Vegetables, Meat, and Mashed Squash Medley

Submitted by PeaceLandAndHed

ALL FROM...

SO! This was not an easy task. I have never been a fan of squash. In fact, if it wasn't for my love for preparing dishes, I wouldn't have entered at all because I mean, squash is gross. I made a dinner dish for a ROBUST and MEATY person because there is a lot of food, all revolving around squash, obviously. My camera kept spinning in and out of consciousness today, so my pictures are sort of vague. Sorry. To begin with,

THE INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup - Liquid honey.
• 4 tablespoons - Teriyaki Marinade.
• 1 tablespoon - Minced onion.
• Salt and Pepper to taste.
• 1 tablespoon - Freshly ground garlic pepper. (If you have actual garlic, mince it and use it. I'm very short on funds at the moment, so garlic pepper had to suffice.)
• Dash of lemon juice.

DISH:

• Several rings of butternut squash.
• An onion and a half.
• An apple.
• A banana.
• Bay leaves (for garnish only).
• Generous servings of:
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • All Purpose seasoning
  • Cinnamon
  • Freshly ground Italian pepper
  • Garlic Pepper
  • Lime Juice
• Cooking Spray.

METHOD

FOR SCIENCE, I mean, COOKING.

1) Cut squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and peel the squash.

2) Cut several one inch rings of squash, and place those into a pot of boiling water, not for very long, just to soften.

3) As these are boiling, begin to prepare the marinade. Mix the marinade ingredients stated above into a bowl and place in the fridge to chill. This needed for a while. (Preparation time: 7 minutes and 48 seconds. 6 minutes and 2 seconds if you're fast.)

4) Once the marinade is place into the fridge, cover a baking sheet in tin foil.

5) Now, this is where some variation may be desired. I really enjoy cooking things with fruits, so, if you'll trust me, you'll enjoy this. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. All the ingredients in the above mentioned ingredient list, should be decoratively place on the baking sheet with cooking spray (or olive oil. I just happened to be out.) (Preparation time: 10 minutes.)

6) If your squash is sufficiently softened at this point, remove it from the pot and remove the marinade from the fridge.

7) Thoroughly toss squash in the marinade and place the rings onto the baking sheet.

Toss the sheet around to mix the ingredients, and place into the oven for approximately 30 minutes.

Now, you're thinking, "What am I going to do with the rest of this squash, Samantha??!?"? Assuming you had excess squash, as I did, you could make some mashed squash. It tastes just like sweet potatoes, and, saying you're eating squash sounds a ton more adventurous than saying you're eating sweet potatoes. I guess it just depends on the look you're going for. I simply:

1) Cut the left-over squash into smaller pieces, and nuke them. (You can boil them, I suppose, Fancypants, but the microwave is just as efficient and it's quicker. WARNING: Poke holes in your squash to prevent a squash bomb exploding in your lovely microwave. You know who didn't poke holes in his squash before nuking them? Yep. That's right...)

2) Once the POKED SQUASH is softened, place into a bowl with plenty of butter, milk, and sugar, and MASH MASH MASH. This is honestly my very favorite part of cooking. Mash the squash with anything you have, such as: a spoon, a fork, a potato masher (Shh, don't tell. It's a secret.), your HANDS, or your feet, if you really want to be authentic.

3) Mix, mix, mix and garnish as you please. I choose bay leaves, because they are tasteless and tactful, simultaneously. Also, I sprinkled them in cinnamon.

ALSO!!!!

My dish was rather boring, so I went outside and grilled up a steak! (By grilling up a steak, I mean whipping out the George Foreman grill, in my small kitchen, and putting a burger on it. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm low on funds.) You really can use any cut of meat whatsoever, I just am fond of burgers. I put some cranberry juice on the "steak"? once it started cooking, and on the lower side, I put some teriyaki sauce. I place some onion on the "steak"? and grilled it. Covered it in some spices, whichever you please, and PRESTO! You have authentic looking meat. Also, I cut it up because then it wouldn't look like burger. I salted some tomatoes and dipped them in the beef juices and placed them all of the 'steak'.

Serving

This is your final plate:

To specify, this is your broiled vegitable/fruit/squash entree:

This is your meat dish:

This is your mashed squash:

And this is my adorable pit bull Roscoe. Isn't he adorable?

ALL TOGETHER NOW...

Thanks, guys. EAT MY FOOD.

( I posted this in GBSFood for the iron chef 3 competition, but I definetly know I'll have no chance of winning. Jesus Christ, that zucchini dish was phenomenal. Well, I'm 16 and used all the resources I had. I'm aspiring to have a kitchen as large as his when I have my own. Oh well, if you want something not messy, to feed a lot of people, and very tasty, I'd make this dish. It's pretty fun to prepare, also.)