Summer is upon us here in Northern CA – and hurray to that! We have spent the last few days cooling off in our beautiful Butte Creek and enjoying the bounty of our CSA’s first summer veggies.
I received 2 lbs of beautiful yellow summer squash in this weeks CSA share and we figured out a wonderful way to make these little guys taste amazing, besides the basic quick saute. You can bet I’ll be using this same recipe throughout the season with eggplant and even cherry tomatoes.
Roasted Summer Squash
2 lbs of summer squash, cut into bite size pieces
1 red onion, thinly sliced
8-10 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/4 cup coconut oil
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 cup fresh basil, finely diced
Preheat oven to 450. In a large mixing bowl, toss together the squash, onions, and garlic with the coconut oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the squash evenly on a baking sheet and bake in the center of your oven for 30 minutes. Make sure to stir the mixture half way through the cooking time. Toss the roasted squash with the diced fresh basil and serve. I enjoyed mine with a squeeze of fresh lemon.
Enjoy!
[nggallery id=161]
Yum, this is go perfect with Dry Rub Slow Cook Chicken I have in the crock!
Do you use the solid coconut oil or is there a liquid version that you use? I am new to Paleo and trying to figure this whole thing out! Thank you.
Good question Amy! All coconut oil will be solid up until around 74 degrees. If you are tossing your veggies prior to roasting in coconut oil and your coconut oil is solid, simply heat it up quickly in the microwave on on the stove top prior to pouring it over your veggies. If you are putting it right into the pan, just drop it in like butter and it will melt.
cute squash! I like the green and yellow together!
Sarah, I am plagued by the sugar demon. I had been so paleo and happy for about 3 months. Then I fell off the wagon! I keep saying I’ll get strict again after church camp… after vacation… after whatever! I need motivation. Help me!
Dude. That is a WHOLE bunch of squash. Looks yummy.
Made this for dinner tonight. Everyone, even those who were sure that squash was ‘yucky’ ate it up. I should have made twice as much! Thanks for posting the recipe.
I’m in Houston and coconut oil is a clear liquid at current room temperatures (even with A/C).
Ooooo Looks yummy!! I can’t wait til we start getting summer squash from our CSA so I can try this out. I live in Washington so it’s been a bit cooler. But it sounds like we should be getting our summer squash soon!
This would be perfect in a grill basket on the BBQ so we don’t heat up the house in our Northern CA loveliness of 100+ degree temps 🙂 Have you ever used one?? They are AWESOME!
I have used one and yes, they are awesome!!
Sarah- sorry to ask this question which is totally unrelated to this post, but wondering if you could answer a question. I am new to Paleo and actually just purchased your book and all others that I could find related. Your book has helped me tremendously with menu ideas, the recipes are wonderful. I have been using the Amazing Grass Superfoods in unsweetned coconut milk, because I really like it and was drinking prior to trying paleo….just wondering if the Amzaing Grass products are paleo compliant? I have reasearched this and really still can’t find an answer from someone who really knows.
With a product like this, it’s paleo compliant if it’s right for you. I personally wouldn’t spend the money on it because when you are eating a clean paleo diet you are really getting all the nutrients that you need from whole food sources. By cutting out the grains, dairy and legumes, this gives your gut a chance to heal and you are able to actually absorb the nutrients from your veggies, fruits, and protein sources. Anything extra or a supplement is not necessarily needed. However, if you feel good drinking the Amazing Grass and you like your results and you continue to look, feel, and perform how you want to, it’s entirely up to you if you want to keep taking it or not. : ) Hope that helps!
Thanks Sarah! Just got a bunch of squash from the farmers market and used your recipe last night. Yum! I also got garlic tops from the market, which I have never tried before. Y’all need to try those! They are SO good. They have a mild garlic flavor. I have been putting them in omelets and veggies. I think I might do a stir-fry next.
This looks great – I just got some squash from a friend’s CSA share and I’m going to try this out tonight! Sarah, is there a particular brand of slow cooker that you recommend?
I love my Hamilton Beach slow cooker. Not too expensive, about $49 for the big one if I remember correctly.
Perfect timing. A friend just gave me a bunch of summer squash from his garden.
Yummy! I have yet to experience what its like to be signed up for a CSA but this makes me want to do it next year with 100% certainty!
You will LOVE it Primal Toad!
Looks yummy! I love squash. Thank you for posting a link to the CSA.
Perfect timing! I am about to “go Paleo” starting Sunday. I planned on having Summer Squash with dinner next Thursday and was just going to saute it with olive oil. This sounds so much better.
This will be the 4th EverydayPaelo recipe I’ll be using this week! Thanks Sarah… you are making my switch to Paleo much easier 🙂
Mmmm, nice and easy. Love it.
