baked shells with winter squash

Hello out there. Hope everyone had a nice Monday. The weekends go by so quickly! 

For this week's Melissa & Martha Monday I whipped up M-lady's Baked Shells with Winter Squash recipe. And oh my goodness, is this one to warm your soul (and your house as the comforting aroma of sage and squash drift through your rooms). You might even think it is Thanksgiving for a moment if you close your eyes and try hard enough. 

BAKED SHELLS with WINTER SQUASH

 

The creaminess of the squash and the soothing properties of the calefacient sage made this one an instant comfort food for me.

I pretty much followed the recipe, with the only variances being using fresh sage and fresh squash versus dried and frozen. I also opted to have bigger pieces of butternut in the dish so I used half puree and half bite sized pieces. 

My one complaint was that I found it to be a bit bland, even with the fresh herbs. I think next time I might roast the squash with a little olive oil and sea salt or add some caramelized onions. Maybe even some apples sauteed in a little butter and brown sugar...I'll let you know how that goes ;-)

mmb liked it just fine, but as a side dish. For you carnivores I would suggest perhaps adding pork or sausage, either would be a nice complement to the cold weather flavors in this dish.

Well that is it for this week's Melissa & Martha Monday. Meet me back here next week for another one! 

I'm off to play catch up with DYL, or do my taxes... Whichever one grabs my attention first.

Any guesses which I'll choose? ;-)