Butternut Squash & Kale Casserole
This butternut squash and kale casserole turns simple ingredients into nutritious comfort food that can be enjoyed either as a side dish or a stand-alone meal. A perfect warm and comforting dish for a cold fall or winter day or night!
Cooking With Squash
One of my favourite things about fall is cooking with squash. There’s something about it that wreaks of comfort food but it’s still highly nutritious and, depending on how it’s prepared, it doesn’t add to our expanding waistlines at this time of year either. That’s a major bonus during the season of turkey dinners and treats galore, and I will take it, thank you very much.
Of all the squash I’ve tried, I’m a sucker for good ol’ butternut. I love the taste and the rich texture of butternut squash and have found it to be the perfect candidate for soup while also faring well as a chopped veggie in pastas, stir fries, pot pies and, my personal favourite, as the star of this butternut squash and kale casserole.
I had some on hand the other day and figured it would make the perfect fall-inspired healthy dish to gobble up for lunch on Halloween before I took Evelyn out trick-or-treating for a bunch of candy and junk food that would never make it into our home on any other given day of the year. And my plan worked! Eve knew she could only go trick-or-treating if she ate all of her lunch first, and so she did, and without complaint, which means that this dish is kid-approved too. Well, except for the kale, in our case. See, Eve doesn’t like “leaves” in her food, so I pick out the large pieces so she’ll actually eat the squash. Pick your battles, amiright?
In either case, I was happy to see her down an entire bowl of squash before the subsequent Halloween tradition of kids ploughing themselves with junk food commenced. That’s about as good as it gets on Halloween so I was happy to let her have a few treats later on knowing that she had at least had a nutritious meal earlier in the day.
Butternut Squash with Real Parmesan
I adapted this recipe from the Oh She Glows cookbook. I had remembered trying a version of this recipe from the book a couple years ago and loving it, and I had some of the same ingredients on hand this time, so I decided to adapt the recipe to accommodate what I already had on hand as well as to accommodate my markedly non-vegan diet. No vegan “almond parmesan” here! No ma’am. Nothing but the real thing.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure the vegan parmesan is actually quite tasty. But I have a hard time calling anything made from almonds and pumpkin seeds “parmesan.” I’d rather use the real thing.
But before we jump ahead to the cheese (always my favourite part), let’s start at the beginning. First thing’s first, start by prepping your squash.
How to Prepare Butternut Squash and Kale Casserole
To prepare the butternut squash, first cut the top and bottom ends off to remove the stem and blossom ends. Slice lengthwise down the middle until you’re left with two halves. Scoop out the “guts” like you would with a pumpkin and add them to your compost. Peel the hard outer skin off of each half. Then chop the squash into roughly one-inch cubes and add to a large mixing bowl and set aside.
Once your squash is prepared, preheat the oven to 400ºF. Next, remove kale leaves from stems and roughly tear up the leaves into bite-sized pieces. Add the kale to the bowl with the cubed squash.
I also like to add walnuts to this dish to add another layer of texture and nutrition. Plus, I just so happened to have some whole walnuts from a neighbour’s tree sitting in a decorative bowl on our kitchen table along with pine cones and hazelnuts from our tree. (Because there’s nothing more useful than seasonal decor that you can eat too, and fall is prime time for such things!)
So I grabbed a few walnuts from the bowl and used my nutcracker to break them open and remove the pieces inside… Because it’s damn near impossible to get a whole walnut out of it’s shell and remove all the hard, inedible pieces without it breaking. It’s a tedious process, but very satisfying! However, if you don’t have a walnut tree (or a neighbour with one), you can save yourself the hassle and buy shelled walnuts from Costco or in bulk at your local grocery store.
Once you’ve measured out about ¾ cup of walnuts pieces, add them to your mixing bowl with the butternut squash and kale.
Finally, chop up a head of garlic (5-6 medium cloves) and add them to your mixing bowl.
Wait, did she just say a HEAD of garlic?! Oh yes she did!
