On the Menu tonight...Winter Bread Salad with roasted Butternut Sqaush and Mushrooms!

There are loads of other benefits and a great nutitional panel but I will leave you with just the anti inflammatory benefits.

Most of the research to date on winter squash and inflammation has either been conducted using laboratory animals, or has been focused on laboratory studies of cell activity. Still, results in this area have been fascinating and also promising with respect to winter squash as an anti-inflammatory food. In some of the more detailed studies, specific inflammation-related molecules, enzymes, or cell receptors (for example, nuclear factor kappa-B, nitric oxide synthase, or cyclo-oxygenase) have been studied as targets for the activity of the cucurbitacin molecules found in winter squash. Cucurbitacins are glycoside molecules found in a wide variety of foods, including the brassica vegetables, some mushrooms, and even some ocean mollusks. But they are named for the gourd-squash-melon family of foods (Cucurbitaceae) due to their initial discovery in this food family. Cucurbitacins can be extremely bitter tasting to animals as well as humans, and they are considered to be part of the plants' natural defense mechanisms. Yet the same properties that make cucurbitacins potentially toxic to some animals and microorganisms also make them effective as anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory substances when we consume them in winter squash.

While winter squash should not be treated as a high-fat food, it does contain fats, including the anti-inflammatory omega-3s. One cup of baked winter squash will provide you with approximately 340 milligrams of omega-3 fats in the form of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). While that amount is only about one-third as high as the concentration of ALA found in the "best of the best" omega-3 plant foods like walnuts, it is still a valuable amount being provided by a low-fat food. (Less than 15% of the calories in winter squash come from fat, compared with almost 90% of the calories in walnuts!). With winter squash, we have a fantastic anti-inflammatory food opportunity in which we can get a valuable amount of our anti-inflammatory omega-3s without much of a change in our total fat intake

What is winter bread?

Do you have a recipe for winter squash that kids will like???

And again it goes unhealthy when I cook it, sliced, battered, and fried with onions!

You would think with all the fat filled calorific food I give C he would gain weight at some point!

Jmrogers4 said:

What is winter bread?

LOL I guess it should be called Winter, Bread Salad. It is a bread salad with Winter veggies. Here is the recipe: I use Feta as my family doesn't like goat cheese.

1 (8-oz) pkg baby portobello mushrooms, cut in
half
1 lb butternut squash, peeled and cubed
6 Tbsp olive oil, divided
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper
1 (13-oz) French baguette, cut into 1-inch
cubes
1 (10-oz) bag baby arugula
½ cup dried unsweetened cranberries
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 (6-oz) pkg crumbled goat cheese with herbs

Preheat oven to 425°F. Combine
mushrooms, squash, 3 Tbsp oil, thyme, salt and
pepper in a roasting pan. Bake 30 to 35
minutes, turning once, until browned and almost
tender. Toss together 1 Tbsp oil and bread
cubes; add to roasting pan. Bake 5 to 8 minutes
longer or until bread is toasted; transfer to a
serving bowl. Add arugula and cranberries;
whisk together remaining 2 Tbsp oil and
vinegar. Add to salad; toss. Top with goat
cheese.

Farmwife said:

Do you have a recipe for winter squash that kids will like???

Pretty much just roast up some chunks of butternut squash and YUMMY! It I sweet and yummy...tastes like a dessert in my book.

Clash said:

And again it goes unhealthy when I cook it, sliced, battered, and fried with onions!

You would think with all the fat filled calorific food I give C he would gain weight at some point!

LOL! But dang girl that sounds good!

okay I'm with Clash - unhealthy version here
butter and brown sugar over butternut squash - YUM

Ya, I'm with Clash's recipe.
After all my son asked last week what a salad was. I know....that's bad. lol

Salads raw fruits/veggies are deadly for my kiddo
Instant watery D
He begs for fruits veggies salads
I have to say no.
Really not fair according to him.

Even lettuce on a cheeseburger is out

Oh yeah...I forgot my usual disclaimer...KNOW YOUR BODY OR YOUR CHILD's BODY.

But can he eat butternut squash?

Hey farmwife...you could also steam the butternut squash, mash it up and sprinkle some brown sugar with a dribble of syrup or butter. Pretty much anything you can do with sweet potatoes you can do with butternut squash...well except for fries.

Ha! You guys reckon you need a lesson in Aussie 101 when I speak! Well I need a lesson in Yank 101 when I come to this sub forum!

Butternut squash my arse, its butternut pumpkin!

Yeh, butternut pumpkin. It wonderful roasted or boiled. It makes a great pumpkin soup.

Pumpkin soup is an absolute staple in Australia, especially during the winter. It is sold in almost all lunch shops, is on many restaurant menus and made by most home cooks.

It can be anything from basic [steamed or roasted pumpkin, pureed, stock (or water or milk) added, plus seasoning] to very complex [other vegetables added or cooked with the pumpkin and any variety of spices or herbs used to taste]. It can be thin and elegant or thick and chunky.