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Dinner Ideas Healthy Kids and Teens Real Food 101 Real Food Tips

Gluten Free Veggie Loaded Taco Casserole

February 20, 2023

This isn’t just any taco casserole! Packed with grass-fed beef, nutrient dense liver, and mineral rich veggies, this nourishing dinner is next level!

Gluten Free Veggie Loaded Taco Casserole

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Mid-West staples…

Snow and winter casseroles…it doesn’t get any more Mid-West than that, I’d say! It’s been a strange winter, with lower than usual snow amounts, but of course the cold weather still hangs around, which means one of our favorite winter dinner warm-up’s – an easy, comforting, nourishing, casserole!

Gluten Free Veggie Loaded Taco Casserole

A casserole, nourishing?!

I know, I know. If you google Mid-West casseroles or hot-dishes, you’re going to find many meals with creamed condensed soup bases, and not a whole lot of other nutrients other than some meat. In fact, if you are anything like me, and grew up in the Mid-West, you probably remember these casserole or hot-dish dinners being one of the actual “homemade” things that your parents made, condensed soup and bagged cheese and all! There is nothing wrong with these comforting, beautiful memories! But there are definitely ways to bring these warm, comforting meals to this generation of kids, and give them an ingredient upgrade!

Gluten Free Veggie Loaded Taco Casserole

A casserole ingredient upgrade!

Here are some of the ways I’ve taken a typical Mid-West taco casserole concept, and added in a load of minerals and nutrients for your growing family!

  • Use grassfed beef as well as pastured liver. Grass-fed beef is loaded with fat soluble vitamins, CLA, and protein, but anytime you make a ground beef recipe, it is a fantastic opportunity to add organ meats like liver. Organ meats like livers from pastured chickens are loaded with so much retinol -it is one of the best, most concentrated sources of the vitamin A that our growing children need for so many body functions and immune health. Liver is a fantastic source of protein, as well as B vitamins that so many of us do not consume enough of.
  • Veggie load without changing the taste or texture! Yes it can be done! And if you’re kids are reluctant to eat a side salad to get veggies in at dinner, this is a great way to get those mineral rich veggies into the kids. I’ll show you a little bit later how to make them disappear into the casserole, and you’ll be shocked at just how many veggies you can get into this pan!
  • And I’m only going to ask you to ditch 2 things. Adding is so easy! Ditching is hard, and I’m going to make it easy for you! First, we are going to ditch the bagged cheese and grate our own – I didn’t even say you needed to ditch the cheese! Cheese is so good for us if you tolerate dairy! Avoiding bagged shredded cheese will help you avoid the random, unnecessary fillers, starches, and food coloring. And we are also going to ditch seasonings that have sugar or any junky fillers and starches. There is a really easy taco seasoning blend that I linked in the recipe, and you can keep this for months in your spice cupboard to use for all of your taco themed meals!
Gluten Free Veggie Loaded Taco Casserole

Lets talk about the veggie loading!

If you have a shredder, or a shredding attachment on your food processor, your life just got a little easier! I am a true foodie at heart, and really do find it cathartic and calming to chop, and chop, and chop away, but many days, I really don’t have the time for it, and my shredder is a big time saver! It also helps to get the veggies into this form for kids (or adults!) that don’t love “pieces” in their food, or will push the plate away if they *see* any veggies. You can see how small the shredding makes the veggies, and it goes so fast too. They virtually disappear into the casserole. I like to keep the peppers and onions diced, but you can absolutely shred all of the veggies too!

Gluten Free Veggie Loaded Taco Casserole
Gluten Free Veggie Loaded Taco Casserole

Let’s get started!

You’re going to get your casserole filling started by softening the veggies in some butter. This helps them get soft and sweet, and they will not only add delicious flavor to your casserole, you’ll get a veggie mineral punch added in there too!

Gluten Free Veggie Loaded Taco Casserole

Finishing the filling

Once the veggies are cooked, you’ll add the beef, liver, and taco seasoning, and cook everything until the beef and liver is browned. You can make the meal without the liver if you don’t have access to quality liver, but if you do, it is a great way to get this nutrient loaded food into your family! Once the meat is cooked, you can add the tomato sauce and salsa. This just needs to simmer for a couple minutes to warm through, and then you are ready to assemble the casserole!

