Butternut Squash with Roasted Garlic and Thyme.

On one of my parents’ visits, we made them Ina’s skillet roast chicken, rice and beans, and this butternut squash. To be honest, this was my first time roasting any squash. I like squash, but Fatima doesn’t, so we’ve just stayed away. However, we welcomed squash back in our lives so we could feed it to our son. At least, I’ll have someone to share my butternut squash with.

When our son was 6 months, we started to introduce solids into his diet. We mashed up all the basics like bananas, pumpkin, apples, and lentils. We tried out a few already-made mixes of squash, beets, and prunes. By 8 months, we were pairing his food and then started to add in flavors like rosemary, dill, and thyme. Today, he’s 18 months and he loves butternut squash; mashed or stuffed into ravioli. I’m so happy he loves squash, but I feel like that’s one of the five or so foods that all toddlers automatically love?

Butternut Squash with Roasted Garlic and Thyme

Butternut squash seems like a general crowd-favorite to add to any meal. If you’re unsure if everyone likes squash, use butternut squash. Spaghetti squash comes in a close second. So many people (myself included) turn their noses up to squash. But once I finally tried it, I fell in love. Squash, like pumpkin, needs added flavor like butter, garlic, thyme, and other spices to liven it up. That’s what we did here.

The squash roasts in the oven until it’s done. In addition, we added garlic to the pits of the squash and those cloves roast as well. YUM. I could probably eat roasted garlic straight out of the oven. The roasted garlic flavor goes right into the squash, and the cloves eventually make their way in the squash once we mash it up. WIth a few warm spices and thyme, this warm, comforting flavor profile screams Thanksgiving.