Baked Butternut Squash

For the twenty third day of the cleanse, I started with a fruit smoothie (blueberries and banana) for breakfast and had the hummus and raw carrots that were prepared last night for lunch. For supper, I started with a red leaf lettuce, dandelion greens, and arugula salad and then had baked butternut squash with rice, pinto beans, and simple nutritional yeast sauce. The first step I took was to prepare the butternut squash and get it in the oven because it takes at least 1 hour to bake.
Here is the recipe for the baked butternut squash (see top picture to the left):
1 butternut squash, 1/2 medium onion, chopped, 4 garlic cloves, minced, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 2 tbsp canola oil, 1 tbsp dried rosemary, 1 tbsp dried oregano, 1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the squash in half and scoop out seeds (which are found only at the bottom of the butternut squash). Place the squash in casserole dish (you may have to use a separate dish for each half of the squash). Place 1/4 onion, chopped, and 2 garlic cloves, minced, in the hollowed out part of each of the squash. Place 1/4 tsp sea salt, 1 tbsp canola oil, 1/2 tbsp rosemary, 1/2 tbsp oregano over each half of the squash (in hollowed out part and rest of the orange flesh of the squash). Place 1/2 cup water in the bottom of each casserole dish, cover, and place in oven for 60 minutes or until a fork can easily go through to the bottom of the squash.

Although it takes a while to cook, this is a very easy way to prepare and bake squash and it is delicious! Any type of squash can be prepared in the above way.

Once the squash was in the oven, I cooked pinto beans (1 cup pinto beans, soaked for 4 hours earlier in the day, drained, rinsed, covered with fresh water, brought to boil, reduced to slightly lower heat for 45 minutes) and wild rice blend rice (1 cup rice, 2 cups water, brought to boil, reduced to simmer for 40 minutes). I also made a stir fry with olive oil, onion, garlic, green onion, portobello mushroom, shitake mushrooms, green beans, snow peas, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and black kale (see middle picture to the left for the stir fry). I also made a quick and simple sauce to place over the finished meal.
Here is the recipe for the simple nutritional yeast sauce:
1 1/2 tbsp tahini, 1/2 lemon, freshly squeezed, 2 garlic cloves, minced, 1 tsp nutritional yeast, 2 - 3 tbsp water

Mix all ingredients in small bowl until smooth consistency and place over meal.

To dish up the squash, scoop tender part of the squash out of surrounding skin with a spoon (you do not want to eat the baked squash skin). Once the meal was dished up, it was seasoned with flax oil, sea salt, and the simple nutritional yeast sauce (see bottom picture to the left for the finished meal). This was a filling and delicious meal!