Erica is entering the world of recipe writing...

The next few months will be filled with sewing and pillow making so I won't have regular weekly crafts. Instead, I will share a few of my favorite recipes. But...here's the deal... I don't follow recipes (in my defense, nothing ever really turns out nasty). Since I don't follow recipes, I don't know how good I'll be at writing them. I don't measure ingredients and I add random things as I go (my favorites are flax seed and cilantro). When I find a recipe online, I follow it halfway and then I cook the rest according to whatever sounds good in my head.

Other times, I'll only find a picture of something and try to cook it. That's how this recipe came about. I saw this on barre3's Facebook page.

It looked amazing and I wanted to eat it. But the link didn't work. I replicated it using the picture as a guide and it turned out great. (I served it to Lacey & Wes and they both liked it so its not just me saying it was delicious). Here's what I did...

Stuffed butternut squash-

     Ingredients: 1 butternut squash (makes 4 servings)
                        3 tablespoons of butter
                        1 tube of ground turkey
                        a spattering of fresh herbs (I'm using marjoram and cilantro)
                        a handful of mushrooms diced
                        2 stalks of celery diced
                        tiny bit of minced garlic
                        dash of  salt & pepper
                        1 cup of Italian white cheese (I'm using mozzarella and fontina)

1. Cut your butternut squash as shown and then hollow it out. (This could cause you to lose some fingers so be careful!)

I used a spoon and butter knife to scrape about three quarters of the meat out. (Its good to leave some of the meat in the squash) The squash pieces should look like 4 little bowls.

Then cut the meat into small cubes.

2. Sautee the garlic, herbs, celery and mushrooms together. Set aside. Then, sautee the squash and turkey; cook until about almost done. Mix the vegetable mixture in with the turkey and season with as much salt and pepper as desired.

3. Melt your butter & spread on the hollowed out squash and place on a cookie/baking sheet.

4. Spoon the turkey mixture back into the squash. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

5. Sprinkle a generous amount of cheese on top and bake another 5 minutes-just long enough to let the cheese melt.

6.Remove from oven and cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Delicious!! And healthy : )