That looks like a great spot for kids…I’m going to have to hunt it down. It’s up Honeyrun?
And the recipe looks great! I picked up some squash and eggplant this weekend at the Farmer’s Market and I’m definitely going to try it this week!
It is up Honeyrun, only about 2 miles up the road way before the covered bridge about 30 feet away from the road. It’s lovely…. Email me and we can go out there sometime!!
I made this tonight and it was wonderful! I used the garlic scapes I got from my CSA instead of garlic cloves and yellow onion since that’s what I had. Very tasty and easy. Thanks!
My squash will be ready to pick soon. Yummy. I am new to the paleo diet so your recipes are perfect for getting started. Trying to find baking or dessert recipes that don’t use the yucky artificial sweeteners is hard. I have stevia a couple times in some muffins I made, Is that an OK sweetener, or is a little honey better?
Hi Mary,
I am wondering if Sarah answered your question about Stevia. I have been using Splenda and realized that it is “poison” and the possible cause of my headaches. I have been looking at other ways to sweeten my coffee in the morning. My husband suggests agave or honey, but I am curious to know if Stevia or Truvia are ok.
The quick and nasty answer is no. Sugar is sugar is sugar. If it looks like a duck…
See if you can break the addiction altogether. Sarah will sometimes use some manufacturers cream or coconut milk. But really, root answer is avoid all sugars and see if you can’t adjust to coffee without sweeteners. If it’s an acid/flavor issue, try different varieties of coffee from different regions as they will vary greatly in taste and acidity.
Stevia is NOT sugar and has nothing to do with sugar except that people use it in place to sweeten the things that we are used to having a sweet taste! Stevia is an herb, comes from a plant. It will not affect you calorie-wise like honey or agave, so is excellent to use if you are trying to lose weight. There is nothing wrong with using pure stevia, HOWEVER- Truvia (made by the Coca Cola Co- what does that tell you?!) is NOT Stevia….its a derivitive of it. It is stevia that has been put through a chemical process in attempts to take-away the slightly bitter aftertaste that some find with stevia, therefore it would fall into the “processed food” category. And if you are attempting to follow a “clean eating” life style, then you already know one of the key elements is to stay process-foods free, so Truvia would not fit into that. Another clever trick of manipulating food and marketing it as healthy….sigh.
Wow…I was very lucky to find the same squash at Whole Foods. I must say, the coconut oil just does something amazing to this dish. Truly delicious!! I’ve something similiar with olive oil, but the coconut oil reigns king. Thank you!!
Just made this last night for my family, it was delicious! Thank you!
You are very welcome Jill, and thank you!!
Oh yeah, my mother in law just brought me fresh squash and fresh lemons from California. (I live in WA and fresh lemons are the bomb!) I’m making this for dinner tomorrow night along with some fresh squeezed lemonade. And I have garlic scapes from my CSA, excellent suggestion to use instead of garlic. I had never seen nor heard of garlic scapes before joining a CSA.
Sounds great Renee!
Hi Sarah, I live in Australia, where now it’s winter, and I really want to cook this tonight. I haven’t seen summer squash here, but do you think I can use butternut squas, zucchini and other veggies instead? It looks so yummy!
Thank you!
I used zucchini and honestly thought that was considered summer squash. It was wonderful!
This was wonderful! Made it tonight for dinner exactly as you posted except (don’t you love it when people say exactly and except in the same sentence?) added some cherry tomatoes and then tossed it with chopped bacon–yum! The kids had it with a bit of quinoa but I loved it without. I thought the coconut oil would be weird with those particular veggies but it was surprisingly good. Heating up the kitchen was worth it! Thanks for another great recipe!
Added some fresh spinach at the end, very good!
I am going to try this and I love squash. It sound so good but can I use something besides coconut oil. I don’t like coconut and never have.
Hi Teresa, I completely understand your thoughts on coconut oil. However, I’d encourage you to try it because there are several good varieties out there that do not have coconut flavor at all! Here’s a link to some of my favorite brands and food suppliers, if it’s helpful: http://everydaypaleo.com/2012/03/06/recommended-food-suppliers-and-brands/ In the meantime, maybe try a little olive oil and/or avocado oil ?
Just made using 2.5 lbs yellow squash, 3 Tbsp each of butter and coconut oil, some chopped garlic out of a bottle (didn’t have fresh), 1 chopped purple onion, some extra garlic powder, and sea salt and pepper…. PLUS I added about 2 Tbsp of chopped/cooked turkey bacon to add flavor. Roasted for about 20 minutes and that’s all I needed. It was really good! Turkey bacon adders a nice flavor. I’m single and thus can eat whatever I want and this was my dinner. Ate about half of what I made and my belly is full! Really good! Will make again for sure.