More Fun with Butternut Squash

Yummy Butternut Home Fries - (Hungry Girl, Pg. 280, 58 calories per serving, makes 4 servings) This recipe smells amazing while it is cooking.  I highly recommend this recipe if you like home fries for breakfast--or as a comfort food.  It's very easy to make but make sure you have a large pan to cook in.  I only had skillets and I had to switch to a pot since I don't have the right sized pan.  It didn't exactly look like the picture but it was very tasty.  I wound up eating two servings the first night and saved the other two servings as leftovers.  Again, not a recipe for a single person unless you don't mind leftovers.

Sweet Potato Pie

I Can't Believe It's Not Sweet Potato Pie - (Hungry Girl, Pg. 164, 113 calories per serving, makes 4 servings) 

After a stressful week, I was craving my comfort foods but not wanting to break my diet prevented me from fulfilling my cravings.  I flipped through the originial Hungry Girl book looking for a good subsitute when I came across this recipe.  Since Butternut Squash is now a staple in my house, I had all the necessary ingredients on hand.  I pulled out my pyrex pie dish--since I was making pie--and proceeded to make the recipe.  It was a fairly easy to make recipe.

This recipe is not meant for a single person--the servings are big.  It is great to eat one night but not 4 nights in a row.  I would recommend making this when you know you are having company or you are going to a dinner party.

First aid, Fire Alarms and Chaos Galore!!!

Dishes used: 21
Fire Alarms: 1
Fingers burnt: 1 thumb
Igniting Stovetop Flames: 1
Matt's Annoyance Level: 4

Well, let's just say it was an interesting Hungry Girl Evening.  Once again, we set off the smoke alarm.  (Last time we did it while making the Fries).  I burned my thumb when attempting to flip hash browns in a skillet.  Hash browns don't flip.  Diana almost set me on fire when she discovered the flammable properties of cooking spray.  And Matthew looked at us in annoyance when he had to once again clear the smoke from the apartment.

Now I am sure you are wondering what recipes could possibly lead to such an eventful evening.  We'll tell you: Snazzy Spanish Omelette, Butternut Hash Browns, and Chunky Apple Cinnamon Muffins.

Chunky Apple Cinnamon Muffins: (Hungry Girl 200 under 200, Pg. 278, 127 calories per serving)  This was the only recipe that didn't give us any trouble.  Everything worked out according to the directions except we did have enough to make 6 muffins instead of 4.  Perhaps if you dice the apples instead of cutting them into cubes like we did, it will make the 4 serving recipe.  They were good, nonetheless.  We would recommend using foil muffin cups instead of paper cups.

Snazzy Spanish Omelette: (Hungry Girl 200 under 200, Pg. 60, 191 calories per serving) The sauce is simple to make but we felt we didn't need such a large portion.  We would recommend adding some of the veggies to the omelette mixture instead of the sauce.  Diana says she wouldn't even bother with the sauce.  She would put all of the veggies in the omelette and just put the two tablespoons of salsa on top.   So this was a fairly simple recipe.  Of course we had an omelette pan that Diana's mother left behind on accident.  It might be more difficult if you don't have an omelette pan.

Diana's advice: If you have a gas stove, don't spray the aerosol cooking spray near the open flame.  You just might set your best friend on fire or at the very least scare the crap out of her.

We would also like to point out that one serving could actually feed two.  This makes for one large omelette.

Butternut Hash Browns: (Hungry Girl 200 under 200, Pg. 92, 104 calories per serving)  This was the most eventful and challenging recipe of the evening.  Perhaps, in hindsight, we should have throughly read the recipe before we began.  We missed the "tip" on shredding the butternut squash with a cheese grater.  We used a vegetable peeler.  It didn't affect the taste but it probably would have assisted with the ease in other parts of the recipe.  We also discovered that you should attempt to make 3 recipes at a time or 3 servings at a time.  You really need to do one serving at a time if you want to the recipe following the directions written in the book.  After setting off the smoke alarm and burning my thumb while attempting to flip 3 servings of hash browns in a skillet, we decided to put it all into a pyrex dish and bake it in the oven.  Diana set the oven at 350 degrees while I tended to my now blistering thumb.  We baked it around 7 minutes--after we had already cooked a portion of it on the stove.  So maybe bake it for 5 minutes, flip it, and bake for another 5 minutes.

Even though the recipe made for an interesting evening, it did taste like real hash browns.  This is something I personally might try to do again to see if I can perfect it.

All on My Own

During the week, I decided to try out some of the Hungry Girl Recipes on my own.  Since I was determined to perfect the Butternut Squash fries, I bought another Butternut Squash.  I made the fries in my toaster oven this time, broiling them for 20 minutes.  They were perfect.  But since I am one person, I didn't make the entire recipe.  I cut up the entire Butternut Squash and searched the original Hungry Girl book for more Butternut Squash recipes.

Maplelicious Butternut Squash Mash: (Hungry Girl, Pg. 277)  This is a way of making something similar to sweet potatoes for 109 calories.  I also tried the recipe without the maple syrup and it tasted like regular mashed potatoes--one of my comfort foods.  It was so simple since I already had the squash cut up.  You just microwave it for 6 minutes then mash--amazing!!

HG's Famous Bowl: (Hungry Girl, Pg. 98)  If any of you love KFC's Mashed Potato bowl like I do, this is a must make.  You make the Butternut Squash Mashed Potatoes, Shake and Bake style chicken with the FiberOne Cereal (Italian seasoning to flavor), Green Giant Steamed corn and Fat Free Chicken Gravy.  The Chicken takes the longest time to prepare but I made 2 Chicken Breasts so I could cut up some of the Chicken and eat the rest the following day.  For 288 calories, this is a very filling meal.  I love it, all my comfort foods combined in a bowl without all of the calories.  (The world's best PMS food, in my humble opinion).

Rockin' Tuna Melt: (Hungry Girl, Pg. 68)  I made this to go with my Butternut Squash Fries.  This is a 212 calorie treat.  Of course you have to like Tuna to enjoy it.  And if you have a cat like I do, they will stay by your side while you prepare and eat your meal.  I left out the tomatoes and carrots when I made this and substituted them with chopped celery.

I would highly recommend all of these recipes.