Gluten Free Veggie Loaded Taco Casserole
Gluten Free Veggie Loaded Taco Casserole

Let’s assemble the taco casserole!

This is the easy part! Start with scooping about a third of the filling into the bottom of your casserole dish. Then, you’ll layer corn tortillas over the top. After you layer your tortillas, add another third of the filling and sprinkle some cheese. Finally, add the second layer of tortillas, spread the last of the filling, and top it with cheese.

Gluten Free Veggie Loaded Taco Casserole

If you are grain and/or dairy free

If you don’t tolerate corn, or are grain free, simply leave the corn out of the filling. You’ll also want to swap the corn tortillas for cassava or almond flour tortillas – you can find these at most stores these days! If you are dairy free, you can leave the cheese out, or you can use the Viola Life coconut based cheese – it melts so good!

Gluten Free Veggie Loaded Taco Casserole

Gluten Free Veggie Loaded Taco Casserole

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp friendly fat to cook in butter, coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, lard
  • 1 small onion diced
  • 1 medium bell pepper diced
  • ¼ of a large head cauliflower shredded, chopped finely, or frozen riced cauliflower
  • 1 large carrot shredded
  • 1 cup frozen corn or canned corn (drain it first)
  • 2 lbs grassfed ground beef
  • 1/4 – 1/2 cup grated frozen liver you can add more if you want!
  • 3 tbsp taco seasoning NOT taco seasoning that has thickening starches – I use my DIY Taco Season Blend
  • 3-4 cups baby spinach chopped
  • 1 – 15 ounce can tomato sauce
  • 1 – 15 ounce jar salsa of choice
  • Sea salt and pepper to taste
  • 12 corn tortillas
  • 1-2 cups shredded cheese of choice I use Manchego, a sheep’s milk cheese

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. You’ll need a 9×13 pan for baking the casserole. You do NOT need to grease the pan.
  • Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, and melt the butter. Add the onion, pepper, cauliflower, carrot, and corn with a big pinch of sea salt. Sauté the veggies and the corn until soft and sweet, about 7-10 minutes.
  • Add the ground beef, liver, and taco seasoning, break up the beef, and brown the beef and liver with the veggies.
  • Once the beef/liver is browned, add the baby spinach, tomato sauce, and salsa, and bring to a simmer for a couple minutes. Turn the heat off, and taste the filling for salt and pepper to your taste.
  • Spoon 1/3 of the taco filling into the bottom of your 9×13 pan. Layer 6 corn tortillas, and then scoop another 1/3 of the taco filling over the corn tortillas. Sprinkle 1/2 cup or so of the cheese, and then layer the other 6 corn tortillas on top. Spread out the last 1/3 of the taco filling, and top with a good 1 cup or so of cheese to your liking.
  • Bake the taco casserole, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Then, place the casserole under the broiler and broil for 3-5 minutes, until the cheese is golden on top.

Notes

  • Most taco seasoning blends have starches to make a thickened sauce. This will not work in this recipe. You will either need to get a taco blend that does not have starches, or this simple DIY taco season blend can be made – you probably already have all of the seasonings in your spice rack! I typically double or triple this into a jar with a lid and keep it in the spice cupboard to use easily.
  • I like to use the shredding attachment on my food processor to make this super fast and easy. You do NOT have to shred the veg if you don’t want to – I enjoy chopping and do this sometimes when I have the time, as the bits of veggies don’t bother my kids. If you have veggie-hesitant kids, or bits and pieces hesitant kids, the shredding really works so well to make the veg disappear – you can shred the onion and pepper too if you want!
  • You can swap the veggies for what you have around! Cabbage shreds very nicely, as well as sweet potato.
  • If you don’t tolerate corn, or are grain free, simply leave the corn out of the filling. You’ll also want to swap the corn tortillas for cassava or almond flour tortillas – you can find these at most stores these days!
  • If you are dairy free, you can leave the cheese out, or you can use the Viola Life coconut based cheese – it melts so good!

More real food recipes you might like!

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Creamy Sausage, Potato, & Spinach Soup :: A Copycat Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana Done Gluten & Dairy Free!

January 16, 2023

This creamy sausage, potato, & spinach soup is a Copycat Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana with all of the creamy flavor, and none of the gluten and dairy!

