Dinner for two, Thanksgiving style

If you were reading the cranberry sauce post and saying "that looks great, but what the hell did you eat the cranberry sauce with," here's the rest of the story.

I decided to put together a Thanksgiving inspired dinner, mainly to get rid of the butternut squash that has been sitting in my fridge for two weeks, and the green beans that came in this weeks produce delivery. This dinner had all the traditional flavors of a Thanksgiving feast, but was much less rich and fattening.

Butternut Squash
I normally peal butternut squash before I roast it. This time I tried slicing the squash in half and roasting it with the skin on. I read online that the skin would just peal off once it was roasted. NEVER AGAIN! Yes pealing the squash raw is a pain in the ass, but not as much of a pain in the ass and pealing it once its cooked.

Note on cutting squash: If you do are not comfortable around cutlery, have ever would up in the emergency room because of kitchen knives (Robert I'm talking to you), or are under the age of 12, do not try this at home. Cutting butternut squash can be a little trick. First cut off the top and bottom so your squash does not roll around. Then slice length-wise. If the knife gets stuck, use a heavy sauce pan to bang the knife (CAREFULLY) until it comes free.

Once the squash was cooked I mashed it with 2 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp agave nector, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper to taste.

Green Beans
I blanched the green beans, and then lightly dressed them with olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper. The trick to keeping green beans bright and crunch is to blanch them by dropping them in a pot of boiling water for about 30 seconds and then stopping the cooking by shocking them in ice water.

Baked Tofu
To make good tofu (yes there is such a thing) you have to press it and then marinate it so the flavors get fully absorbed. I drained my tofu by wrapping it in cheese cloth for about 3 hours. Then I marinated it by dissolving one vegetable bullion cube in 1/2 cup water and adding some jarred minced garlic. I find for marinades the jarred garlic works better because it has that garlic liquid. I marinated the tofu for about six hours and then baked in a 450 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Yum!