Squash-Tots!

I have two words (or well, one hyphenated word) for you. Tater-Tots!

About two weeks ago when I was out and about I stopped at a farmers market and bought a fresh butternut squash. Yum!

But…when I got home, I couldn’t figure out what to make with it. We’d had lots of squash for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and while both of us love it, we didn’t want to overdo a good thing. So what to do with said squash?

Fast forward about a week. Standing at the open oven putting homemade French fries in to bake, it hit me. Tater-tots. We love them. Who doesn’t love them!

I thought why not try a tater-tot butternut squash.

Challenge set!

So, after looking around on the Internet and reading through various versions of this tater-tot recipe, I decided to make it my own.

Here’s what happened:

I preheated the oven to 350 F and sprayed a baking dish with non-stick spray. Then I peeled and cubed the squash and diced about ¾ of an onion.

I tossed the squash and onion in about 2 tbsp. of olive oil and Italian herb seasoning and put them in a greased baking tin.

I baked the vegetables for about 40 minutes. Honestly I lost track of time during this as I had to feed the baby, so it may have been a couple minutes more. Just make sure you can pierce the squash cubes with a knife or fork when you take them out of the oven.

I took the pan out (finished feeding the baby) and let it cool for about half hour.

When it was cool enough to handle I put the squash/onion mixture into the food processor.

When it was smooth and looked like baby food, I took it out of the food processor and scraped it into a bowl where I added some flax seed meal to help the soon-to-be tater-tots stay together (it can be used in place of eggs in most recipes).

Then I added some flour about ¼ cup at a time (I ended up using about ¾ cup). Add this slowly to ensure that you don’t add too much which could make the squash too much like dough.

Then I placed the gooey tater-tots on a cutting board to get ready to place in the fry pan

I used a non-stick pan and put about 2 tbsp. of olive oil in and heated it up.

I cooked the tater-tots on each side flipping after two minutes on each side.

Then I let them drain on a paper towel.

Once they are cool enough to pick up, make sure to put one in your mouth and enjoy it! They were so good and enjoyed by not only my husband and myself. Even Sam the dog got in on the tater-tot action.

There you go. Dietitian, husband, and dog approved! Butternut Squash Tater-tots…who knew?

Here’s our little food processor. Little but works wonders!

cubed squash with olive oil and seasoning

added the onion before putting into the baking dish

all cooked and ready for the food processor

process until baby-food consistency

this part is messy, have fun with it!!

about two minutes on each side

they get nice and brown and crispy

the finished product. We used honey mustard for dipping sauce

Sam had to have a bite

Emma helped me in the kitchen

Ingredients:

1 Butternut Squash

4 Tbsp. Olive Oil

2 Tbsp. Italian Herb Seasoning

½ of an Onion, Diced (or more to taste)

1/4c-3/4c Flour of choice

3 Tbsp. Water

1 Tbsp. Flax Seed Meal

Recipe:

1. Peel Butternut squash
2. Cube the squash and dice the onion
3. Toss with olive oil and Italian herb seasoning
4. Bake cubed squash and onion together at 350 degrees F. for about 40 minutes (until you can easily pierce the cubes with a fork)
5. Take out of the oven and let cool
6. Put the squash into a food processor and puree
7. Mix 1 tbsp. of flax seed meal with 3 tbsp. of water and let sit for two minutes, then mix into squash mixture (this can be used in place of egg in many recipes)
8. Mix in ¼ cup flour at a time. Do this part slowly and stir well after each ¼ cup. You can use whatever flour you like (potato, oat, rice). I had regular flour at home and used that.
9. Time to get your hands dirty! Form the tater-tots
10. Once the tater-tots are ready to be put on the stove get out your non-stick skillet.
11. Heat 2 tbsp. of olive oil in the skillet (you could potentially not use olive oil if you are really cutting back on your calories but this would affect the buttery and crunchy flavor of the tater-tots so be aware.
12. Cook the tots for two minutes on each side. I had to turn mine onto each side (so that would be four rotations) to get the entire tot browned.
13. Once they are cooled ENJOY!!