Winter squash recipes

Y'all may have noticed I have been running a giveaway for free winter squash seeds. Some of the people getting them have never grown them, and I think a few have never cooked them.
Anyone who has read any of my cooking posts knows I don't use recipes or cook the same thing twice, so I'm no use for sharing recipes.

Permies to the rescue!
What are your favorite winter squash recipes?

I don't know that I'd call 'em recipes, but my favorite methods are pretty simple, and I almost always save the seeds for planting, roasting, or drying and adding to my natural critter de-wormer. With the exception of spaghetti squash, I love to:

* Halve them (stem to blossom), slice a thin bit off the rounded side(so they'll sit level, like a bowl), and throw in some butter, salt and pepper, and roast them until they're fork-tender (easy to stick a fork in), and serve them up, usually with some critter that was roasted at the same time.

Or:

* Peel, then cut them into bite- sized chunks, toss with a bit of olive oil, onions, garlic cloves, and whatever herbs (and often root veggies) I'm in the mood for, and roast until the edges are caramelized, and they're fork tender. Sometimes, we eat them like that, other times, I'll take it a step further, and turn the roasted squash(and whatever else was with it) into a mash, adding butter, at the table - YUM!!

Or:

*  Halve, butter (no salt/ pepper), and roast to fork tender. Remove from the oven and cool, then peel, and puree. From this point, I'll either freeze it in an ice cube tray or dry and powder it, to; add to soups and stews as a nourishing thickener, make pies, add to baked goods for added nutrition, flavor, moisture retention, and texture, or add sweetener, baking spices, and make butters, to top toast, biscuits/scones, fill cookies, etc.

AND!! (Bonus!) It's great for adding to homemade dog and cat food, and the leaves and vines are also great fodder, for many livestock breeds!

Carla Burke wrote:
*  Halve, butter (no salt/ pepper), and roast to fork tender. Remove from the oven and cool, then peel, and puree. From this point, I'll either freeze it in an ice cube tray or dry and powder it, to; add to soups and stews as a nourishing thickener, make pies, add to baked goods for added nutrition, flavor, moisture retention, and texture, or add sweetener, baking spices, and make butters, to top toast, biscuits/scones, fill cookies, etc.

That's one of my favorites. I freeze them in cupcake tins, then take the frozen pucks and put them in a bag. Add them to all kinds of stuff.

I LOVE winter squash anyway you cook it.  Small ones like acorn squash are great as Carla suggests cut in half and baked with butter or oil, and a bit of your favorite seasoning. Brushed with a mix of oil, maple syrup, and chili pepper is really good.  Add some chopped nuts if you like.  Or stuff with chopped apples and cinnamon, or your favorite cooked rice or grains, or bread stuffing...

My kids shockingly do not love baked squash as I do. However, since the pureed squash is so easy to incorporate into other things, I get them to consume the fall bounty anyway.  Easiest way to get to squash puree is to bake a whole (uncut) squash.  Just prick the skin to avoid explosions and bake at 400 for 30-40 minutes, turning once.  Put it on a baking dish because it might leak a bit.  You can also do this in the microwave, try increments of 5 minutes until color changes a bit and it is somewhat soft all over.

Cut the cooked squash in half and the seeds are super easy to scoop out. Throw the seeds in a colander and rub them a bit to separate from the stringy goop. Put the seeds back in oven on a cookie sheet until they are dry and maybe just barely browned.

Now scoop out the rest of the squash from the skin and mash it, and you have a puree that you can add to almost anything. A cup or two mixed into masa for squash tamales or squash arepas.  Added to your favorite pancake or muffin batter.  Add to custards, casseroles, whatever.  Any recipe that calls for canned pumpkin, or mashed sweet potato, you can substitute your own squash puree.

Howdy!
It's been a few years since I've been able to do any serious cooking. I am so excited about this year, though. I have things coming up, and have been picking things that are around (just have to leave the land unworked for a decade to get all that second level succession started. X_X) Now I have lots of things to keep me busy on good days!

The winter squash part of the garden is going ahead and I'm pulling things out of my memory.
I'm with the other "recipes" posted  - bake with butter/oil - add sweetener/herbs - enjoy
                                                          cut into manageable pieces and boil until soft, then add to every baked good imaginable.
                                                          process somehow (as above) and freeze or can for future use

I will be looking into drying more this year. With the problems getting canning lids and my lack of complete trust in the electric grid, having a shelf stable way to preserve things will be nice.
That seems like a great addition to my future squash plans!
Thank you so very much, Carla, for the idea.

I have been known to sneak healthy food into other things where it won't be noticed, but as I am just restarting the cooking again, I appreciate the reminder, Mk Neal. Thank you, as well.

Now, as my summer squash are also up, I'm going to need ideas on them. Can they be dried?
Best thoughts to everyone on this odd Thursday!

My son never knew I was putting 2 cups of pureed winter squash in my spaghetti sauce so he would eat squash..
I make a lot of things with winter squash added.
1 cup in a normal whole wheat loaf of bread, adding it to any pudding recipe.. especially in the spring when the hens drown me in eggs and the goat doe drowns me in milk ( Toggenburg goats will freshen without being bred after they have had at least 1 baby and you start graining heavily and fake milking them).
I raise a winter squash that keeps for over a year.  

Darn, you can just put it in anything!☺

Some years back I happened on a seller of jams and jellies who did not use any sugar or pectin in her recipes. She used pumpkin for sweetener and thickening... And simmered until reduced to the desired consistency. I did not know at the time what additional questions to ask her. She was selling enough to be working on getting a small factory to make the recipes.

We call all winter squashes 'pumpkins' in Australia, and the most common thing to make with them is a smooth soup.

I cut the pumpkin/squash into quarters, skin and all (I do remove the seeds), and then I bake it until it's tender - this makes it really easy and fast to peel off the skin.

Once that's done, I have a bunch of soft pumpkin/squash that is ready to be used in anything - for a soup I just sauté some onion and garlic, add the pumpkin, and chicken broth, and maybe some herbs and spices. I cook this for a while, and then run it through an immersion blender.

Pumpkin scones is another popular recipe here.

I like pumpkin/squash a lot in curries - just peel, slice into pieces, and cook in the curry until tender - it adds its own flavour while soaking up all the curry sauce goodness too. A pumpkin/squash gratin can be really tasty - I peel and slice it into fairly thin slices, sauté them with some garlic, add enough cream or milk to coat, a sprinkle of nutmeg or smoked paprika, and then cook on the stovetop until tender, top with grated cheese, and bake until the cheese is melted - very tasty served up with a big salad on the side.