Holy Butternut, Batman!

It's that time of year again; trees are becoming vibrant colors, evenings are getting cooler, and - ahem - FOODS are getting YUMMY!!! Not to say food isn't yummy year-round, but autumn cuisine holds a special place in my stomach. It's warm, deliciously spiced, and colored to match the beautiful outdoors.

Now, anyone who knows me understands that I enjoy cooking. I also enjoy eating (bet you didn't know that......), and my momma always taught me to eat my veggies. Like a well-bred Southern Gal, I did as Momma said, and I love vegetables. For fall, I must say one of my absolute favorite veggies is Butternut Squash. I love it!

I recently went to the store to buy some butternut squash, and to my dismay, I discovered they were running very low. But......BUT........upon closer inspection, I discovered..............THIS:

 

This, my friends, is an 8.5 pound butternut squash. That's right - I was only 3 ounces bigger than this when I was BORN. Even the cashier looked at it wide-eyed and said "DANG". 

And, while Bella did not seem to share in my enthusiasm, she was patient enough to pose with it for some size comparisons. Reluctantly.

The best part about this squash? Usually, if you plan on prepping a large amount of squash, it involves peeling and seeding several, which can be a teedious and sticky job. With this, I only had to peel one squash, and there was, honestly, only about half a cup of seeds in the rounded tip of the squash (on the left in the pic with Bella). That was it - the rest was solid squash. Probably 7.75 - 8 lbs of squash got prepped and frozen in one night at my house.

I was just so excited I had to share with you all.