Quinoa + Butternut Squash

Earlier this week one of the women in my office said that she wanted to try eating vegetarian for a while. The problem, apparently, is that she doesn’t actually like most veggies or any grain that’s not white rice. It sort of begs the question as to why she wants to eat veggie, but I wasn’t about to ask!

Anyway, at some point during the course of the conversation, I somehow volunteered to fix a few veggie dishes that she would like. It sort of took on the nature of a challenge, to use some non-traditional ingredients to make healthy, and yet tasty veggie dishes.

So here’s the first dish that I’ll be presenting tomorrow: Quinoa & Butternut Squash in Peanut Sauce.

The recipe is dead simple and refrigerates well for leftovers.

1 cup quinoa
1 T olive oil
1 small butternut squash, seeded and cubed (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup coconut milk
4 T natural peanut butter
2 T hot pepper sauce
salt to taste

Toss the butternut cubes in olive oil and roast in a 400 degree oven until tender, about 40 mins.

While the squash is cooking, prepare the quinoa as directed on the package using 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water.

In the meanwhile, using a small blender or whisk, mix the peanut butter, coconut butter, pepper sauce until thick and creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste.

When quinoa is done, remove from heat and fluff with a fork, then toss with about 3/4 of the sauce.

Divide the quinoa into 4 portions, top with equal amounts of butternut squash, and drizzle the remaining sauce over the top.

Nutritional info: 357 calories, 18g fat, 38g carbs, 3.3g fiber, 10g protein. (You can cut the fat a little by using light coconut milk.)