Okay, if you’re not a huge garlic fan you can stick to adding just a couple cloves to your dish. But I personally cannot get enough garlic in my life, and I always find that recipes call for waaay less garlic than the average garlic-loving girl like me actually uses in her cooking. And I’ve never personally met anyone who doesn’t love garlic too. And for the record, no one has ever said any of my cooking was “too garlicky.” So I implore you to give it a go! Use a whole (medium-sized) head of garlic. Break it up into cloves, peel and roughly chop those cloves and add them to your mixing bowl.
Finally, drizzle a generous amount of olive oil over everything and mix all of the ingredients together. Then spoon it all into a casserole dish and cover with an oven-safe lid or tinfoil.
Place the butternut squash and kale casserole into your preheated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes. Then take it out of the oven, remove the lid or foil and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Add about ¾ cup of parmesan and mix it all together once more. Finally, scoop a generous helping onto a plate and eat it as a side dish alongside a protein like roast chicken or beef, or enjoy it in a bowl all on its own or add farmer’s sausage to make it into a hearty meal.
What about you? What’s your favourite type of squash and do you have a preferred way to prepare it? Let me know down below:)
Ingredients
- 1 large butternut squash
- 1 bunch of kale
- ¾ cup of walnuts, roughly chopped
- 5-6 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- ¾ cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Prepare the butternut squash. Remove ends, slice in half lengthwise, scoop out the "guts", peel the hard outer skin and chop into one-inch cubes. Set cubed squash aside in a large mixing bowl.
- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Remove kale leaves from stems, tear into bite-sized pieces and add to mixing bowl along with chopped walnuts and garlic. Drizzle with the olive oil and toss everything to coat and mix well.
- Spoon mixture into a casserole/baking dish and cover with a lid or tinfoil. Bake at 400ºF for 40-45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and remove lid/foil. Let cool for 5-10 minutes, then add in the parmesan and toss to mix well. Serve hot as a side dish or a stand-alone meal.
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Okay, I’m just gonna come out and say it: I’m a total sucker for pumpkin spice.
Call me #basic, but it’s the truth.
In fact, I’m all about everything fall: the colours, the coziness, the sweater weather, and yes, pumpkins and pumpkin spice. There’s just something comforting and nostalgic about it; Like grandma’s kitchen or the warm scent of pumpkin pie that wafts from the table at holiday dinners with family and friends.
What I’m NOT all about are the chemical preservatives and lab-created “natural flavours” in most store-bought and coffee shop pumpkin spice syrups and lattes. Not to mention, I don’t exactly love paying $5.00 or more for a single drink at a cafe.
This homemade pumpkin spice syrup, made with REAL pumpkin and spices and NO added preservatives solves all of these problems... It’s 100% natural and costs just pennies per batch. (And trust me when I say it rivals even the famed Starbucks #PSL when added to a homemade latte).
You definitely want to try this at home this pumpkin spice season. Er, I mean this fall 😉
Click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead for the full recipe or go to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/homemade-pumpkin-spice-syrup/
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#pumpkinspice #pslseason #pumpkinseason #homemade #fallvibes #flavorsoffall #homesteadkitchen
As much as I'm honestly kinda over the garden by this time of year and ready to tuck in indoors and rest for a while, I know that the effort I put into my garden in the fall will pay a huge return come next spring and summer when we're ready to plant and then harvest our next round of crops.
For one, fall is the best time to amend and enrich your soil, so adding compost or manure or some sort of organic matter is pretty crucial this time of year.
Also, you should always cover your soil, especially over the winter months when soil is more likely to erode and nutrients can get washed away. A cover crop or a thick layer of mulch is a good idea to help keep your soil protected and intact.
And of course, garlic should be planted in the fall before your first frost to ensure huge bulbs next summer. Us homesteaders always have to be thinking ahead a few seasons!