Creamy Sausage, Potato, & Spinach Soup :: A Copycat Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana Done Gluten & Dairy Free!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Cold weather comfort food, and a teen favorite!

Earlier this fall, my 13 year old had a potluck to cook for at school. We scanned the sign up, and noticed it was fairly “Italian” themed with different pastas and salad. When I saw the section that asked for someone to bring soup, I thought I’d show my middle schooler the delicious comfort of an old Olive Garden restaurant favorite, with a healthy real food spin of course!

Creamy Sausage, Potato, & Spinach Soup :: A Copycat Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana Done Gluten & Dairy Free!

A new teen hit with an old restaurant favorite

She helped me make that “Zuppa Toscana,” and I’m telling, you those middle schoolers licked every last drop clean! Creamy sausage and potatoes…what teenager wouldn’t love that?! We have made it a number of time since, and the girls have claimed this as one of their favorite winter soups now, so I just had to share!

Creamy Sausage, Potato, & Spinach Soup :: A Copycat Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana Done Gluten & Dairy Free!

The Method :: Brown the Sausage

You’ll start your Zuppa Toscana by browning some sausage in a soup pot. I like to use a little of the bacon grease leftover from the weekend to cook in to add even more flavor to the soup, but a little butter or olive oil work great too. And speaking of options, you have choices for the sausage too! If you have a local farmer that you like to support, you can get either their ground sausage, or get plain ground pork and season it yourself! I have an MSG free and sugar free Sausage Season Blend on the blog! There are even some store bought sausages that aren’t so bad in the ingredient department if you look around. At our home, we tend to use our grassfed ground beef from the cow we get for the freezer each year, and season it with my own Sausage Season Blend. If you have ground venison, turkey, or chicken, that does work too!

Creamy Sausage, Potato, & Spinach Soup :: A Copycat Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana Done Gluten & Dairy Free!

The Method :: Cook the veggies

After you brown the sausage, you’ll scoop the meat out with a slotted spoon, leaving behind all of the cooking fat. Use this flavorful cooking fat to sauté your veggies in. This step gives a yummy caramelized flavor to the veggies that will flavor the broth – don’t skip this step!

Creamy Sausage, Potato, & Spinach Soup :: A Copycat Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana Done Gluten & Dairy Free!

The Method :: The Potatoes & Creamy Broth

Once your veggies have softened, you’ll stir in some garlic and flour of your choice to coat the veggies. I use a GF flour blend. I would not try using almond or coconut flours as these will not yield the same texture results for the broth. The flour gives the broth a rich, velvety texture that will mix with the coconut milk or cream at the end to create a super creamy, decadent broth. After you stir the flour in, you can pour in the broth and toss the potatoes in. You’ll simmer this until the potatoes are soft, stirring along the way.

Creamy Sausage, Potato, & Spinach Soup :: A Copycat Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana Done Gluten & Dairy Free!

The Method :: Finishing the Soup

Once your potatoes have softened, you can stir in the spinach to wilt and also the coconut milk to add creaminess. You have some options here as well. I like to use baby spinach since I always have a large box of it on hand, and it wilts super quick. Baby kale works well too. If you want to use large kale, you’ll want to add it in while the potatoes are cooking for the last few minutes so the tougher kale has a chance to soften. If you don’t need to be dairy free, you can swap the coconut milk for cream or milk. If you are using raw cream or milk, be sure to add it after the heat is turned off so you don’t ruin the beautiful health benefits of the raw dairy!

Creamy Sausage, Potato, & Spinach Soup :: A Copycat Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana Done Gluten & Dairy Free!

Leftovers!

The leftovers of this soup are…incredible! The flavors marry over time and just get better the next day. So plan this one into your dinner, and you can have it for lunch the next day, or pack it in the kids’ thermoses for school the next day! My teen and tween in particular ask for this in their lunchboxes a lot lately. I’m not a fan of freezing soups that have potatoes – they just don’t have the same texture when they thaw out, and I wouldn’t waste it. Make enough for the week and leftovers and enjoy. It’s simple enough to make on a monthly or bi-weekly basis if the family loves it that much!

Creamy Sausage, Potato, & Spinach Soup :: A Copycat Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana Done Gluten & Dairy Free!

Creamy Sausage, Potato, & Spinach Soup :: A Copycat Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana Done Gluten & Dairy Free!

