Vegan stuffed pattypan squash
There are a lot of things I love about my husband.
He takes such great care of Liv and myself (just when I thought I couldn’t be crazier about him, he became a daddy), works extremely hard, looks verrrrryyyy nice in a flight suit…
and so many other things that I could go on and on about (but I’m trying to be concise and it’s early in the morning for mush).
Also on the list: he’s not a picky eater.
He doesn’t give me the side eye when the dinner plate I hand him consists 100% of veggies, no meat.
(He did say the squash looked like something out of Super Mario Brothers)
When it comes to our farm box, I’m staying pretty much within the produce we know and love, but always want to throw at least one thing I’m less comfortable with or have never seen. It’s always a good thing to expand food horizons, yes?
Last week was the acorn squash, which ended up being a huge success, and this week: pattypan squash.
I’d experimented with it a couple of times at 105degrees, but it was only for chopping up like yellow squash and enjoying the same way. I knew there had to be something different or better I could do with it. Thanks to your awesome suggestions, I stuffed it with some goodness.
Lentils, garlic, goat cheese and spices to be exact.
(The extras made an awesome salad to take to work for lunch tomorrow)
First, I had to prep the squash and got the method from this recipe.
Boiled the squash in an inch of water, covered, for about 10 minutes
then cut the “tops off”
and scooped the inside out user a melon baller, reserving the squashy flesh.
(I got a little overzealous with the one on the right)
Next, I sautéed some lentils (pre-cooked kind from TJs) in olive oil, and added the reserved squash, a little oregano, thyme and garlic. I removed enough for Liv to have for tonight’s dinner and lunch tomorrow (the girl loves squash and lentils) and after her servings were taken out, I added sea salt, more garlic and some goat cheese. Stuffed the squashes, crumbled more goat cheese on top, and baked for 10 minutes at 350.
It was especially delicious with a massaged kale salad, especially since the greens from the farm were so fresh and crispy. A lovely meal, but I do have to say it wasn’t as satisfying as I anticipated. The squash was pretty sizable, but I ended up having a Larabar about an hour later….. oh, and a glass of Malbec 😉
Surprisingly, my meat and potatoes lovin’ man was happy and satisfied for the rest of the night (often before bed we’ll have a snack, but last night I was alone in my snackage).
Well, I’m off to work. No Zumba today, but I have a kettlebells training I’m pretty stoked about.
Hope it’s beautiful where you are <3
xoxo
Gina
Is there a picky eater in your household? Do you and your significant other/roomie/cat eat the same way? The Pilot and I love many of the same, and many different things, but usually it’s pretty easy to find things we both like. I look back at the time when I used to make two totally different meals for us (it took some extra time, but I love to cook), but have learned over time how to make meals that we’ll both enjoy.
If you’re following the October Calendar, today is the beach arm burner + 2-3 rounds of Tabata intervals. Leave a comment or tweet it up to let me know how it goes!
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Thank you SO much for your incredible comments and kind words on yesterday’s post. As always, your comments warmed my heart and I’m so fortunate to be able to write this blog. xoxo
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If I attempt to serve a meal without some kind of meat, he looks at me like I forgot to put pants on that day! He will usually try everything I make, so long as it has protein (tofu not included). If I want to have a vegetarian night, I will just make something we both can enjoy and add some protein to his dish! Gotta love our guys for at least trying a bite! 🙂 Love your site!
You’re very lucky! My boyfriend gives me the eye-roll on Meatless Wednesdays, but still usually ends up devouring whatever I’ve cooked 😛
I have the same appreciation for my husband. Sure I could load our food down with butter, cream and cheese and I’m sure it would be just decadent, but 99% of the time I’m trying to keep things healthy yet satisfying. Unfortunately that doesn’t come without a few flops. Thankfully he never complains, and still usually cleans his plate haha!
Yay for kettlebells! It’s one of my favorite classes. If you find yourself in the downtown area you should check out one of the classes at O2 Modern Fitness – so good!
My dad and sis are unbelievably picky. It’s worse because I live with my parents, and while I try to eat healthy, my mom attempts if I cook, but my dad won’t even eat it if it looks questionable. And by questionable, I mean, from the earth. I worry for him, but he makes his own decision.
