Meatless Monday Recap

Often we enjoy a vegetarian dinner on Monday nights - sometimes we have meatless Tuesday or Wednesday instead.  My husband, in spite of being green-vegetable-averse, is very tolerant.  Last night's meal was a winner!  Roasted butternut squash and soysage pasta.  Yum!  Here's the deal:

Take one butternut squash, peal and chop into about 1" cubes.  Toss with some extra virgin olive oil (BTW, this is the only olive oil I ever use), salt and pepper and some fresh thyme and roast at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes, stirring once about half way. 

Meanwhile, get your pasta water boiling.  Chop 1/2 an onion and saute over medium low heat in a little olive oil.  Crumble the soysage into the pan and brown. 

When the butternut squash is almost finished, toss your pasta into the water and cook for about 6-8 minutes or as directed.  In this case, I used egg noodles.  When the pasta is ready, add it directly to your soysage and onion mixture with about 1/2 cup of pasta water and stir, scraping up the bits off the bottom of the pan.

Add the roasted butternut squash to your pasta mixture, along with 1/4 cup of chopped fresh parsley and stir gently.  Voila!  A delicious and beautiful dinner in about a half hour. 

I served with fresh green salad.  Delish!  You could certainly choose a more nutritious pasta - like whole wheat or a blend, but I used what I had on hand.  This would also be fantastic with a spicy Italian chicken sausage (dh's request for next time).  Fall and winter are ripe with delicious produce.  Be creative and enjoy the abundance, even when the weather's too stinkin' cold!  Be healthy!!