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp bacon grease butter, or olive oil to cook in
  • 1 lb ground sausage of choice See Notes for options
  • 1 large onion diced
  • 2 large carrots peeled and diced
  • 1 celery stalk diced
  • 4-5 cloves of garlic minced
  • ¼ cup GF flour blend
  • 1 ½ quarts bone broth
  • 4 large yellow potatoes cubed in ½ inch pieces (ends up being about 4 cups of cubed potatoes)
  • 4 cups baby spinach or baby kale chopped small
  • 1 cup coconut milk or cream
  • Sea salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Melt the bacon grease in a soup pot over medium high heat, and brown the sausage. Using a slotted spoon, remove the sausage from the pot once it is browned, leaving the cooking fat behind in the soup pot. There needs to be a good tablespoon of fat in the pot leftover from cooking the sausage – if there isn’t, add a little more bacon grease, butter, or olive oil so you can cook the veggies.
  • Over medium heat, saute the onion, carrot, and celery in the leftover sausage cooking fat with a pinch of salt, until the veggies are soft and sweet, around 7 minutes or so.
  • Add the garlic and flour and cook for 1 minute.
  • Add the bone broth and potatoes, stir to combine, and put the lid on your pot. Bring the soup to a simmer, and cook until the potatoes are very soft – about 10 minutes. Stir the soup every few minutes to be sure the potatoes don’t stick to the bottom.
  • Once the potatoes are soft, stir in the cooked sausage and the chopped spinach to wilt in. If you are using kale, you’ll need to cook it down a few minutes to soften.
  • Turn the heat off, add the coconut milk, and then salt and pepper the soup to your taste.

Notes

You can use farm-bought, store-bought, or homemade ground sausage. I typically use my own DIY sausage seasoning blend mixed into ground beef actually, since we get a grassfed cow every year and our freezer is stocked with grassfed ground beef. The blend also works in ground pork if you have access to good ground pork. If you are a deer hunter, ground venison would work nicely!
Creamy Sausage, Potato, & Spinach Soup :: A Copycat Olive Garden® Zuppa Toscana Done Gluten & Dairy Free!

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Roasted Pumpkin Chicken Noodle Soup

October 12, 2021

Give your chicken noodle soup a flavor upgrade using roasted pumpkin to create a creamy and sweet kid friendly broth!

Roasted Pumpkin Chicken Noodle Soup

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Autumn changes and family transitions!

There are just “barely there” hints of the leaves changing colors around these parts in the last few weeks, and as we watch the autumn transition in Michigan, our family is moving into new transitions as well! We aren’t leaving our sweet little beachy town that we love so dearly, but we are moving into a new home, and while the build finishes in the next couple of months we will be making all of the transitions that come along with moving a family of five, while trying to keep a sense of normalcy for the kids.

Roasted Pumpkin Chicken Noodle Soup

Comfort food

It is absolutely a thing, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with easing the stress of temporary life happenings with a bowl of something familiar and comforting. One of my kiddos was having a particularly hard time with the thought of leaving her bedroom for someone else, and after we talked it through, and worked through all the life skills one little 10 year old can muster, we talked about what we could possibly move on with that evening and have for dinner. Her choice was chicken noodle soup, and that just made my real food momma heart burst. I want my kids to think of the food from home when they think of comfort, and this just hits that mark for me!

Roasted Pumpkin Chicken Noodle Soup

Classic chicken noodle with a comforting, creamy fall twist!

I just happened to notice the little pie pumpkin still sitting on my counter that needed to be used up, and decided to give it a quick roast to stir into the broth of my chicken noodle soup. Sure, a can of pumpkin would do the trick, but filling the house with that roasted pumpkin flavor after a day of hard emotions was exactly what my family needed. There is also nothing like the depth, sweetness, and creamy texture that you get from putting a roasted pumpkin puree into a soup broth. It is one of my tricks to incredible soup broth in 3 soups here on the blog – the Beef & Kale Soup, Smokey Sweet Pumpkin Corn Chowder, and also the Autumn Harvest Chicken Stew, and I just knew it would take this chicken noodle soup to the next level!

