Roasted Butternut Squash with Spinach and Tahini Dressing

Last minute Christmas recipe!

Roasted Butternut Squash with Spinach and Tahini Dressing

Ingredients:

6 cups raw cubed butternut squash

1 tbsp avocado oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

2 tbsp tahini

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp water

2 cups fresh spinach

Feta cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 415°F. In a bowl, toss together the butternut squash, avocado oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Spread squash in a roasting pan and place in the oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the tahini, olive oil, and water in a small bowl. Mix in a dash of salt and set aside.

In a serving bowl, combine the spinach, squash and dressing. Serve into individual bowls and top with feta cheese.

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Pumpkin Cookies (Paleo)

Time to join the blogging world’s festivities and post my holiday recipe! And what is more holiday-ish than cookies!?

I know, I know. Everybody has had their fair share of cookies by now, but these cookies have actually kept me a bay from eating any other this season. Chewy and soft with a pumpkin flavor, I’ve been munching on these instead of the sugar-filled goodies. Plus, the recipe yields 25 decent-sized cookies- distributing the honey to a small amount per cookie.

Bonus: You can store these in the freezer and take them down as desired. They thaw very nicely! (Although, I just eat them straight from the freezer 😉 )

Pumpkin Cookies (Paleo)

(Makes 25 cookies)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup tapioca flour

3 tbsp GROUND flaxseed- do NOT omit! (helps thicken batter)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cardamom

1 egg

1 cup pumpkin

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup plain, whole milk yogurt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 375 (Note: it is very important that the oven is at this temperature! I tried experimenting with lower and higher, and it did not work well flavor-wise )

In a food processor, mix together coconut flour, tapioca flour, flaxseed, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cardamom. Add in egg, pumpkin, honey, yogurt and vanilla and blend altogether. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Let sit for 5 minutes to thicken.

Drop batter onto parchment covered-baking pans. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes for the bottom rack, and 25 minutes for the top. Check near the 20 minute mark to prevent burning.

Happy Holidays!

Chocolate Almond Butternut Squash Cookies

Before the end of zucchini season, I made a large batch of my Chocolate Almond Zucchini Cookies and froze them at my mom’s house, hoping to have the occasional cookie throughout winter.

One week later: 

“Mom, where’s my cookies?”

“I thought you made them for me.”

“But where are they?”

“Ummm.”

“…”

So, I began working to adapt the recipe to include a vegetable in season. This is the result! And it tastes exactly like the zucchini cookies. Now, I get to enjoy these cookies in all four seasons!

And just in time too with Christmas around the corner! (For more past cookie recipes, see below)

By the way, for those who are hesitant, they taste exactly like regular cookies- you can’t even tell there’s squash in them 🙂

Chocolate Almond Butternut Squash Cookies 

Ingredients: 

*1 cup roasted butternut squash puree

1/2 cup water

1 organic egg

2 tbsp organic molasses (EDITOR’S NOTE: No molasses? Up the water to a 2/3 cup and use 2/3 cup brown sugar instead of cane sugar)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup cane sugar

3 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup chopped almonds

*To make puree, slice the butternut squash in half long ways and place face-down (peel side up) on a foil-lined baking pan. Roast in the oven at 425 degrees for 45 minutes. Flip face-up and roast for 10 more minutes. Once cooled, scoop out squash flesh and blend in a food processor until smooth. 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking pans with cooking oil and set aside. Whisk butternut squash puree, water, egg, molasses, and vanilla together. Dissolve in sugar. Add in cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Slowly stir in flour. Add in chocolate chips and almonds. Scoop into tbsp sized-balls, and plop on the pans. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Store in a container or freeze.

Other Cookies for the Holidays:

Flourless Banana Cookies

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Coconut Macaroons

Chocolate Almond Zucchini Cookies

No-Bake Pumpkin Cookie Dough Balls

Beet “Cookies”

Coconut Macaroons

Meet my new obsession for this holiday season: coconut macaroons. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made these in the last few weeks. These babies have helped me avoid overdoing it on the overwhelming amount of holiday cookies my house seems to be accumulating. The best part? They’re made with all good-for-you ingredients. Therefore, I feel no regret constantly popping them in my mouth 🙂

Coconut Macaroons: 

(Makes 30)

Ingredients:

2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

2 egg whites

2 tbsp vanilla protein powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

optional: dark chocolate chips

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix all the ingredients together and pinch into balls. Bake for 18 minutes. If desired, melt some chocolate chips and drizzle over the macaroons.

Happy Holidays!