That’s a mouth full. I hate shortening my titles for my recipes, but I did. I didn’t talk about the cinnamon or salt in the recipe. Anywho, Thanksgiving is on the way, so this week will be filled with recipes to help you eat paleo through the holidays. Yayyyy!
If you’ve done paleo before during a holiday or party and are a legit foodie, you know that it can be ultra annoying to be at parties and not be able to eat everything that’s there. And when I say “not be able to eat everything that’s there” I mean you’re having an internal battle on whether or not you should eat that piece of pumpkin, blueberry AND apple pie, along with the 6 different dips that are paired with chips and crackers. You know what I’m saying if you’re a foodie for life. You’re acting like you’re listening to the conversations around you, but you’re actually just thinking about the dessert table and if you should just have a taste. Just a fork full. Even though you know that the fork full will turn into a whirlwind of pounding food without even know what you’re consuming, you just know if has frosting on it. And that’s really all you care about because you haven’t had frosting in months, maybe even years. If you act like you’ve never been there, you don’t love food near as much as me. Because that was me at a party the other night. And I gave in. Frosted pumpkin squares?? Eff me.
I didn’t have my best eating choices over the weekend. I think some people think that since I create paleo recipes that I will never ever ever fall off the wagon. Which isn’t totally true. I have my moments. Life is all about living, but it’s also making the best decicions you can in certain situations. Sometimes you don’t get to choose where you get to eat while traveling. You’re at other people’s disposal when it comes to food choices. So I did my best. Then not my best. Then my best once again at the airport. Eating at airports is my least favorite. Except when I got to eat at Root Down at DIA and had a burger with sweet potato fries and a bloody mary. Made me feel like I wasn’t even in an airport, which I love. Either way, I don’t feel my best but I’m back home and back on the track that I want to be on.
I just watched a woman stuff an incredibly greasy burger king bag into her purse. It creeped me out. Which is odd since I’m pretty much a huge grease ball after what I shoved in my face over the weekend. Call me butterball. Do it.
Thanksgiving Side Dish: Maple Bacon Pecan Roasted Butternut Squash
- Yield: 4-5 1x
Ingredients
- 6–8 pieces of bacon
- 5 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash (640 grams)
- 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped (100 grams)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup (70 grams)
- 2–3 tablespoons bacon fat (rendered from cooking bacon)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4–1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Place strips of bacon on a foil lined baking sheet
- Cook bacon for 20 minutes. Bacon should still be slightly soft (not crispy) when you pull it out of the oven. Remove from baking sheet to cool on a paper towel lined plate. Chop bacon into small pieces once cooled. Place the rendered bacon fat in a large bowl.
- Add the cubed butternut squash, pecans, maple syrup, cinnamon and salt to the large bowl with the bacon fat.
- Mix together to coat the squash well. Add pieces of bacon to the mixture and mix well.
- Add mixture to a 9×11 glass baking dish.
- Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees.
- Place dish in the oven to bake for 35-40 minutes (depending on size of cubed butternut squash) or until squash is soft.
- Serve immediately.
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More Sweet Sides:
Last Minute Thanksgiving Smashed Maple Sweet Potatoes
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I love this recipe!! YUM!
I love SO many of your recipes. HUGE fan. Love Paleo.
I started The Virgin Diet (eliminates 7 high-intolerance foods) in the middle of August. I used to be an Atkins devotee, i.e., heavy cream in my coffee with Splenda. Since beginning this elimination diet, I feel much better, dropped 8 pounds and still occasionally have a cheat…but NO gluten, EVER! I now use Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk in my coffee with about a teaspoon and a half of raw, unrefined cane sugar. I tried Xylitol for awhile and it made me embarrassingly gassy. So, a small amount of organic, unrefined sugar seems to work best for me. Don’t be thrown by the lack of creamy appearance…I think after a few days of being off of dairy cream you’ll like the clean, non-greasy taste.
I JUST MADE THIS, IT WAS THE BOMB. YOU’RE A GENIUS
I usually just read and laugh, smile…but I had to comment today. I seriously have a girl crush here. 😉 Your thoughtful, honest commentary mirror my internal dialogue. Rock.On. And keep up your awesomeness…
Would this still work with some sweet potatoes, carrots and parsnips? I feel like it would! Might have to do this! Yum!
yeah!!
Yum! I might do the same thing!!
Making for Thanksgiving without pecans, hubby doesn’t like them.. 🙁
Oh man! You totally nailed it! That is me at every party! Grr! But… thankfully (lie) I am doing a Clean Eating Challenge over the next 3 months. Crazy? Yes… Over the holidays? Yes… So… I will be thinking of this blog post… wanting everything on the dessert table, but not wanting it because of my crazy challenge.Thank you for this recipe. I will leave out the sweetner, but I am sure it will still taste delicious!
I just wanted to say thank you for posting some turkey day recipes!
This is probably the worst question of all time on a Paleo blog, but here it goes! I don’t eat red meat, and therefore, don’t eat bacon (don’t get me wrong, it smells delicious, but I just don’t do red meat). I’ve been eating a lot of Paleo lately, but it can be super limiting without eating red meat. Anywho- This looks so good and I want to make it for myself for Thanksgiving— so do you think I can sub the bacon fat with coconut oil?? or anything else? I’ll make the bacon version for the family, of course! Thanks for your help 🙂
I don’t eat red meat either, but I don’t eat beef. Bacon is pork, which is a white meat (remember “the other white meat” commercials.?). Do you just not eat bacon? Most fats are interchangeable, so you could use coconut oil, but it will change the flavor profile.
April, I didn’t even think about that. I actually only eat chicken, turkey, and fish. I was vegan for a few years, then vegetarian for about 7, and just started eating poultry about 1.5 years ago. I’m still on the fence about eating beef, pork, and other animals. It mostly now has to do with the disordered eating I still face from time to time.
ANYWAY! In case anyone wants to know, I made this with olive oil instead of the bacon and it was AWESOME!!! Will definitely make it again. The rest of the family all loved it too, including my mother-in-law who has “hated butternut squash her whole life”!!
I just wrote I used olive oil…. i meant COCONUT OIL!! Is it bedtime? 🙂
My wife did a practice run of this last night using our homemade bacon. Holy crap. This stuff is crack!! Definitely going on the T-Day menu, but must be careful not to overindulge. Great recipe!!