I'm taking you into our garden as we're tearing it down and planting out our garlic. I'll show you our fall gardening routine and I'll walk you through planting garlic so you can start growing it at home too! (It's honesty the easiest, most rewarding crop that we grow).
It's time for the grand finale in the garden this year as we tear it down and prep it for next spring. Will you join me for one last hurrah?
Link in bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://youtu.be/llNFlxxUV-I
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#fallgardening #garlic #healthysoil #homesteadersofinstagram #humanswhogrowfood
First batch of homemade candles for the season. It’s a cold, grey day and we’re about to light the woodstove for the first time this season too. Now I have some homemade spice-scented candles to go with the cozy vibe:)
I LOVE candles, but good ones are pretty expensive to buy. However, since I started making candles myself I haven’t bought a single one from the store and I’ve probably saved myself hundreds of dollars.
I make at least a batch or two (or three) of these scented soy wax candles every year around this time. I burn a bunch of them myself over the winter and we gift them for Christmas. I’ve even sold them for upwards of $15 a piece!
If you want an easy and rewarding DIY project to get into as we head into fall and winter, homemade candles is your answer.
Click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/homemade-soy-candles-essential-oils to learn how to make them yourself!
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#homemade #handmade #candles #diy
Sometimes I question why I do what I do. Why do I take on so much? Why do I bother making everything from scratch and growing a garden and preserving food when I could just as well buy it from the store and save myself a ton of time and effort?
Why am I working hard to build a business out of my passion when I could just as easily go to work for a pay check and just enjoy homesteading as a hobby on the side?
Why do I choose to do everything the hard way and see against the grain? Why not just go with the flow and hope for the best?
I can’t say for sure that I would have chosen to follow all the same paths that I’ve gone down over the past few years had I not become a mother, but what I 𝘥𝘰 know for sure is that my beautiful daughter is worth every ounce of hard work; every dollar I’ve invested in our future goals and dreams; every late night work fest and canning session; every seed planted and loaf of bread baked.
She’s worth it because I want to give her the best I can in life. I want her to eat good food and live a long and healthy life. I want to teach her how to be self-sufficient so that she has the skills she needs no matter what kind of world awaits her in the future. And I want to show her that anything is possible and any dream is worth pursuing, even if the work that it takes to achieve it is harder than following the herd and taking the road of least resistance.
This little human right here: this is my why. This girl and her goofy smile make everything worthwhile ❤️
What (or who?) is your why?
This growing season has seriously been the strangest I’ve experienced so far. Summer came so late we thought it wasn’t gonna come at all. Our greens and peas and spring crops produced for weeks longer then they normally do as we waited FOREVER for our tomatoes and peppers and summer crops to grow and ripen.
Now that we’re into October, we’re having a warm spell and the garden is acting like it’s summer! The tomatoes are all just starting to turn red, the cucumbers and zucchini are still givin’er, the pumpkins and squash are having another growth spurt, and now the green beans are starting on round two after about a month of dormancy!
We’re supposed to be going fishing tomorrow, and I’m wondering if the salmon are a little late this year too...
If there’s one thing 2020 has taught us all it’s that nothing is ever certain. So even though I’m sort of ready to be done with the garden already, I’m reminded of how fortunate we are to have such abundance come from our property and our surrounding environment; To have so much when so many have so little; To live in such a beautiful, bountiful corner of the world surrounded by a kind-hearted community that values sustainability and self-sufficiency like we do.
I love making plans for the future, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without some pretty serious planning. But sometimes you’ve just gotta go with the flow and trust that even when things don’t work out exactly as you’d imagined, they work out exactly as they should.
I wasn’t expecting to still be busy with the summer garden in October, but I have to say, this year, no matter how ready to be done with it I might feel some days, I’m more grateful than ever for everything we’ve been blessed with.
What are you feeling grateful for this year? It’s Thanksgiving next weekend here in Canada, so we’ll be talking a lot about gratefulness this week in our house 🙏
Can you imagine how bland and boring our food (and life) would be without spices??
