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Butternut Squash Panini – Perfect for lunch or weekend brunch!

Every time I visit NYC, I try to make it over to abc kitchen, one my favorite restaurants in the whole wide world. They have this amazing squash toast that I’ve been trying to replicate at home. This little butternut squash panini is my take on their famous dish. It’s not exactly the way they do it at abc kitchen, but it’s just as delicious and perfect for a family treat or a weekend brunch (or when you are not in NYC!). I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!!

panini_2

 

Butternut Squash Panini
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and diced
  • 3 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • pinch red pepper flakes
  • sea salt
  • ½ yellow onion, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup or raw honey
  • 8 slices sprouted grain bread
  • ½ cup goat cheese
  • 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
  • 1 tablespoon fresh chopped mint
  • 1 and ½ cup arugula
Instructions
  1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Toss the squash with 3 tablespoons of coconut oil, red pepper flakes and a touch of salt. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes.
  3. While the squash is baking, heat olive oil in a saute pan over low/medium heat. Add the onions and cook until soft, 7-9 minutes. Add the vinegar and maple syrup or honey and cook until thickened.
  4. Combine the squash and onions in a bowl and mash to combine. In a separate bowl, mix together the goat cheese, parsley and mint.
  5. Take each slice of bread and spread with some of the herbed goat cheese. Top with the arugula, squash mix and remaining slice of bread and place in a heated skillet with a small amount of olive oil or a panini press to toast each side and melt the cheese. Enjoy!
Notes
**Please use all organic ingredients if possible**

 

Want someone to make this for you? Share the recipe with them! Who knows what will happen. 

Xo,

Vani 

P.S. Do you like recipes like this? You will love my books! In my #1 best selling book The Food Babe Way – I teach you even more ways you can break free from the hidden toxins in your food, lose weight, look years younger and get healthy in just 21 days. In my 2nd book, Feeding You Lies, I blow the lid off of the lies we’ve been fed about the food we eat – lies about its nutrient value, effects on our health, label information, and even the very science we base our food choices on. And, my first cookbook, Food Babe Kitchen, contains over 100 mouthwatering recipes to show you how delicious and simple it is to eat healthy, easy, real food. Available anywhere books are sold.

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33 responses to “Butternut Squash Panini – Perfect for lunch or weekend brunch!

    1. Coconut oil, Olive oil, Goat Cheese. Three items that are not heart healthy and should not be in your diet. Otherwise it looks interesting. Might be able to substitute nutritional yeast for the goat cheese and possibly still flavourful without the oil. Looks worth trying.

      1. Why coconut and olive oil are not healthy, could you please explain your opinion?

      2. You are very out of date with your ideas that fats such as olive oil and coconut oil are not healthy. Leave the 80’s and embrace modern nutrition!

      3. Raw organic virgin cold pressed unrefined coconut oil is one of the healthiest oils there is. As well as high quality cold pressed virgin olive oil. Two of the best.

      4. Hi marina, TMC and Susan,

        The oil issue seems to be controversial. I base my opinion on the research done by Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. (and others) as outlined in his book ‘How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease’ available from Amazon. Dr. Esselstyn was a Heart surgeon at the prestigeous Cleveland Clinic who became disheartened that though he was able to help the symtoms of heart disease he was not able to prevent it. His theory (proven in practice) was that heart disease could be prevented (and in many cases reversed) by diet. In refining his diet he found that humans should not eat anything with a mother or a face (including products derived from those animals: milk, cheese, fat etc.) and that even small amounts of oil prevented the prevention/reversal of heart disease. Dr. Essylstyns book is the basis of Bill Clinton’s heart diet that he has been promoting after surviving heart disease.
        Another book I highly recommend is ‘The China Study’ by Dr. T. Colin Campbell which describes what is reputed to be the largest study on nutrition ever undertaken. While Dr. Esseltyn’s reasearch studied heart disease, Dr. Campbell’s mainly studied Cancer. Dr. Essylstyn’s and Dr. Campbell’s research agree on most things and their books are well worth reading.

  1. I would never think to put butternut squash on a sandwich, but arugula is one of my favorite additions to pretty much any sandwich! Thanks for the recipe- I’ll have to try it soon!

  2. This sounds delicious. Thank you.

    While I know I can cut the ingredients in half to make 2 servings, does this have to be eaten fresh? Being single makes 4 servings a bit too much…

    Please advise. Thanks for all the yummy healthy recipes!

    1. You could easily just prepare the squash and goat and cheese mixtures to have on hand and assemble a sandwich whenever you like.

      From the sounds of them, they should keep well and only get better with a little chilling time 🙂

      1. Erina – thank you VERY much. I’m on such a budget and attempting to eat every healthy food I buy and not let it go bad…. I really appreciate your suggestion. I will definitely try this…. Now I have to find a good healthy grain bread or just buy Ezekiel bread….

  3. Vani! THANK YOU. Will try this real soon. I get excited with the recipes you share with us. You’d shared a pizza recipe awhile back, I adapted and used the Ezekiel sprouted sliced loaf. WONDERFUL…and a couple of slices is plenty for one…me!
    LOVE LOVE LOVE your granola recipe……and I KNOW I’ll enjoy the panini.
    Have a great time in NY……it’s gorgeous here in Charlotte!

  4. Sounds great! I have been making lots of Vani’s recipes and they are great! I now use goat cheese instead of butter on my egg sandwich on Ezekiel muffins! We also make goat cheese appetizers on rice crackers with garlic stuffed green olive slices.
    I feel great eating healthy!

    1. You were “really startled” by- a sandwich? Yeah… umm, alright.

      And btw, sprouted grain bread is not the same thing as regular bread.

