Baked Butternut Squash

                                  

Butternut Squash

After taking the summer off, I am now back to baking and cooking like crazy.  One side dish that I made the other day was Butternut squash, and it is now my new favorite!  I honestly can say that I haven't had squash since I was very little, and was skeptical, thinking that I would hate it.  I was so wrong.  If you haven't eaten this squash (I don't know if other types taste similar or not), you must try it.  The flesh is similar in texture and taste to a sweet potato.  This is super easy to make, so if you wander down the produce isle and sometimes wonder if you should pick up a winter squash for a try - you should.  All you do for this recipe is to cut the squash in half, put it on a rimmed baking sheet (I actually used a Pyrex dish) that has about 1/4 inch of water in it, and bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes.  At 30 minutes in, I brushed the top with melted butter, sprinked on some brown sugar, and baked for the remaining time.  This particular squash had to be in 10 minutes or so longer than the recipe called for, because when I first took it out, the flesh wasn't tender enough.  Part of the squash didn't get the brown sugar on it, and the taste was still great - good enough that next time I'll try it with just a little butter and salt.