Seriously! We take them for granted nowadays because they’re so readily available in our pantries and on grocery store shelves. But for thousands of years throughout history, spices were coveted, revered and hard to get. For around 1,500 years, spices travelled overland on camelback and horseback on the Silk Road from China to the west. And then, just over 500 years ago, explorers set out into the unknown to find a maritime trading route, and one of those explorers just so happened to stumble on the Americas along the way, essentially shaping history and the modern world as we know it.
But besides history and geography, the science behind spices is just as fascinating. Their culinary and medicinal uses have had a huge impact on the world and on the dishes we enjoy on a regular basis today. Oh, and did you know that, scientifically speaking, it’s actually possible to GROW even the most “exotic” spices at home, right here in North America??
I LOVE to geek out on this sort of stuff, so doing the research for the latest issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine was actually so much fun. (If you hadn’t guessed, this issue is all about spices!!)
I’d love to tell you so much more right here, but I’m a bit limited on space! However, you can read more about the fascinating story of spices, their culinary and medicinal uses, how to put them to use in your kitchen and yes, even how to grow them at home in the October issue.
So if you’re already subscribed, be sure to check your inbox for the latest issue (it came out yesterday). And if you’re NOT yet subscribed, then head on over and click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead to subscribe for FREE, and get the latest issue delivered straight to your inbox!
Wishing you a rich, flavourful fall season full of spice, pumpkin and otherwise;)
The weather this summer has been as unpredictable as 2020 itself. The cool, grey, wet start to the summer meant that our sun-loving crops got a slow start in the garden, and that’s led to an unprecedented number of green tomatoes at the end of the season.
You’ve probably heard me complaining about our green tomato “problem” all summer. We do, after all, have great fruit set and TONS of tomatoes on our plants. They’re just almost all green!!!
While I do love me some green tomatoes (green tomato relish is my FAVE and fermented green tomatoes and hot peppers are out of this world), I refuse to give up on luscious, red, homemade tomato sauce and salsa just yet. I refuse to accept that they’re all just green and that’s just the way it is! So I’m taking matters into my own hands and ripening them myself.
Luckily the process of ripening green tomatoes indoors is ridiculously easy, so if you’ve got more green tomatoes than you know what to do with too, or you’re just keen to get another batch of sauce on your pantry shelves, I’m sharing this simple trick with you today for ripening green tomatoes that has stood the test of time (for real... my great grandmother used to do this).
Link in bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/how-to-ripen-green-tomatoes-indoors/ to learn this simple hack!
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#greentomatoes #gardenhacks #tomatoharvest #homesteadhacks #puttinuptheharvest
Okay, I MAY have totally messed up a batch of blackberry jam today, but check out this carrot! Thing’s almost as thick as my forearm and as long as my face! (Is that an accurate way to measure things?)🤷🏻♀️
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September is such an odd time of year. It’s the time of year when we tend to find ourselves with a foot in two worlds: A transition season, if you will.
In the garden, some plants are dead or dying. There’s brown, crispy stems, dried pea pods bursting with next year’s seeds and a natural layer of mulch in the form of fallen leaves. But at the same time there’s still so much life. So much greenery and colour. So much of summer still left.
Indoors we’re busy putting up the harvest, stocking our shelves with jars of colourful food, baskets of cured onions and garlic, dried herbs hanging everywhere and crocks of fermenting foods on every countertop. But while we’re still dealing with the summer bounty, fall has begun, which means we’re back to schedules and routines and, for those of us with kids, school.
But this year our return to our “normal” fall routines is anything but. For many families, there is no return to school. Not in the traditional sense anyway. Instead, more families than ever before have found themselves educating their children at home for the first time, whether by force or by choice. And trying to balance all of the usual September tasks with navigating full-time homeschooling can feel daunting, to say the least.