My man is a little weirded out if a meal doesn’t have meat but he’s game every so once in awhile. The next night of course, he has to grill to feel manly again. 🙂
I’m pretty lucky, my boyfriend will try anything once. And loves to eat vegetables.
I had an old boyfriend who refused to eat most anything. He wouldn’t even think of eating Indian food or anything of that sort. It was pre-tty annoying.
Yum! I think anytime I make something new and exciting, the novelty distracts my fiance from the absence of meat. I don’t know how excited I could get him about the kale salad though – maybe that’s TOO exciting. 🙂
That meal looks amazing! Such a veggie packed dinner! I need to up my veggie intake so seeing meals like this is great inspiration!
That looks amazing! My husband would have nicely eaten the meal, and then found something in the freezer he could throw in the microwave for his second course. Ha! He says meals don’t count unless they have meat.
So, I typically eat meat for dinner with him, but stick to other forms of protein for lunch and breakfast.
I am 31 weeks pregnant and I can’t wait until I get to cook my daughter some of my favorite veggie combos. I already received the Baby Bullet as a gift! Thanks for all of the wonderful suggestions. 🙂
Oh, may I have your husband?? Mine is ridiculously picky. He makes 10 year olds seem adventurous. He claims that he doesn’t like any vegetables, but I think a lot of his pickiness stems from stubbornness. His parents allowed him to grow up that way so he refuses to change. (When we eat with his parents, his mother often cooks him an entirely different meal!) He also prefers processed, box foods to a homemade version of the same thing. And practically refuses to eat meat besides beef. I will admit, it’s caused several fights in our household. After 3 years of marriage I’m slowly learning to adjust my cooking to make us both happy. I often make single servings of veggies for me, and we have fruit salad almost every night because he does love fruit. And on rare occasions I’ve been know to purée spinach and sneak it in the sauce for our pasta. 🙂 I love my husband dearly, but I don’t love his eating habits.
I’m so happy to say that my family eats whatever! We are always willing to try anything. I especially love that my boyfriend is the same way, and never freaks out about my eats – he just joins me!
My fiance is the least picky eater I know. Since we’ve been together, he’s also been much more willing to try new things (and will occasionally suggest salads or fully veg dinners without any prompting!) I love that I can pretty much throw anything together and he’ll be happy with it—especially if the meals ends with chocolate ; )
This reminds me of my dinner a few days ago, I made stuffed zucchinis with ground turkey in them, they were delicious but I had to eat like 5 to feel satisfied.
I am definitely the picky one! Ha. My husband will eat absolutely anything as long as it isn’t spoiled, seriously. He also recognizes the health benefits of a vegetarian diet (I’ve been veggie for seven years), so he gives zero grief over meatless meals. I would say I’m lucky, but frankly if he expected meat or a different style of cooking, then he could do his own damn meal prep, so I guess it makes him the lucky one. 😉
My fiance is not picky at all, and that’s one of the reasons I love him! The other thing is that he (like me) doesn’t mind having the same dinners all the time. While I do like to switch it up here and there, I have about 5-7 go-to dinner recipes that I make time and time again, and I like it that way. I know I like it, I know exactly how to cook it and I know what ingredients I need when I go to the store.
Most annoying thing about an ex-boyfriends of mine: he was a picky eater. I could not stand it!!! Seriously, who doesn’t like eggs!? Not to mention anything green… Drove me absolutely crazy, especially since I will literally eat anything put in front of me. Food? Sounds good to me!
Coming to eat with my parents for dinner and giving the laundry list of what foods that were NOT acceptable…embarassing.
My boyfriend is the best, he will always eat what I make and he loves veggies!
My husband is the same way.. He really doesn’t care what I feed him! I consider myself lucky since a co-worker is also vegetarian and has to cook two completely different meals each night for her husband and kids.. I will cook him stuff I don’t eat sometimes, but to have to do that every meal would drive me bananas (and make the husband cook instead lol)
Great looking meal and my hubs used to be much pickier but in the last 5 to 10 years pretty much he’ll eat anything I make. He may not love love love it, but he’ll eat it. He realizes it’s part of the territory that I experiment and at least he gives me his honest feedback. As a bonus, my 5 year old has grown up with a rotating supply of everything from kale to browned butter buttercream and there’s nothing in between that she won’t eat and I am grateful not to have a picky kid! I see some mothers struggle so badly even with like…baby carrots for their kids!
