What do I DO with all my vegetables? One Healthy and One Decadent Use for Winter Squash

Ah, Fall. When you are eating seasonally as all of us have been this year, you learn to appreciate the different fruits of each season, even each portion of each season. Early summer and the beginning of our CSA season brings garlic scapes and green onions,the blooming of summer brings corn, tomatoes, chiles, and squash blossoms. Fall, although it is normally considered a season when things hibernate, has its own vegetable pleasures as well. Squashes and potatoes abound.

I have my own personal go-tos when it comes to squash and potatoes, and I usually rely on those as we enter this wonderful season of comfort foods, stick-to-your-ribs meals. This year I have entered two new dishes into my repertoire-- one, a slow-cooker black bean and butternut squash chili, is healthy and we will definitely be eating a lot of it. The other, a recipe for a flan de calabaza (pumpkin custard) given to me by my grandmother, is definitely more decadent and we will make it for special occasions (as well as share the recipe with all of you!).

Recipes after the jump!

Day of the Dead Chili

Servers 8-10 

2 ancho chiles, dried

3-4 smoked turkey necks (optional)

1 lb beans, picked over and cooked (about 3.5 cups--- 2 15 oz cans of beans will do too)

2 14l.5 oz cans diced tomatoes with mild green chiles

4 chipotle peppers, chopped (seeded if you want less heat)

1 bottle beer (I used Red Stripe; dark would work well too)

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp smoked paprika

2 dashes of cinnamon

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

1 tbsp honey

1 6 oz can tomato paste

1/2 can tomato sauce (~3 oz)

1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced

1 1/2 onions, diced

4 scallions, diced

1.) Reconstitute the chiles by putting them in boiling water for 10 minutes or until softened. Remove, allow to cool, then mince and add to the crock pot.

2.)Add  next 14 ingredients to the crockpot.

3.) Heat 2 tbsps of oil until shimmering, add onions and scallions and saute until fragrant and until the oil is fairly absorbed.,

4.)Add onion mixture to the crock; cook everything for 8 hours on low or....well I don't know on high. This really should be slowly simmered so that the result is a beautiful, powerful, knock-your-socks off mixture of chili goodness.

Flan de Calabaza
Note: Even though this is a "pumpkin flan/custard" you can use butternut squash and it is just as good!) 

Makes 3 flans 

2 cups butternut squash, boiled and mashed
1 can of condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
6 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and pour evenly into 3 aluminum pie pans. Fill a large saute pan with 1-2 inches of water. Place one pie pan in the middle of the saute pan, and turn the burner on medium low (you are basically creating a baine-marie with an aluminum pie tin!). Cook for 45 minutes or until custard is solid. Put in the fridge to further firm up the custard.