Roasted Pumpkin Chicken Noodle Soup

The Method :: Roasting the pumpkin

There is really nothing easier. And pumpkins are easier to cut than a thick butternut squash – promise! Just cut the pumpkin in half, and butter the flesh. Sprinkle the pumpkin flesh with salt and pepper and also a bit of cinnamon. YES, cinnamon in a chicken noodle soup! There is just the slightest hint of warm sweetness that will knock your socks off when it simmers with the sage once it’s in the broth. It’s truly everything about fall that we love!

Roasted Pumpkin Chicken Noodle Soup

The Method :: The pumpkin puree

While your pumpkin roasts, you’ll make the base of the soup. It is a very classic chicken noodle soup base with a slight twist because the sage brings the comfort level up about 10 notches! After you pour the pasta into the broth to cook, you’ll scoop your pumpkin flesh into a blender and to puree until smooth. Give the kids a taste if they have never tasted roasted pumpkin before – be warned you may not end up with much left for the soup though! It is one of my girls very favorite side dishes all fall and winter long!

Roasted Pumpkin Chicken Noodle Soup

Finishing the soup off

Once you’ve blended your cinnamon roasted pumpkin, you’ll add the puree to the soup broth while the pasta finishes cooking. The squash will melt right in, giving a sweet creaminess to the broth. But we’re not done there! Once the pasta is cooked, and the heat is off, a generous splash of creamy coconut milk adds to the decadency of this soup, and you can also wilt in some finely chopped spinach. The spinach leaves zero flavor, but adds pretty color and a pop of nutrients too!

Roasted Pumpkin Chicken Noodle Soup

A few tips for prepping ahead for faster soup making

From start to finish, this soup may not be the most weeknight friendly in prep considering the roasting time for the pumpkin, BUT you CAN do a couple of things to prep ahead before the week so that you CAN make this soup on a weeknight. Firstly, the pumpkin can be roasted and pureed days in advance. Pop it into the oven on the weekend when you are at home, and stash it away in the fridge for later in the week. The chicken can also be a prep ahead item. If you don’t have leftover chicken, you can brown up chicken breast cubes right in the soup pot before you make the soup, or make it days ahead of time. There are multiple ways to cook a whole chicken every week in order to have leftover chicken for weekly meals! If you aren’t in to a Sunday dinner roasted chicken, you can cook a whole chicken in your slow cooker, or cook your whole chicken in your Instant Pot!

If you don’t have leftover chicken, you can brown up chicken breast cubes right in the soup pot before you make the soup. Remove the browned chicken and start the soup from there. There are multiple ways to cook a whole chicken every week in order to have leftover chicken for weekly meals! If you aren't in to a Sunday dinner roasted chicken, you can cook a whole chicken in your slow cooker, or cook your whole chicken in your Instant Pot!

A note about our favorite fall squashes!

Dear momma, squashes are not just “baby food!” If you have veggie hesitant kids, greens are not the easiest place to start in my humble opinion! Squash not only tastes amazing, they are absolutely loaded with minerals. These kids need real, and substantial fuel. Squash will replenish electrolytes, fill them up with slow burning carbohydrate fiber, and open their palates to the idea of veggies tasting good. Give the kids a spoonful of that roasted squash before you add it to the soup – I really think you are going to see how a buttery cinnamon roasted pumpkin can quickly become a veggie favorite for your crew.

Roasted Pumpkin Chicken Noodle Soup

Roasted Pumpkin Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp butter divided (you can use ghee, coconut oil, olive oil, or avocado oil if you are dairy free)
  • 1 small/medium pie pumpkin halved and seeds scooped out
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • ¼ tsp pepper
  • ¼ tsp cinnamon
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 1 large carrot diced
  • 1 large celery stalk diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic minced
  • ½ tsp dried thyme
  • ½ tsp ground sage
  • 2 cups cubed cooked chicken I use leftovers from our weekly roasted chicken
  • 2 quarts bone broth
  • 2 cups dry pasta of choice I use the GF Jovial Rice Spirals
  • ½ cup full fat coconut milk
  • 1 big handful of baby spinach finely chopped
  • Sea salt/pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.
  • Place your halved pumpkin flesh side up in a baking dish. Rub 1 tablespoon of butter over the flesh and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon sea salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and some cinnamon. Roast the pumpkin at 425 degrees for 50 minutes, until the flesh is fork tender and fragrant. While the pumpkin roasts, you can prepare the rest of the soup.
  • Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large soup pot over medium high heat, and add the onion, carrot, and celery with a pinch of sea salt. Cook the veggies over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until the veggies are soft and fragrant, about 5-7 minutes.
  • Add the garlic, thyme, and sage to the soup pot, stir to combine, and cook for a minute or two.
  • Add the cubed chicken and bone broth, and bring to a boil. Add the pasta, and reduce to a simmer to cook the pasta until al dente. While the pasta starts cooking, you can prepare the pumpkin to add to the broth.
  • Scoop the pumpkin flesh out of the shell and into your food processor or blender. Blend the pumpkin until smooth. Add the pumpkin puree to the soup pot where the pasta is cooking and stir to combine.
  • When the pasta is cooked to al dente, turn the heat off, add the coconut milk and chopped spinach, stir to combine, and season with salt and pepper to your taste.

