I think I might have a new food love.  Butternut squash fries.  Oh my good golly miss molly these are addictingly good. They actually taste to me a bit more like potatoes but with a twist. I liked these actually better than sweet potato fries.  I'm not sure if squash is actually better for fries or if this batch just happen to turn out better.  Either way it's a great way to get your kids friends or spouse to eat their veggies and to use up extra produce.  We didn't grow any squash this year after our horrible infestation of our squash crops last year, but we did snag a super deal at our local farmers market for a huge bucket of squash the last day of the market this year.


The key to making this great comes down to using good ingredients wisely.  I chose to use ghee (clarifed butter) because it is very stable at high temperatures (more stable than butter) and taste great too!  I often use coconut oil but it often smokes at 350 degrees (a little higher if it's refined).  And I wanted to cook it at a temperature around 400 to ensure a little browning and crispness.

Why I Choose to Use Ghee
You need to be very careful of what fat you cook with because many are not only bad for your health because they are high in omega 6 (vegetable, peanut, safflower oil, etc.), but also polyunsaturated fats are unstable when cooked at higher temps regardless of smoke point.  Meaning the fats will go rancid when cooked at high temps.  So in other words saturated fats like coconut oil, butter or ghee, and tallow (saturated animal fats) are actually the safest to use for most cooking and baking.  Olive oil as you know is incredibly tasty and healthy but is very unstable and best left for light heat or no cooking like salad dressings, mayo, and topping of marinara or other sauces after the heat is turned off. 

Why You Should Make Your Own Mayo for the Aioli Sauce 
(I promise it's so easy you'll wonder why you never did it before)

Making aioli sauce was super easy and oh so good and believe it or not pretty healthy.  Mayo healthy?  I know that doesn't sound right but if you make it from scratch and use only mayo and eggs that were raised with omega 3 supplemental feed or access to bugs and plants for feed, it's actually good fat.  I know your thinking I don't need to make mayo I already buy olive oil mayonaise.  If you think you did think again and check the ingredient label.  I guarantee you other types of oils were used and olive oil will be the lowest oil on the ingredient list.  Not to mention who knows the quality of the olive oil.    So check out my recipe for making olive oil mayonaise I swear it's easy, fast (will take less time than going to the store to buy any) and taste way better than any store bought stuff.

Garlic Butternut Squash Fries Baked in Ghee

Ingredients

1 butternut squash peeled and cut into this fry shaped pieces (roughly 1/3" thick)
2 Tablespoons organic grass fed ghee (clarified butter) ( found in most global aisles of stores) or make your own
1 tsp garlic powder
sea salt to taste (I used 2 big pinches)

Directions

1.  Pre heat oven to 400 degrees F
2.  If you have not peeled and cut you squash into fry shaped pieces (roughly 1/3" thick) do so now.

3. melt ghee in the microwave (use melt button or a very low power) or a butter or little sauce pan on the stove on warm.  Once melted and sea salt
4.  put the butternut squash fry shaped pieces onto a baking sheet that's big enough to allow for space around each pieces and pour the melted ghee over it and toss until evenly coated.
5. Bake for 10 min and flip over the fries.  Remove any pieces that look done (just a little brown on both sides) and set aside.  Judging how done the fries are heck on them in 5-10 min removing any that seem done.  It should take 20-30 min total to bake.  Be careful to not burn the fries!


6.  Once all fries are done sprinkle and toss with garlic powder serve with aioli recipe below or organic ketchup.

Spicy Garlic Aioli Sauce


Add Sriracha hot sauce (found in most grocery stores with Asian products), pink salt or sea salt, and garlic powder to olive oil mayonnaise to taste and mix together.  

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