butternut squash with avocado and sunflower seeds

I make a lot of recipes on the fly. 

This one was no different. 

I had a ripe avocado.  I had butternut squash.  I searched the Internet and browsed a number of recipes, kept thinking "no, too much time to make" and so I came up with this one.  The best part about this recipe is incorporating the kids, and them being their own chef. 

Admittedly, my son does not have an open mind when it comes to food.  OK, so maybe he will eat hummus, but he doesn't even want to think about a kiwi fruit.  I have to work him a lot before he gives into some foods.  And I WILL keep working him...I want him to understand what good foods does for his body.  I figured that if the kids, mainly my son, helped with building this dish then chances are he would eat it. 

Ingredients:
- butternut squash
- ripe avocado
- sunflower seeds
- Hungarian paprika
- honey
- lime juice

1. Cut butternut squash into pieces, and place on a cookie sheet to be roasted in the oven.  I always roast in the oven with salt, pepper, and olive oil.  Cook at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Ok, so this isn't the minute part of "healthy minute meals", but the rest of the recipe is super quick!

2. Place roasted squash onto plate.  Place plate in front of child, and let them build their dish with: avocado, sunflower seeds, honey, lime juice, and paprika.

 

 

 

This is how my plate looked:

 

 

 

And this is how my daughter's plate looked. I didn't get a picture of my son's plate.

I get that some people (meat eaters) would look at this dish and think more "side dish" but it really is filling as a meal in and of itself.  It is nutritious, and crazy fast to prepare!  Not to mention, the kids had fun building their own dinner.



Smacznego!

Avocado Salad, with corn, black beans, tomatoes and salsa

With just a couple of ingredients, you make this avocado salad.

To make things easy, here is a picture of all the ingredients:

- 3 avocados (make sure they are ripe!  They should give gently when squeezed)
- 1 can corn, rinsed
- 1 can black beans, rinsed
- handful of tomatoes
- 1/4 cup salsa
- salt to taste
- cumin to taste.

1. To prepare the avocado, slice it in half all the way around the pit.  Open the fruit, and hit your knife blade against the pit.  Turn the knife slightly, and the pit will release.  Then pull the peel away.  The most nutrients are right between the peel and the fruit, so you want to keep as much fruit as possible.  Then dice the fruit, and place into bowl.

2.  Add corn.

3. Add tomatoes.

4. Add black beans.

5. Add salsa. I say 1/4 cup in the ingredient list, but feel free to add more and less to your liking. 

6.  Add salt and cumin to taste.

Give it a good mix to incorporate everything.  Remember, the more you mix it the creamier it will get.

I served this salad with flour tortillas and fruit.  If you want to keep tortillas out of the picture, you could use cucumber or bell pepper slices. 

** Remember, my little ones are 5 and 3, so I need to be mindful of the heat level.  It would be fantastic with some red onion and jalapenos! 

Smacznego!