Who else had never heard of delicata squash until recently? 

I consider myself a pretty adventurous cook, and I like most squash, so I was pretty surprised to learn about this type of squash earlier this fall. And the only reason I know about it is because we were using some meal kit delivery services in the weeks after Little Miss arrived. A little squash showed up in a Blue Apron meal box, and despite my initial side eye, I discovered that it’s fantastic! I’m actually going to go out on a limb and say I *might* prefer it over butternut. Gasp!

Then I started seeing delicatas in my local Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods—yay! The dish was super easy to make and I was able to remember all the other ingredients on the fly in the grocery store: kale, mascarpone, ricotta, pasta, plus a few other pantry staples. So, I made it again. And again. And again! Poor Frank is actually getting tired of it, but not me!

The best part is that Little Man will eat the roasted squash right off the tray (but not the final, assembled meal— weirdo). I now roast double the squash so that there is enough for all of us.

And can we talk about this pasta for a moment? I like pasta as much as the next marathoner, but high carb meals are not optimal these days of lower activity level. Enter Banza pasta made from garbanzo beans. Woah! 25g protein! That gives this vegetarian dish a nice boost. Still not exactly “low carb,” but a definite improvement over the white stuff.

I’m finally thinking I should start to branch out—what’s your favorite way to use winter squash?

RECIPE (serves 2)

• 6 oz Penne Pasta
• ½ cup Part-Skim Ricotta Cheese
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 bunch Kale
• 1 Delicata Squash
• 2 Tbs Butter
• ¼ tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• 2 Tbs Mascarpone cheese (Blue Apron website says spreadable goat cheese, but my box came with mascarpone)