My hubby is EXTREMELY picky. Anything that looks like veggies he won’t eat. I’m a very clean eater so I put veggies in everything. I refuse to make 2 meals so I do a lot of grating veggies so they don’t look like veggies. In my house, if you don’t like what’s cooked, you can make your own…..so I usually have lots left over for the next day! 🙂
My boyfriend and I live together, and unfortunately there are very few dinner options that we will both enjoy. I’m a vegetarian and he’s a meat eater for starters, but to make things more difficult, he can’t stand anything the least bit spicy and I love spice, plus he is pretty picky on top of that, so some of the more adventurous meatless things I’ll cook, he isn’t always open to trying. It’s certainly challenging!
It must be nice that he’s so open to what you want to make! The boyfriend and I have pretty similar tastes, but he does raise an eyebrow if I make something meatless. If I’m going to, I try to make a big meatless pasta or rice dish so it seems a little heartier.
My man eats whatever I put in front of him, even if he gives it a weird look he usually follows up by digging in. Hah 🙂
That is so awesome that your husband is not picky and open to trying new things. I’ve never dated a man who would be satisfied with a dinner consisting of only vegetables…sighh…!
My husband is VERY picky–he still eats like an 8 year old from the 90s. 😀 Thankfully though he is getting better (that’s the magic of time!) and will generally have a bite of anything I make including healthy stuff. I generally find the middle ground for us on the main dish and go a little more nutzo on the sides. He does agree though that we are raising our kids to eat and like vegetables!
thankful my boyfriend and I like basically the same things, which is shocking because i’m queen of weird and random food combinations
Hi Gina! Slightly off topic (but since you mentioned Zumba) can you recommend any Zumba DVD’s?
i have the really old ones and LOVE them (the advanced one is great), but just got the exhilarate set- i’ll blog about it after i try it!
My husband will eat whatever I make which is awesome! He isn’t a fan of spaghetti squash but for dinner one night when he was working late I fixed it for myself with veggies and marinara. SO GOOD! Def my new favorite. Also, checking in for Tabata and the arm burner today! My arms are going to be sore tomorrow fo sho
i’m still in college, but i have to say i feel like a snob when i meet a boy who doesn’t go to the gym regularly or doesn’t eat that well! i know it’s just their age and what not, and i don’t have a super strict workout regime or diet, but i’m trying to work on appreciating boys for who they are even if they don’t have the same health standards as me!
My fiance could be better, could be worse. I’m probably more to blame for the nights I cook 2 versions of something, just because it’s so satisfying to make something he raves about. If I only cooked one dish, I’m sure he’d eat it without complaint. I just would get the happy grunts that I love so much. Haha. He works late a lot, so I still get plenty of nights to make super weird combos he’d never go for.
hahah i love that.
Luckily I don’t have to deal with any picky eaters right now, but I hear my mom complain all the time about how my dad won’t eat any of her healthy cooking, and that he’ll just ignore what she packs him and go out and buy something for lunch if he doesn’t like what she gave him. Men…
Being the only vegetarian in a family of five, I get a lot of stink eye over here if I forgo the meat. The dish looks so appetizing I’m going to be on a mission to find some this weekend. Yum!
Your tabata Thursday workouts are bey-ond.awesome. They are so effective & fun! You really get me huffin n’ puffin, & spice up my workouts:).
Do you plan on posting any more of them?
Thank you so much for all the work & effort you put into your blog Gina. It , & you, are fabulous<3
Xxx
i’m so glad you like them! yes, i’ll make a new one for next week 🙂
I am actually the one that is the picky eater. It came from growing up with almost no home cooked meals.So its hard to get my taste buds back. Hubby actually isn’t that bad, but he has had a life of home cooked meals with his mother experimenting.
So, its usually me that try to stay on the straight and narrow. But I am slowly expanding!