Notes

  • If you don’t have leftover chicken, you can brown up chicken breast cubes right in the soup pot before you make the soup. Remove the browned chicken and start the soup from there.
  • There are multiple ways to cook a whole chicken every week in order to have leftover chicken for weekly meals! If you aren’t in to a Sunday dinner roasted chicken, you can cook a whole chicken in your slow cooker, or cook your whole chicken in your Instant Pot!
  • You can use regular milk or cream in place of the coconut milk if you are not dairy free.
  • You can use canned pumpkin if you wish – about 1 cup of puree. The roasted flavor from cooking a pumpkin is super worth it in the flavor though just fyi!
  • Save your pumpkin seeds to roast! I like to soak them in sea salt and water, toss with avocado oil, sea salt, and cinnamon on a sheet tray, and then cook at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes.
Roasted Pumpkin Chicken Noodle Soup

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Stuffed Butterkin Squash

September 21, 2021

A cross between a butternut squash and pumpkin, this little stuffed butterkin squash is sure to be a kid favorite!

Stuffed Butterkin Squash

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Fall hikes and meal routines

We’re getting into the season of layers here in Michigan! We start out in hoodies and by the end of the hike the kids have peeled off all the layers to enjoy the golden warmth of the fall sun! We have a Sunday routine of hiking every weekend, and in the fall that routine also includes a roasted chicken for Sunday dinner. One of my favorite things to do with the leftover chicken is make an easy filling for a stuffed squash, and this week, we make it very weekday friendly – meaning super simple! So I thought you might like to see how to do it!

Stuffed Butterkin Squash

Stuffed squash basics!

While a stuffed squash looks fancy, I promise you this is a busy mom’s dream dinner. Comforting and satisfying without the fuss and time of usual comfort dinners, makes for the perfect weekday meal. Really, a stuffed squash is just a roasted squash filled with a protein/veggie stir fry, and topped with cheese or crispy topping. Its dinner all in one, hitting all of the protein, fat, and carbohydrate needs for growing kids. Win-win! You can truly use any squash, and once you try it, you’ll see why there are 3 other stuffed squash recipes on my blog, and one in my cookbook, Nourished Beginnings!

Stuffed Butterkin Squash

Ok, sounds good! But what in the world is a butterkin squash?!

We discovered these cutie little squashes a couple years ago, and it has become a family favorite. The butterkin squash is a cross-breed of butternut squash, and pumpkin – get it? Butter-kin! In my taste palate opinion, while it has more of the shape of a pumpkin, it tastes more like a butternut squash – buttery smooth, and sweet. It has a really kid-friendly texture and honey sweet taste. If you don’t have access to a butterkin squash, you can make this stuffed squash with a butternut squash, pumpkin, or acorn squash – all equally delicious!

Stuffed Butterkin Squash

The Method :: Roasting the butterkin squash

I promise the cutting part is not intimidating, so long as you have a proper knife! I will also promise you that while it is much faster to just plop any squash in the Instant Pot to pressure cook away, the flavor and texture that you will get from properly roasting a squash is second to none – the kids are going to inhale this! Using a sharp knife, slice around the width of the butterkin squash, so that you have the top and bottom, equal transverse halves. Scoop the seeds out, and put them into an oven safe baking dish or cast iron skillet. You can have the kids spread the butter all over the flesh of the squash, and then sprinkle it with salt and pepper. You’ll roast the squash for 50 minutes, which gives you plenty of time to make the filling – in fact you will probably have time to clean up and do other things as well!