    2. Well, I am 100% gluten free and have been for 8 years. Even if wheat is sprouted I don’t do it. I guess I just assumed this site was gluten free, so this is my error. Sorry.

  5. I have a question: if you wanted to make a larger batch of this would you be able to use through a week or is it something that does not hold well for leftovers?
    Thanks for the recipe. Looks Yummy

  6. In his latest book “Wheat Belly Total Health”, Dr William Davis says ( Part 1 – No Grain is a Good Grain) ” It is important to recognize all the health effects of grain consumption because we are really describing the chronic health problems of modern society.” p.100
    “Dementia begins with your daily bread.”

    1. Grain that is GMO & not organic will kill you…otherwise man has been eating grain for thousands of years…sorry I don’t buy into some doctors story of how grain is totally bad for you!!:)

      1. “sorry I don’t buy into some doctors story of how grain is totally bad for you!!:)”
        I think possibly you do; at least partially. From what little I know about Dr. Davis, his opinion is that nearly *all* modern wheat is GMO. I agree with your disagreement ( :o) ) with the statement “No Grain is a Good Grain”.

      2. “Grain that is GMO and not organic will kill you” I challenge you to prove it. Wheat is not GMO in the sense that you people think GMO. Also I wonder if you have a number of how many people have died over the years from eating GMO grain and non-organic foods. I can give you a number of how many people have died eating contaminated organic produce in a couple of different situations.

  7. Although honey has numerous health benefits when eaten raw or used to sweeten herbal drinks, it becomes TOXIC when cooked and should NOT be eaten with protein or carbohydrates. This I learned from studying Ayurvedic nutrution. Prefer maple syrup in recipes!

    1. Angela, then what the hell are you supposed to eat it (honey) with. That makes no sense whatsoever.

    2. If that is true then wouldn’t the high temperature of liquids like tea and other herbal beverages cause honey to be toxic?

    1. Yes, it is true. It is about how lobbying from Pharmaceutical companies, etc. affect the information we are given re: vaccination shots, GMOs, etc. Whistleblowers are fired, and doctor’s reputations are ruined. It is the same with “climate change” deniers. There are many climatologists that report the truth, no warming in close to 20 years, but they are called liars, etc. from All Gore whose company gains financially from perpetuating the myth. Follow the money. Government grants are taken away from University science programs if the information doesn’t back up what the government wants …to perpetuate the myth, means more taxes from us. Now it is called “climate change”. How convenient!

  8. NO, WE WILL NOT TELL YOU HOW MUCH SUGER IS IN YOUR FOOD!

    Of all the issues the Obama administration is grappling with, a modest redesign of what food labels say about sweeteners might not have seemed among the more controversial. The objections have come not only from candy makers and bottlers of soft drinks.

    The governor of Massachusetts implored the administration to rethink its proposal. The governor of Wisconsin protested too. So did the government of Australia, which warned the move could violate international trade agreements.

    The proposal being considered by the Food and Drug Administration would add a new line to labels on packaged products noting how many teaspoons of sugar had been added.

    The furor over the idea reveals the extent to which extra sugar is infused into even the most unlikely foods and the concerns that manufacturers have about consumers finding out.
    Nutrition advocates say the strong reaction shows just how much is at stake.
    “They know this will impact how people choose their products, and that terrifies them,” said Renee Sharp, director of research for the Environmental Working Group, one of several advocacy groups campaigning for the label change.

    But food industry representatives say the proposal is unwarranted. Current labels disclose the total amount of sugar in a product, combining what occurs naturally in a food and what is added during processing. Sugar is sugar, and no evidence justifies singling out one type for added labeling requirements, industry officials say.
    Dessert makers are but a sliver of the coalition opposed to added label mandates.

    “Consumers already have the information they need to make healthy dietary choices,” the Dairy Institute of California wrote in lengthy objections to the administration’s plan. Among the trade association’s many warnings to the FDA is that coveted trade secrets of the flavored-milk industry would be disclosed if dairies were forced to reveal how many teaspoons of sugar were added to each carton.
    The loudest alarm is being rung by the cranberry industry, cranberries are so bitter that they are unpalatable without it.

    The Campbell Soup Co. argued that revealing how much sugar they pour into their cans could help make Americans more obese. “Such information could confuse consumers by taking their focus off of calories,” the company’s director of regulatory affairs wrote to the agency.

    Another of the dozens of companies calling on the FDA to scrap the sugar plan is the Roman Meal Co., which makes whole-grain breads. The American Nutrition Society also joined the fight. Its sustaining partner donors include Kellog Co., Coca-Cola and Dannon.

    Nutrition advocates say the uproar only bolsters their argument that unhealthy amounts of sweeteners are infiltrating unlikely corners of the food supply. That one line on a label seems like a small thing,” said Deborah Bailin, an analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “But not having it covers up a very big fact that the food industry does not want people to know.””Things they want you to think are healthy are full of sugar.” I was shocked,” Sharp said. “I mean, it’s turkey. Why is there sugar in it?”
    When the Environmental Working Group analyzed 80,000 food products, it found that 58% had extra sugar added. That included even most deli meats on supermarket shelves.

    The FDA says its only agenda is transparency. But for advocacy groups, the effort is part of a crusade to get companies to lower the sugar content of products. They are pleased to see so many food manufacturers warn that additional disclosure would prompt consumers to stop buying products with so much added sugar.

    “When you pick up a bottle of salad dressing, you can already see there are 47 different kinds of sugar in it,” said an industry spokesperson.

  9. I’m so elated….that we are headed back to the Garden of Eden….to get our food…the real …unprocessed. food….Yayyyy

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