Meatless Monday: Cumin spiced squash

Roast any variety of squash and pair it with scallions and white beans for an easy dinner.

Some days, prepping food for the week feels like so much work.

I’m standing in the kitchen, roasting beets, peeling and roasting squash, processing pepper, toasting squash seeds for a healthy snack or salads, making beans, toasting raw cashews, blah blah blah. When it’s all done, I don’t even have a meal! I hate feeling unproductive. I feel unproductive if I’ve cooked and have no meal. 

But we can’t be productive all of the time.

As a friend once told me, to “be” human is to BE. Or was it, we are human “beings” and I need to work on the “being.” What ever the verbiage she used, she said it much more eloquently than that. But you get the point.

That being said, after all that cooking, I realize how grateful I am in the end. When I go to put dinner together it takes almost no time at all. It took around 8 minutes and was less than zero on the stress scale.

Then I remember why I prep for the week. It means that the rest of the week I can put meals on the table super fast and spend a little more time “being.”

This cumin spiced squash recipe is one of those meals. Sure it requires roasting squash and cooking beans, but that doesn’t have to happen on a prep day. In all honesty it can be done on any evening that you’re sitting around watching TV or cleaning the house.

I hope you decide to give this a try. It’s super flavorful and comes together easily. It can be served on lettuce wraps (like we did), but if you do this, cut the squash in smaller cubes, it will be easier to eat that way.  Or serve it on a bed of brown rice, that would be super yummy.

Cumin spiced squash with white beans and scallions

Serves 2
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups roasted squash (any variety)
1/2 cup cooked white beans
2 scallions or green onions cut on the diagonal
1 red chili  (or other hot pepper) thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium frying pan, toast the cumin seeds on high heat for about one minute or until fragrant. Add the oil, squash, beans, scallions and sliced chili to the pan. Heat until warmed through, approximately 5 minutes.

Serve with the avocado yogurt sauce in lettuce wraps or over rice, sprouted beans, or couscous.

Avocado yogurt sauce

1 avocado
1/3 cup plain full fat yogurt (use coconut cream for vegan substitution)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper

Slice the avocado in half and remove the pit and skin. Place the avocado, yogurt and lemon juice in a blender. Process until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Recipe notes

Roasting squash: Peel the squash using a knife or carrot peeler. Cut the squash in half, remove the seeds and cut into cubes. Toss them with 2 tablespoons of oil, and two crushed garlic cloves (optional) and salt and pepper. Roast at 375 degrees F., for 45 minutes to an hour, or until tender.

Cooking white beans: Place 1/2 cup of dry white beans with 3 cups of water and 3 tablespoons of vinegar. Let soak for eight to 24 hours. I let them soak overnight. Rinse the beans very well to remove the vinegar. Place the beans in a pot with three cups of water. Bring the beans to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 40 minutes to an hour or until tender. Depending on how long the beans soak will determine how long the beans take to cook, along with how old the beans are.