No Butternut Squash?

I only recently discovered butternut squash, and I'm addicted to it now. It's so goooood!

This recipe from Whole Paycheck...I mean, Whole Foods...knocked my socks off:
Butternut Squash with Wilted Spinach and Blue Cheese
The only thing I would change is I would toss in some toasted walnuts or pine nuts for extra texture.

Butternut squash, I "heart" you. http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/more/bigs/a194.gif

Here's the problem, most likely.

The story is about pumpkins, but most winter squashes mature around the same time.

I guess maybe the squashes in the stores here are more local - we didn't get most of the weather they're talking about. There was a week or two when it would've been too wet to harvest, but not long enough to hurt the totals much. I'm pretty sure the pumpkins are mostly local-ish.

I'm in AZ, and we had the same problem last year, the tiny bit of butternut squash they had were small and gosh were they gritty!

Lisa

I'm blaming it on climate change :o

Some areas are also recognizing the cooking versatility of squash and hence price has gone up.

I love squash but we don't buy as much as we used to 10 years ago. Back then, we used to buy one whole butternut squash for $1.00. When I was a child it was 25 cents per whole freakin' squash. Now in our area it's $1.49 per lb.

However this summer, when visiting a friend in tomato country ..about 300 kms. southwest of Toronto, we drove by fields of ripened squash. Still cheaply priced there for locals. Meaning $1.00 per whole squash, regardless of size.

I stir-fry small cubed butternut squash with onions, ginger root, garlic and add 1 tblsp. of soy sauce or less for squash amount to serve 2 people. Soy sauce added near beginning when squash starts to cook. Squash is tasty because of slight carmelization from stir-frying sear. Just cook squash until it's still lumpy soft. Takes about 15-20 min. This is my mother's unique recipe. In a way, it is a comfort, dynamic food for me. It does evoke memories of those tough, poor years that my parents endured when they were raising a large young family.

I don't bake squash and eat it like that. Too boring. :) Like more pizzaz. He makes a great squash soup..each time it's different. Different spices or he puts in a cut-up apple or pear or potato.