptical.

We’ve figured some things out after 10+ years.  I cook, he does the dishes.  I clean the kitchen, he takes on the garbage.  He was upsetting the natural order of things! And I was tired……failing to be thankful that I wasn’t going to have to make dinner.  See, I’m a bad wife.

Fast forward 30 minutes when I walk in the door and smell the most amazing meal I’ve ever smelled!  I immediately apologize and let him know the house smells delicious.  He shrugs and says, “mostly garlic.”  Then he hands me this plate:

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was so hungry, all I could do was take an instagram picture.

Butternut Squash and Quinoa adapted from Lorraine Pascale

Ingredients

1 butternut squash
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
1 head of garlic, unpeeled with the top sliced off
1 cup uncooked quinoa + liquid required to cook it
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup crumbled feta (he eye balled it, said it might be less)
1 large squeeze of honey
1 bunch of fresh basil
(this recipe actually called for a lot of other ingredients….but we didn’t have them…..so he either left it out or tried to substitute – i.e. the recipe called for red peppers and we didn’t have any, and tomatoes are red)

1.  Preheat the oven to 400F
2. Place the squash cut side up in a baking dish, drizzle with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Put the garlic on the tray next to the squash and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
3.  While the squash is baking, make the quinoa according to the instructions on the packet then remove from the heat and leave to cool in the pan.  We use chicken broth 🙂
4.  Take the squash out of the oven and set aside the garlic. Put the tray back in the oven for 30 minutes, or until the squash is soft.
5.  Add feta, tomatoes, basil, and honey to the quinoa. Remove about 3/4 of the garlic flesh from the skins and add to the mix, stirring it all together. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6.  Place the squash on plates and divide the quinoa mix among the squashes. Serve and enjoy!

Nick also made some spinach and chicken because he was worried the squash wouldn’t be enough. But 1/2 a squash plus the quinoa was perfect!

FYI, the recipe was originally published in the UK, so the recipe was in celsius and grams.  So Nick earned double bonus points for having to convert (although I have a sneaking suspicion that no converting was done on the grams…..).  Either way, I have learned to not be so skeptical when it comes to Nick’s cooking.  He whipped up a mean butternut squash!

And in case you’re wondering….we signed up for a CSA basket and got a butternut squash as part of our basket this week.  But after being introduced to butternut squash, I imagine we may be adding it to our repertoire!