Chayote Squash

I actually had never heard of Chayote Squash.  While grocery shopping recently, I really took my time and browsed all of the produce.  Touching, smelling, looking like a weirdo, haha!  I came across the Chayote Squash.  They looked sort of like pears and peeked my interest.  And at 2/$1.00 I couldn't resist.  I grabbed two of them having no idea what they taste like or how to cook them.  When I got home I googled "Chayote Squash" and came across this recipe on allrecipes.com that sounded tasty and it had good reviews.   I followed the recipe except I doubled it and used lime juice in place of the vinegar as many reviewers suggested.  I also used a packet of Truvia in place of the sugar.  And I didn't add the red pepper flakes because I wanted my little guy to eat them. (I guess I altered the recipe alot, ha!)  I was going to add the red pepper flakes to my plate after cooking...but I forgot when I took my first bite.  It was so good I just continued to gobble up every tasty Chayote morsel on my plate.  (so good, I forgot to take a pic before we ate it all.)  It was sort of apple-y tasting, but not as sweet.  Not summer or winter squash like at all.  So two of these suckers cost me a total of $1.00 and fed all four of us as a side dish with dinner and I had a (very) small amount left over to have with my lunch the next day.  Can't beat that!  Without question, we will be enjoying Chayote on a regular basis.  Suits our taste buds and wallet :p

Golden Beets

GOLDEN BEETS

The first new food I tried this month was golden beets.  I have just recently learned to like red beets over the summer.  I HATED them my whole life.  I guess I just never had them prepared in a way that appealed to me, because once I made them, my way, I became addicted to them.  So I figured I would give golden beets a whirl.  I am SO glad I did!!!!!  Instead of steaming the beets in a foil packet like I normally do, I roasted them.  I peeled and chunked the beets along with two sweet potatoes and an onion.  I tossed with a little bit of EVOO, sea salt and pepper and roasted on a large cookie sheet lined with foil (for easy clean up) at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes.  

I stirred them around once about 20 minutes through.  O-M-G!!!  They were SO damn good!  All of the veggies had a yummy caramelization going on which added some sweetness.  Golden beets don't taste as "beety" or earthy to me.  They are milder and they don't stain your hands or anything else they come in contact with.  I will definitely be making these again, no question!

SO GOOD!  Hubby and I ate the whole entire pan of veggies!