Mediterranean-ish Butt-Nut Lasagna

So, I was given a lot of butternut squash. When I say, “a lot” I mean A LOT. Like, a lot, a lot. Like, a lot a lot a lot. This butt-nut was grown by my friend’s dad in his garden. Locally grown, organic, ginormous squash! I almost lost it when he brought this baby in. To give you some perspective on the size, see below – beer bottle in comparison.

Before he gave it to me he said, “Hey Cat, I told my dad I’d take one of his butternut squashes, but only if you’ll share it with me and take half.” I thought, HALF? Ok, I can easily make something small with half a butt-nut. No prob. Then he walks in with a butt-nut on steroids.

I made a few dishes with it so far. I still have a few to go..

I decided to make a butt-nut lasagna. It was almost a fail because I used way too much tomato sauce so it didn’t hold together very well right after I took it out of the oven. However, after I let it sit for an hour or so, it held together just fine!

I made a half-paleo half-primal butt-nutt lasagna so that my hubbo could enjoy some cheese.

Butt-Nut & Meat Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 large butt-nut squash
• 1 lb ground beef (or sausage meat)
• 1 yellow onion
• 12 or so kalamata olives (to taste – I used all I had left)
• 1 large chopstick grab of sundried tomatoes (I used Trader Joe’s brand)
• 3/4 large can of tomato sauce
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• mushrooms (optional – I didn’t have any)
• 1 bulb garlic
• ghee (or coconut oil)

Spices:

• garlic pow
• black pepper
• rosemary
• oregano
• basil
• sage
• fennel (optional – I did not have any)

Directions:

• preheat oven to 400 degrees
• saute chopped onions in ghee/coconut oil
• add olives & sundried tomatoes
• add spices & sauté together
• add ground beef & more ghee/cooking oil as necessary
• add tomato sauce & tomato paste
• simmer & mix well
• you can use a 9×9 baking pan (and do more layers) or the rectangular one I used (below – I only did 3 layers)
• layer bottom with meat sauce so the butt-nut doesn’t stick
• layer sliced butt-nut as if they were lasagna noodles
• add another layer of meat sauce then butt-nut until you run out of both
• Optional: add ricotta cheese on top of meat sauce layers for a primal lasagna. I made half my lasagna with ricotta
• cover with foil & bake for 30 min
• remove foil & bake for another 30 or until squash is soft (I would watch it after 15 min or so – every oven is different)
• let sit for 15-20 min if possible before serving, that way the lasagna will hold together better
• if hangry, just dig into the pile of mush that you’ll scoop onto your plate with a spoon bc sometimes WE JUST CAN’T WAIT. MMMmkay.

I loved this dish! We had leftovers for a few days too bc I made so much.

Hurlwon is destroying his toys pretty quickly nowadays so we bought him this durable stuffed animal. It’s made it a few weeks now so that’s pretty good. Here he is pacifying with a stuffed alligator. That’s normal right?