Cowabanga Calabaza!!

For the WH#2, two smallish orange squashes arrived that YJDKIY had no idea what they were, let alone what to do with them!

After a little research on Calabaza (mine obvi didn't look anything like that), or West Indian pumpkin, it seemed everyone wanted me to make soup. I decided it was new recipe time!

I was dreading the squash prep, but this one actually turned out to be better than pumpkin! The peel is more like a butternut, so it was easy with a vegetable peeler.

My chef's knife went right through it without much effort! (PS my hands are still orange!)

Diced into small pieces. Plus cauliflower florets.

Plus some green onions.

For the casserole part, I tried to stay as healthy as possible. Combine a container of plain Oikos (for this amount of squash and cauli, I really needed 2, but alas), with some lemon juice, water, a bit of cinnamon and chili powder, plus a lot of cumin, some garlic salt, and a little cilantro.

Then grate in just a bit of sharp cheddar and some egg white (< 1/4 c.)

I really wanted homemade, whole wheat bread crumbs for this, but time and grocery store constraints resulted in the use of stuffing.

Preheat the oven to 415 degrees and PAM a glass casserole dish. Layer the squash-cauli-green onion mix, followed by some stuffing, then spoon the creamy mix over the bread crumbs (if you have enough, save it for the second layer, if skimping like YJDKIY, use it all here). Another layer of veggies, then some stuffing and top with cheddar. About half this amount would have been good!

Bake for about an hour! YUM...this squash is much more bland than butternut or pumpkin and I thought it was going to be a flop. BUT, then I bit into the gooey middle goodness...a little sweet and salty and savory! Definitely on the keep list!