penne with butternut squash

I cannot lie to you, I’m eating a mug cake as I write this. I need to quit them but I can’t seem to go cold turkey. Is there a patch for this?

I think I deserve it today though because I took my FIRST GRAD SCHOOL TEST EVER. And I survived. And did well (I think) although I’m just regaining feeling in my right hand after 15 pages of writing.

I’ve been studying for this test for approximately three weeks and had had about enough last night, so I decided to make something time consuming for dinner to procrastinate. I also really wanted to make something festive for fall, because unlike Sheila I’m thrilled that the temperature is going to drop below 80 degrees. Maybe the humidity will move below 100%, too.

After the gym on Sunday I went to Giant because Shoppers and I are on a break, and I bought random things such as this butternut squash, which I’ve never cooked with before. I didn’t really know what to do with it, so I cut it in half, scooped out the seeds, resisted the urge to carve a face in it, and peeled off the skin.

Then I chopped it up, tossed it in olive oil and salt and pepper, and put it in the oven at 400 degrees.

I also brushed some olive oil on half a head of garlic and threw that in there (wrapped in tin foil), just for kicks. While your squash and garlic are roasting, cook the pasta.

I roasted the squash for about 20 minutes, turning it halfway through. Then I heated up a little chicken stock on the stove and finished cooking the squash through in that. Keep the garlic in the oven for another 10-15 minutes while the squash cooks in the stock. Drain any remaining stock, then put the squash into the blender or food processor. Squeeze the garlic cloves in, and add a pinch of red pepper flakes. Blend until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour over the pasta and stir. Top with parmesan cheese (duh) and basil, if you want to pretend you’re a fancy food blogger when in fact you make stuff up to put off studying for huge tests.

On Mondays and Wednesdays I have to pack lunch and dinner because I teach Body Pump at 6:30, so I brought some of this to eat for dinner tonight. But then there was a meeting in the student lounge with the microwave, and the plastic forks had mysteriously disappeared from their usual spot. So I ate this cold, with my fingers, running to my car to make it over to the gym on time. Yes people were watching me, no I didn’t care.

It tasted equally as good that way as it did in the company of 8,700 pages of Diagnostics notes. Sign of a good recipe.