Butternut squash fries using pre-frozen cubes? page

[ennaejay]

Has anyone tried this? Our town is having a fair this week and I've already made a couple of treats for my boys. I know there's a ton of yummy smelling greasy food but we're not currently eating starch in any form or sugar except raw honey. That leaves.... meat, haha. So I wanted to make them some cheeseburgers and try to fry up some butternut squash as a treat. I don't have a fresh one unfortunately, but I have a bag of frozen b-nut cubes....

Do you think I could toss the (thawed) cubes in egg, then in almond flour, and fry the heck out of them in my skillet? Would they turn into little tater tot things?

My kids didn't grow up on french fries and we haven't had potatoes in months, so they'd probably be happy with cheeseburgers and carrot sticks, with the honey caramel chews I made for a candy. But..... something in me is screaming "bad mom!" if I take them to the fair and haven't made them "fair food". Stupid, I know.

Please comment if you've tried frying pre-frozen squash, and if it worked or not!

[otzi]

Don't know how frozen butternut tater tots would be compared to deep-fried twinkies at the fair, but I just went to a fair and they had the standard fried food crap-fest going on. It was disgusting. Funnel cakes and elephant ears (recipe: mix flour, sugar, year-old soybean oil, fry, sprinkle with more sugar). The onion blossoms were so oily they came with a roll of paper towels.

The two biggest hits were 'pork-chop on a stick' and grilled sweet corn. The pork chops were delicious, I had two! Lightly grilled and well seasoned, smoked, fatty pork chops. The corn was equally wonderful. Steamed then lightly charred on a charcoal grill served with fresh butter.

Just sayin', maybe your kids would be happy with something not fried.

[ennaejay]

That's true; there will always be meat! And my kids do love their meat! I'll admit they don't NEED fried food. The only thing I fry at home is fish, and that's rarely. I think I'm just self conscious and defensive because they are sometimes asking "why can't we have that anymore" (i.e. corn on the cob) and how do you explain to your kid that we had GI problems that I'm trying to heal by staying away from all starches? I get tired of saying "no" or "mommy brought food you can have".

They've done an awesome job at adapting. Usually I cook their squash in the morning, mashed with an egg or two thrown in, some butter and cinnamon (think pumpkin pie filling) but I wanted to try it as a finger-food, something savory.

I don't want people to look at me cross-eyed when I break out the celery with yogurt cheese and raisins, my version of ants-on-a-log. I hate my family being judged like we're freaks. Guess I got to get used to it and buy the pork chops like you suggested. I'll bring along my own homemade, 3-ingredient, super thick organic ketchup for dipping

/tirade

I'll save that bag of squash for a breakfast sometime when I'm out of ideas and use my good oil for salads instead of frying!

[otzi]

Screw what everybody else thinks! You are an awesome Mom! It is so important to keep kids filled with nutrition but most kids are sorely missing good food. I was raised on Pop-tarts, Lucky Charms, and french-fries...I'm paying for it now.

[songsparrow]

I don't know about the squash tots, but am curious how they turn out if you try them! Also, would you share your ketchup recipe?

[ChocoTaco369]

I would strongly recommend not using frozen squash. It is waterlogged and you'll never get it crisp.

Why exactly would you avoid starch? Why not just use sweet potatoes or white potatoes? If you don't want to fry the food, you can easily bake them. I eat around 6 lbs of sweet potato fries a week (seriously) and I've never fried them. I always bake.

[ennaejay]

I don't know about the squash tots, but am curious how they turn out if you try them! Also, would you share your ketchup recipe?

I think I am going to pass making the fried tots after all. I think Choco was right - they'd probably be mushy; and for finger food I do prefer just roasting a fresh one. Yes! Here is my ketchup recipe. Ok I lied, it's like 4 ingredients. Don't hate
4 c. tomato juice
6 T. white vinegar
honey to taste
bay leaf
salt/pepper
Put it in a pot and cook it down at a simmer, uncovered, for several hours or til thick. Once it starts thickening up, you'll have to stir it pretty often and turn the heat down to keep it from scorching. It's thick, deep red, and has a wonderful flavor. I omitted the honey b/c I dont' think it's necessary. My husband says it's better than any other ketchup! (This was from a Heinz man!) Enjoy!

[ennaejay]

Why exactly would you avoid starch? Why not just use sweet potatoes or white potatoes? If you don't want to fry the food, you can easily bake them. I eat around 6 lbs of sweet potato fries a week (seriously) and I've never fried them. I always bake.

We're doing SCD/GAPS. The premise is that the only allowable foods, while extremely versatile, are comprised of monosaccharides. Therefore there's little-to-no special digestive enzymes needed to break down the sugars (think disaccharides like lactose or worse, starches). We had some GI problems over the winter/spring that would not resolve; which led me to Primal on crack. It's like a strict paleo but no cheats... none... not even whole-food potatoes or corn or any remnant of these in what shelf-stable items I do buy. It's only for a time (maybe 2-3 years?) but it's crazy easy on the digestion and so there's not a ton of undigested food passing through to feed unfriendly bacteria. (I was diagnosed with campylobacter infection; no idea if my boys had it too but their diarrhea cleared up as soon as we went Primal). Anyway. That's why I can't have my sweet potatoes right now. ~wistful sigh~ Squashes are as carb-y as we can go! Eat a tuber for me, eh? I'm jealous of you all who can do the carb refeeds

[ennaejay]

Screw what everybody else thinks! You are an awesome Mom! It is so important to keep kids filled with nutrition but most kids are sorely missing good food. I was raised on Pop-tarts, Lucky Charms, and french-fries...I'm paying for it now.

Aw, thank you. We all do our best.... your mom included!!!!!!

[otzi]

We had some GI problems over the winter/spring that would not resolve; which led me to Primal on crack.

You should check out Home | JackKruse.com he's hitting on some real heavy gut stuff right now.