Growing up, Thanksgiving was always the same traditional foods at my house. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberry salad, and pie. Now, there's nothing wrong with traditional meals, but the best part of being an adult and creating a new family has been creating and changing our own traditions. We still enjoy a good Turkey, my husband craves his family's stuffing recipe, and I often miss my mom's cranberry salad, but this Mashed Acorn Squash has become my new favorite potato alternative. (Russet or Sweet). I hope y'all give it a try, and then make it your own! Happy Fall Y'all!

INGREDIENTS:

Medium-Large Acorn Squash

1 Whole Garlic Bulb

1 Green Onion

2 Tablespoons Butter

2 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan

Salt

Pepper

Step 1: Roasting the Garlic

•Pre-heat oven to 400º F

•Start with a Full Garlic Bulb

•Unwrap the outer layer until the outer cloves are almost exposed.

•Cut off the top tips of the cloves.

•Place Bulb on tinfoil and drizzle with Olive Oil.

•Loosely wrap the Garlic in the tinfoil and place in oven.

•Roast in 400ºF oven for 45 minutes

Step 2: Roasting the Acorn Squash

•Cut Acorn Squash in half, clean out seeds.

•Drizzle With Olive oil, apply salt and pepper to both inside halves.

•Place inside down on top of parchment paper on baking sheet.

•Roast in 400º oven for 30 minutes. ( I put in the oven with 20 minutes left on timer for Garlic, so garlic is ready before squash )

Step 3: Prepare the Remaining Ingredients

•Once the garlic is ready, maybe 5 minutes left before squash is ready, I like to prepare the remaining ingredients.

•Remove the Roasted Garlic cloves from the bulb. I use at least half the cloves (7-8 cloves) depending on the size of your garlic bulb. They should pop out pretty easily.

•Chop the Green Onion

•Portion out the 2 T of Butter & 2T of Parmesan

•Make ready a glass or metal bowl for mixing. I use a hand held potato masher.

Step 4: Finishing the Side Dish

•Remove the Acorn Squash from the oven, flip over, then remove the squash from the skins.

•Add all the ingredients to your bowl

•Mash all ingredients together

•Season with Salt and Pepper to taste

•Pair you side dish with your desired main course.

We Decided to pair our mashed acorn squash with a pork loin this evening. It was fantastic. I love the sweet/savory flavor profile of the squash/garlic combination! Please try it out yourself, and ENJOY!

If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, I love to hear feedback!

Thanks for reading!