Featured Recipe: Butternut squash bread

Quick breads – or breads leavened by ingredients other than yeast – are a fast, flexible and easy way to put together something with a lot of flavor without spending all day kneading and proofing (and a nice way to get rid of overripe bananas).

Though there are a bevy of options lining grocery store shelves and the recipe boxes of grandmothers, ranging from pumpkin bread to scones to muffins and beyond, one off-the-beaten-path ingredient can add a different twist and plenty of nutrition to the old staple – butternut squash.

The winter squash has a nutty flavor similar to a pumpkin. In this recipe, created by Elizabeth Zawila, a registered dietitian at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, Ill., it serves as a healthy replacement for oils, fats, water and other liquids that are usually used in quick bread recipes to make the dough. By taking out a lot of useless calories and adding fiber, vitamin A and C, magnesium and potassium, it helps make this sweet treat a little healthier.

Ingredients

• 5 cups cooked butternut squash (cooked until soft)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp. canola oil
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. nutmeg

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a mixing bowl combine squash, eggs, oil and both sugars.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together remaining dry ingredients.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
5. Pour batter in loaf pan and bake for 55-65 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool before slicing.

Serves 12

Nutrition info: 153 Calories, 4 g fat, 125 mg sodium, 26 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 3 g protein