Alternative Carb: Yellow Squash

As the beginning of the school year starts to dawn, I've already gone into my classroom to decorate and organize it. The consequence to my return to work (officially next Monday) is fewer blogs each week. Many teachers will tell you it is not an 8-hour job and I thoroughly enjoy teaching, so my passion borders on obsession.

Today, I'm going to discuss another carb alternative: the yellow squash. I don't have as many recipes for yellow squash as I'd hope to share, but the other day, I had an offer from my readers to share recipes with Becca's Class Act. If individuals are willing to type them in Word and email them to me, we'll be rocking!

Squash Au Gratin
Some years back, I started taking the traditional Potatoes Au Gratin and mixing in coins of yellow squash. Eventually, I ditched the potatoes and only included the squash. I've taken this dish to work, two discard-able tinfoil baking dishes worth, and both were gone by the end of second lunch. My Daddy expects to see it at Thanksgiving and Christmas, now!

Ingredients
American cheese, 1 - 16oz block (HEB)
1/2 and 1/2 or heavy cream, 16oz
4 to 5 medium to large yellow squash (if you can picture all of them fitting into the 9"x13" pan, grab one more)

Directions

1. Cut the American cheese into cubes and place in a non-stick pot with the half and half (about half the container, more if you feel it isn't easy to stir). As the cheese begins to melt, stir and stir until you have the desired cheesy consistency. Sometimes, I recruit a child to stand at the stove to stir the cheese while I stand to their left with the next step.
2. While I stir the cheese (or my assistant does), I'm cutting the squash into equal-width coins. I cut them in equal widths - about half a centimeter - because the coins will cook evenly (it's not cool to have the perfect creamy bite and then bite into a piece that isn't cooked thoroughly, it's like hitting a rock).
3. In a 9"x13" baking dish, lay the coins in rows (I let them lay at around a 45 degree angle). Cover the squash with the cheese mixture. I add the remainder of the half and half.
4. Bake in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. 

George Stella's Loaded "Faux-Tato" Skins

This is by far the most delicious potato-skin recipe revamp ever! The basics of the recipe is simply cutting each of the small to medium yellow squashes in half (see photo), season them, put some cheese and bacon on top, bake it, and then add sour cream and chives. How much easier can you get? If you haven't gotten your copy of George Stella's cookbooks yet, I highly suggest any of his recipes.

Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
3 medium yellow squash
Salt and Pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
3 strips cooked bacon, crumbled
1/4 cup sour cream
1 scallion, thinly sliced.

1. Preheat oven to 375 and spray a sheet pan with the nonstick cooking spray (I use tinfoil to line my pan and then spray that).
2. Trim the ends off the squash and cut each in half length-wise. Place each one cut-side up on the pan.
3. Season the squash with salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder.
4. Top each squash with an even amount of Cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon.
5. Bake for 12 minutes or until cheese starts to bubble and squash is tender.
6. Serve with sour cream and sliced scallions on top.

Low-Carb Lasagna

I'm sorry to say I do not have a lasagna recipe, per se, to provide you. I'm one of those cooks that often doesn't make the same recipe twice. Not on purpose, I just get into creative moods, so I've never written down this recipe and in all actuality, I don't have a basic recipe for lasagna except that I prefer ricotta. 

You can pick any lasagna recipe (say, if you already have your own recipe or you find one on FoodNetwork.com) and just swap out the regular lasagna noodles with length-wise cut yellow squash. I've used both yellow squash and zucchini in mine. You cut out the cooking time for the noodles because evenly cut slices of squash (and/or zucchini) will bake in 30 minutes.

My vegan Daddy likes it when my family prepares recipes like this because we know, for him, we'll prepare a 9"x9" baking dish without the meat, but it has all the same seasonings and double the veggies. 

Spaghetti Noodles

My Mom purchased a device called a Veggetti. It's not limited to yellow squash, of course, but we're talking about how we can use yellow squash as an alternative carb source. I personally love finding inventive ways to eat veggies. Covering them with any kind of sauce seems to do the trick. 

Parmesan Yellow Squash

Mom has an easy squash recipe (and she often includes separate pans of zucchini and eggplant). She'll salt and pepper coins of the given vegetable, sprinkle Parmesan on top, and then bake it for about 30 minutes. It's really quite good and is an easy carb-alternative side, I feel, because the most work that goes into it is slicing the veggies. The oven does the rest!

Roasted Squash

I love and adore roasted squash. It's often paired with a litany of other sliced and diced vegetables, drizzled with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper, and roasted in the oven. My husband makes me laugh because he'll tell me things like, "I can't stand olive oil" and then when he's munching on these prepared veggies, he's saying, "Now, this is how I like my veggies cooked." I just look at him and wait awhile before I break the news that those veggies have olive oil on them. I'm just like any other wife who enjoys the moments where she's right....AGAIN.

Sauteed Yellow Squash and Red Bell Pepper and Onion

I can't recall where I picked up this recipe. My brain remembers what I've actually done, and it recalls a lot of what it reads...but not always from what source. I apologize for that.

Sauteed squash isn't difficult. You're taking cut up squash, bell pepper, and onion and sauteing it in butter until it hits the right consistency. It's super quick, maybe 10 minutes of sauteing time. Add freshly diced garlic, salt, and pepper while you're sauteing and you've entered a part of heaven. I don't know about your household, but when I start cooking with garlic, interested noses come checking out what's cooking.

That's all the recipes I have for yellow squash. If there are any recipes you'd like to share with Becca's Class Act and you don't mind me sharing them with our audience, please feel free to share any low-carb, wheat-free, low-sugar recipes you have. Personally, the more I talk about these foods, the more I actually get into the kitchen and eat the way I should. I have my lazy spells, too, either in the creativity department or the "I'm not doing anything!" department. I'll stick to my health-restricted diet plan, but I won't load up on veggies like I know I should. Eating a left-over pork chop to shut the stomach up is sticking to the health plan, but it's not giving my body the fiber it needs. Your recipe submissions could very well help me (and someone else) with meal planning!!

Happy eating, folks!