My sister is SUCH a picky eater (also a very skinny girl, weighed less than I do even when she was fully pregnant – that was so good for my ego). She likes cheese and is easily put off her food. For example, if someone starts talking about .. nappies, or if someone farts, she stops eating. Basically, when she visits I make macaroni cheese, pizza, spaghetti and other things that involve cheese and carbs.
My husband is the pickiest eater I’ve ever met! His pickiness is more of a food phobia. The only kind of salad he will eat is lettuce. No “funny looking” meat, no “funny looking” vegetables, nothing that gives him “a funny feeling” when he is faced with it. No pork. No tomatoes. No mushrooms. No spinach. No whole grains etcetcetcetc There are more things on the list of things he won’t eat than on the list that he will. But he sloooowllyyy developing. The first time he tried a bite of my sushi I nearly cried because I was so proud of him. The first time he tried a bit of egg I stared at him, completely shocked for 5 minutes (I still can’t believe he did that). I will devour ANYTHING. He and I eat very differently. I am all low carb, as natural as possible (only way to keep my sweet tooth out of the driver’s seat) and he is all “chips! hot dogs! frozen pizza!”. His taste buds are so used to fast food and processed everything that anything that tastes like it should is “going to make him sick”. He can’t cook, but we are working on that (he feels nauseas at the smell of raw meat). My next plan is to get him to at least ADMIT that he does have a food phobia and then go from there. Luckily, he has an incredible metabolism and needs to eat a TON of calories to keep his weight up so weight isn’t an issue (his doctor told him to constantly eat. Lucky bastard).
Man o Man I love squash! I have yet to meet a variety I dislike, and I need to try this kind!
Liv must have the healthiest most nutritious diet of any little one her age, I love it!
Since I am a vegetarian my two pet bunnies and I eat VERY similar. They like just about everything I eat, even if they aren’t suppose to.
And my dear Texas Fiance will eat what ever I make, even when it’s my “crazy californian hippy food”. I am very thankful that he eats and usually enjoys it! =)
My hubs is ridiculously picky! He won’t eat any fruit or vege! After reading these posts Glad I’m not the only one haha! My girls eat anything. It is awesome!
I love all those things about phil too….except I’ve never seen him in a filght suit! We became parents a month ago after a particularly tough end to the pregnancy but it’s been amazing to see my boys together 🙂 I actually stopped dating a guy who was the pickiest eater ever and it was a major no-no for me (think pasta and smoothies….and that’s it!). Phil just eats everything I put in front of him and he actually likes the fact that I’ve opened his eyes to veggie/vegan cuisine. He’s a foodie too! 🙂
The stuffed squash is such a good idea. I haven’t tried pattypan squash before but it sounds good!
Me and my boyfriend eat completely differently, I’m a health-obsessed vegetarian and he is a junk food loving carnivore. It makes going out to dinner interesting but luckily we’re pretty good at compromising!
The bf is gung ho on always having meat in his dinner- whereas I enjoy vego dishes every now and again
That lentils and goat cheese mixture sounds so good! And you’re lucky the Pilot is so game to eat anything! I live on my own during the school year, but when I go home for holidays I have such a hard time planning dinners with my family. My dad doesn’t like anything vegetarian or any squash, my sister doesn’t like fish, my mom doesn’t like fruit in savoury meals… it can be a headache to figure out what to eat on some nights! 😛
I simply cannot get enough squash!!! I am trying to increase the number of meals in a day that I go without meat-I just feel better! It IS difficult with a husband that is a serious carnivore! Thankfully he is also pretty understanding! : )
Thank you for the Tabatas. They make me feel badass everytime I do them. And for the rest of the day. I love it! If you ever get a chance to list the 4 moves in the blog post next to the video, it would be great for me, because I write them down and then go do them at the gym at lunchtime (can’t follow along with the video at work!). Thanks!
Picky eaters? No. However, you said that the pilot will eat anything you put in front of him and not question or complain. Well, if there is no kind of meat (whether it be fish, chicken, or meat) on his plate, he will complain. I say, well beans (quinoa, tempeh, etc) are a source of protein! He will not be satisfied with that answer. LOL