Roasted Butternut Squash Pizza

I made this on Friday for my mom and her husband.

I hadn't popped by for a visit in a while

and as they are aging,

we never visit without bringing them a nice little meal.

They like their old school dining faire

and myself,

a junky for variety,

always feel compelled to bring them the kind

of meals that they would not 

make for themselves.

I like to make veggies the star,

because they both can benefit from healthier,

lighter faire. They both have health challenges that

can benefit with a focus on nutrition 

and I always feel the responsibility to provide that.

That being said,

I didn't have the time to invest in this that

I would have preferred

so they got what I had time for.

I was inspired by this recipe from Real Simple

and I tweaked it a wee bit.

Here's what you need:

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes

1 small yellow onion sliced in rings, then in half

3 Tbsp Olive Oil (I never measure)

1 1/2 tsp Celtic Sea Salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 1lb package of refrigerated pizza dough

1 Tbsp cornmeal

1 Tbsp of thyme

1/2 C fresh ricotta

1/4 C fresh mozerella (my special addition

Follow the directions for the pizza dough. Mine required resting for 20 minutes before stretching and rolling out. Next time, I will probably start earlier and make my own pizza dough. I prefer it and it doesn't get doughy in the middle.

Preheat 400

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil,

thrown on the squash, onions, salt pepper, olive oil, and thyme.

 Toss it all around and bake for 20 minutes.

It was so hard not to eat all of this when it was done,

I kept thinking that I could just stop at a local place and pick her up

a pizza. She'd never know after all.

So I proceeded with original plan and just promised

myself to roast a butternut squash once a week.

Amazing!

And filling!!

Then I stretched out the dough on my pizza stone,

topped it with squash,

then dropped little pieces of ricotta and fresh mozarella all over,

re salted and peppered. 

When making pizza at home, I always drizzle olive oil 

around the edges of the pizza and also dust lightly with sea salt.

It gets a beautiful color around the edges and tastes great with a little salt,

think pretzels or salty soft crackers.

Put this in the oven on

450.

About 25 minutes later,

the yummiest fall pizza was cooling on the counter.

I loved it.

Sprinkled it with some fresh flat leaf parsley because I felt that visually it needed a rich color to compliment the pigment of the squash.

So pizza, a small Caesar salad with lots of parmesan, and a small bag of kettle corn

from the Farmer's Market,

and an easy throw together meal was delivered to 

two very grateful grandparents.

Quite likely,

I'll make it again this week for my family.

I think it would be wonderful with a small cup of Portobello Soup or Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato (two very delicious boxed soups that I LOVE),

crunchy Kale salad, 

and a beautiful glass of chardonnay.

I've already concocted several tweaks to this meal that will probably pop up on this throughout fall and winter.

The butternut squash is absolutely addicting to me, 

and a wonderful companion to many flavor profiles that I am getting

giddy about trying. 

So check back with me.

Let me know if you think you'll make this baby

and let me know how you like it and 

how you did it!

Yum.