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Clicking through one of our banner ads or some of our text links and making a purchase will produce a small commission for us from the sale. Butternut Squash Mock Yams After years of disappointing crops of sweet potatoes, I finally gave up growing them in our garden. Our sweet potato plants would get off to a good start each season. Then our usual summer dry spell would occur followed by heavy rains that caused the sweet potatoes to split. But along the way, I found a nice substitute for sweet potato yams, butternut squash mock yams. They're easy to make, filled with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, and absolutely delicious. All the brown sugar and marshmallows in them does shoot up the dishes' calorie content.
For years, I boiled the squash to soften their hide and then peeled them. I still had to trim off underripe butternut around the sides of the squash. So this year, I began cutting off the cap and seed cavity of each squash, pitching the cap, but retaining the seed cavity. I then cut the body of the squash into inch plus sections and cut off the rind and underripe flesh at the edge of the squash. Note the light yellow flesh around the edge of the squash slices. You want all of that cut off. That was easy with the squash shown, as they were really ripe.
And now the calories! I sprinkled about five or six tablespoons of dark brown sugar over the squash before covering it all with marshmallows. I usually use full sized marshmallows pulled in half, but the mini marshmallows were on sale this week. I think the big marshmallows make a better looking end product, but either way, it tastes the same. I baked today's dish for an hour at 375°F. Anywhere from 325 to 375 should do. Testing the squash with a fork for softness will determine if it is done. Also, I like the big marshmallows to brown just a bit. Some of the butternut yams we've done recently and in the past in different sizes of baking dishes are shown below. For large family gatherings, I usually use a thirteen inch long baking pan.
I really hate online recipes that don't give amounts, but here I am doing the same. This is a seat-of-the-pants recipe where you put in what looks and feels right.
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