Acorn Squash Pudding! GF, V, BED, SCD!

Two words: Musky Days.

You know how I said that I’m in the Musky Capital of the World up here in the Northwoods? Well…let me just tell you, these guys love their fish!

This weekend was the 3-day long festival celebrating…..you guessed it…..musky! People came out of the woodwork for this fishy street fair – all 676 of them! There was an antique car show, street vendors, live music, artisans, and fireworks. It was fun to be up here for the big hubbub. :)

Now, I want to preface this by saying that…well…there’s no other way to put this…err…this pudding looks like…well…crap…literally. Hah

I put the yellow squash into to food processor, and when it mixed with the cinnamon…much to my horror (cue Jaws music)…it turned…brown! The worst color for something ‘pudding-ish.’ But I knew that you could handle a non-pageant-winning-recipe:)

I was planning on scrapping — or rather, flushing — this recipe (sorry couldn’t resist:) ), just because of its appearance, but it was truly so magnificent that I felt obligated to share…even if the pictures were less than stellar.

So now….brace yourselves. I’m about to share with you a recipe for……..SQUASH!

Yes, it’s August 13, and even though it is a scorcher everywhere else in the country, it’s starting to feel like fall in the Northwoods! In fact, there were frost warnings these past few nights!

So I picked up an acorn squash at the organic market the other day! Let the autumnal anticipation commence!

Small Confession: I had dessert for dinner tonight.

Big Confession: It was made out of vegetables….Acorn Squash to be exact.

Yep! I made a delicious Acorn Squash Pudding! For dinner! And it totally rocked my socks — even though it doesn’t quite look that spectacular!!

Gluten Free, Vegan, Sugar Free, Body Ecology Diet, and Specific Carb Diet Friendly!

Think pumpkin pie filling meets gingerbread cookie, but guilt free and out-of-this-world creamy!

Here’s what you need:

1 acorn squash, roasted

1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
scant 1/8 tsp ground cloves
scant 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 cup raw cashews
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp honey (OR: 2 droppers-full of alcohol-free pure liquid stevia for BED)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Cut your acorn squash in half vertically. Brush the flesh with olive oil and place it face down on a baking sheet lined with tin foil, sprayed with olive-oil. Bake for 30 minutes, until the skin starts to wrinkle and it is wonderfully soft.

Take it out and let the halves cool. Then, scoop out the flesh (I also sliced off & discarded the black caramelized part when the squash was touching the baking sheet) and place it in your food processor with the rest of the ingredients. Process until rich and creamy, stopping to scrape down the sides several times.

This pudding is…oh my gosh…SO good! I have a terrible weakness for anything that even remotely resembles pumpkin bread batter – andthis is it! The sweet cinnamon, nutmeg and clove provide the perfect warm spice that one thinks of when fall rolls around. And the nutty-sweetness of the squash is just the perfect compliment.

The texture is wonderful too. It’s so luxurious and creamy from the cashews. It has a silky quality that is so fabulous.

And it’s great warm or chilled too! I put half of it in the freezer for an hour and it was the consistency of ice cream! Score!

So, let’s just have a good laugh, and let this be a lesson to never judge a book by its cover…or rather…brown food tastes good! :)

What’s your favorite healthy dessert?

Time to go watch the closing ceremony! I’ll be gettin’ my Spice Girls on! ;)

See ya tomorrow!

Food Processor Alert! Here's my famous favorite food processor:)