Squash Overload

Ah, I am so glad the weekend is here, it’s been an insane week at work! The last two days were especially insane with after hours calls, overtime, and being pulled in 14 different directions at once. I’m not complaining … that much, I’m glad things are so busy for the company and time does fly at work. I just have little energy and patience left at the end of the day, so my meals have been pretty simple this week, lots of smoothies and leftovers. And I’m still working through the huge banana squash I cut into last weekend!

This squash could easily feed a small army, I’ve been using it in so many recipes this week and still not tired of it. On Thursday, I chopped up the last of the squash and stir fried the chunks with a little coconut oil, salt, and pepper.

And threw together this Lemon Tahini Dressing recipe in the Vitamix.

And mixed the dressing with the cooked squash and fresh spinach for another simple and fast dinner.

The creamy and tangy tahini dressing was perfect with the slightly sweet squash, I felt more like I was eating a creamy and decadent mac and cheese dish instead of squash. And the meal came out great considering I had few fresh ingredients left in the kitchen to work with, the leftovers worked great for lunch the next day too.

Last night I was in no mood to cook at home and the kitchen was pretty empty, so hubby and I stepped out to The Chef’s Table for dinner. It’s one of our favorite places because it’s small and casual with a simple, rotating menu where the chef pretty much creates what he feels like at the bar, but there’s rarely any vegan-friendly options on the menu. We keep going back because the chef always throws together wonderful, off-menu vegan creations for me. Last nights dinner started with a simple walnut vinaigrette salad.

And a very creative butternut squash pasta for my main dish.

I adored it because it was the perfect amount of pasta, not too much, and it was coated in a savory and warm butternut squash puree with seasoned chunks of squash. Plus the pasta was cooked perfectly, something I can rarely do, or would even attempt to, at home. So I love the occasional pasta splurge when eating out.

Since I’m on call for work this weekend, I plan to catch up on housework, get in a run or two, and maybe see a movie. And a lot of relaxing too!