I know we can all use as much help and expert advice as we can get at this time, so I’m honoured to have Ginny Aaron, a full-time homeschooling, homesteading mom of three sharing her wisdom on the blog this week. She’s generously shared her best tips for incorporating homeschooling with your existing routine and finding the teachable moments in the every day so that you don’t need to uproot your life or find another 7 hours in your day to recreate a classroom environment at home.
I just love Ginny’s approach to homeschooling and if you’re anything like me, I think you will too. You can check out her full post by clicking the link in my bio or go to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/homeschooling-on-the-homestead/
It’s also Ginny's first time guest posting so be sure to leave a comment while you’re there and let us know what school looks like for your family this year.
Link in bio @thehouseandhomestead
I’ve been feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders lately. Between balancing work and the garden and all of the canning and preserving tasks this time of year, I’ve already got enough on my plate. Add a string of social commitments, back-to-school and extracurricular activities, and I’m definitely feeling the pressure, as I usually do this time of year.
But lump on a pandemic, worsening political tensions, division and civil unrest, intensifying environmental disasters (we’re currently socked in with smoke from the California wildfires), and it all just becomes too much to bear some days.
I know I’m far from the only one who’s feeling this way. And yet, we all have to just keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep going even when we’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed and burnt out. Even when the present is frightening and the future is uncertain.
I’ve developed some strategies over the past few years that have helped me keep moving forward and get things done even when I’m feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, and I want to share them with others who need help coping with stress and overwhelm right now too.
You can check out my list of 10 tips for managing stress and overwhelm on the homestead (and in life!) by clicking the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead and then clicking the link to the full blog post at the top.
You can also grab my free time management planner by clicking the link in my bio and then clicking on “Free Resource Library,” (find it under “Homesteading & Self-Sufficiency Resources” in the library).
No matter what you’re struggling with right now, I hope some of these tips help keep you navigate these extra stressful times and stay focused and moving forward with your to-do list, as well as with your big goals and dreams. But most of all, I hope it reminds you that if you are struggling and feeling overwhelmed right now, you’re not alone.
Link in bio @thehouseandhomestead to read more.
I don’t think I have a jar big enough for this pickling cucumber 🥒
What do you do with the huge pickling cukes that inevitably get missed in the garden??
Please leave suggestions below! I’ve got two of ‘em! 😂
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#humanswhogrowfood #homesteadersofinstagram #mypickleisbiggerthanyours
Late summer is truly the time of abundance (and by far the busiest time of year for us).
We’ve got so much food that’s ripe for the picking in our own garden, plus baskets full of produce that we purchase locally when it’s in season and preserve for the winter.
Between harvesting and preserving (and trying my best to document it all for you along the way), there’s little time for much else in August.
We’re busy sweating in the garden and the kitchen, working around the clock to preserve all of the fruits (and vegetables) of summer so that come winter we hunker down and relax knowing we’ve got a pantry full of food to sustain us.
While there have been more times than I like to admit when I’ve asked myself why we do this when we could be at the beach or floating down the river like everyone else, come winter I am ALWAYS grateful for the time and energy we invested in the spring, summer and fall to grow and preserve all of the food that lines our pantry shelves.
With everything that 2020 has brought so far (and more uncertainty to come), this year I’m feeling grateful even in the thick of it; Even while I’m sweating and pulling late night canning sessions and constantly scraping dirt out from under my nails. This year it’s more apparent than ever how much growing and preserving our own food is worth the time and effort that it takes.
If you feel the same way and you’re looking to get even better at gardening, preserving and homesteading in general, or maybe you’re finally ready to start living a more sustainable lifestyle where YOU have control over your food supply, I highly encourage you to check out the Gardening & Sustainable Living Bundle (link in bio @thehouseandhomestead). It’s packed with almost $600 worth of resources designed to help you take control of your food security and live a more self-sufficient life, and it’s on sale today only for just $19.99!
If you ask me, we would all be wise to invest in our own food security as we head into fall and winter 2020, so click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead to grab your bundle now. The sale ends tonight at midnight so don’t wait!!
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