Butter Nut Squash Rice Bake & Gluten-Free Fad

I had the chance to go to dinner last night with a sweet friend. We talked about budgets, eating better and food fads. It was such a great conversation. I love that we were like minded in desiring to feed our family well and stay on a budget. We talked about that once were the days of organic and now are the days of gluten-free and that "c" word (Lara could not remember the new word that she keeps seeing everywhere...casein).

I used to be the person who would not go to the "dark side," I would feed my kids healthy but not give in to, "the man." HAHA! However, as Trevor likes to say, "we are those people," now. But as we, Lara and I, continued to talk about why we do it, its not because its a fad (btw, no she is not GF, like us), its because as we continue to learn more about food, we learn how destructive some foods can be for our bodies and our little ones bodies. So, why if you know better would you keep feeding yourself and your kids crap? I know this is a touchy subject for some and I will probably get more comments than I desire, but I do think it is worth investigating, doing your own research. Don't just listen to me and jump on the band wagon. You will jump off after two weeks.

The other thing that came up was, this cannot become our gospel, our truth, what we preach. I love food and I love good food, but I love God more and His gospel more. I will not allow gluten-free, organic, farm grown food to become my idol. But I must be careful, because it so easily can. That's why until now I haven't talked much about why we do it or why other should on this blog. Because as good as it is, I do not want it to become central to who I am.

So as I write about food and blog about new GF recipes, cookbooks, resources, etc, that's all it is resources, its not who we are.

Okay, jumping off my soap box now...haha! Now would anyone like to see the YUMMMY Butternut Squash Bake I made the other night???

Butternut Squash Rice Bake With Toasted Hazelnut-Sage Crunch

by Silvana Nardone

Serves 4 Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 55 minutes

1 butternut squash peeled and cut into

1/2 inch pieces

4 Tbsp EVOO

Salt and Pepper

1/2 cup rice cereal crumbs

1/2 hazelnuts, chopped

1 1/2 tsp sage

2 cloves garlic chopped

2 cups Arborio rice

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

1 1/4 cups water

I really liked this side dish. It was creamy, but with this great crunch from the

hazelnuts and cereal crumb mix. Tasty! We ate balsamic marinated chicken

with it, also quite yummm.