Sweet Meat (Winter) Squash

It seems there are two types of people… squash lovers and the not-so-much. I tend to fall into the not-so-much. UNLESS! I can figure out how to use it like pumpkin. Our family is very much Team Pumpkin.

We were asked to grow the squash, Sweet Meat, for seeds. I couldn’t just grow this squash, scoop seeds and toss the rest to the chickens. I had to try it. I cooked it up…

Heat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Slice squash in half and scoop out the seeds and guts.

Place on baking sheet skin side up.

Bake for one hour.

Let cool. Scoop out flesh and blend.

After I had it all blended up and I sampled it- I was so surprised by how sweet it was! Which led me down a path of, can I use this as a replacement for pumpkin? You can!! We tried it in our ‘pumpkin’ bread and it was the exact flavor if we had used pumpkin.

This is the recipe I used for the bread. Glazed Pumpkin Bread. I substituted the flour with a 1-1 gluten free flour and it turned out beautifully. I also used Sweet Meat Squash instead of pumpkin.