Stuffed Butterkin Squash

The Method :: The stuffed squash filling

The sky is the limit here! This week called for the simplest of the simple. I just needed basic. Some weeks I like to get fancy with more veggie variety, but I just didn’t have it in me this week, and truthfully those kind of dinners are sometimes the best. I had a lot of spinach to use up, and mushrooms just jive so well with that, so I went with it. Use whatever you have in your veggie bin – this filling is a great way to use up leftover veggies from the week and clear the fridge out. You’ll cook the veggies in butter until fragrant and golden, and then add the chicken, garlic, and spinach. This filling really only takes 15 minutes to cook, and it can be done ahead of time too! I like to use a few splashes of broth for flavor and moisture since leftover chicken can be dry. The result of the broth cooked down with the mushrooms, onions, and garlic leaves a very flavorful filling for your sweet squash!

Stuffed Butterkin Squash
Stuffed Butterkin Squash

The Method :: Stuffing the squash, and finishing the topping

Once your filling is cooked, and the squash is done roasting, all you have to do is load up the squash with the filling – don’t be shy! Pack it in! And then you can sprinkle the topping on. Again, on this day I needed simple. I used the Ian’s Gluten Free Panko Breadcrumbs mixed with freshly grated parm, and called it good. You can do all cheese if you want, or there are some notes in the recipe card for a topping idea that is both grain and dairy free if you need that. Once you sprinkle your topping, get it up under your oven broiler for a few minutes, and you’re ready to eat!

Stuffed Butterkin Squash

Leftovers?!

If there happens to be any leftovers (a rarity in my house these days!), they truly make *THE* best breakfast the next day topped with a fried egg. Seriously heaven. It could also make a great leftover lunch too. If you think far enough ahead, you could technically roast off 2 full squashes and double the filling if you want more leftover (or have a bigger family!)

Stuffed Butterkin Squash

Stuffed Butterkin Squash

Ingredients

  • 1 medium butterkin squash cut in half across the width, seeds scooped out
  • 2 tbsp butter divided
  • Sea salt/pepper to taste
  • 1 small onion diced
  • 4 ounces mushrooms sliced
  • 1 clove of garlic minced
  • 2-3 cups leftover cooked chicken shredded or finely chopped (you could also brown up ½ pound of chicken beforehand)
  • 3-4 cups baby spinach or baby kale chopped small
  • ½ tsp dried thyme
  • 2-4 tbsp bone broth stock, or water for cooking in
  • ¼ cup GF Panko bread crumbs see notes below for grain free option
  • ¼ cup parmesan cheese see Notes below for dairy free option
  • Sea salt/pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.
  • Place the halved butterkin squashes flesh side up in a baking dish, and spread 1 tbsp of butter over the flesh of the squash. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast at 425 degrees for 50 minutes. While the squash roasts, you can make the filling.
  • To make the filling, melt 1 tbsp of butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion and mushrooms with a pinch of salt and cook over medium high heat for 5 minutes until fragrant and golden.
  • Add the garlic and the chicken, stir to combine, and cook for 1 minute.
  • Add the spinach, thyme, and splashes of bone broth and cook until the spinach wilts and the broth cooks off – this takes a few minutes.
  • When the squashes are done roasting, turn the oven off, and take the baking dish with the squash out. Scoop the chicken/spinach skillet mixture into each half of the butterkin squash, patting the filling down into the middle.
  • Whisk the GF Panko breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese together in a small bowl and sprinkle over each squash half.
  • Put the stuffed squashes under the oven broiler on “HI” for 3-5 minutes watching carefully for a beautiful golden color. Every oven broiler can run differently so take a peek after a couple minutes in case yours runs hotter.

Notes

  • I like to use leftover chicken from my weekly roasted whole chicken. It makes meals like this so fast and cost effective to stretch that one roasted chicken dinner into 2!
  • If you don’t have leftover chicken, you can brown up about ½ pound of chicken or beef.
  • If you are dairy free and/or grain free, you can swap the gluten free panko crumbs for 3 tbsp almond flour mixed with 1-2 tsp olive oil.
  • This is such a simple veggie mixture for this stuffing. If you have different veggies on hand, go ahead and swap! Stuffed squashes are a great way to empty the leftover veggies in the fridge from the week.
Stuffed Butterkin Squash

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