Butternut Squash Gratin

I was searching my favorite websites for some good side dishes for the upcoming holiday when I found this one for Butternut Squash Gratin.

This one serves six and is only 4 pts per serving.

I found the recipe here at skinnytaste.com.

A quick word about using the squash.  I microwaved this for 4-5 minutes before I tried to peel it.

It makes it much easier to work with.

I also used my spiralizer to spiralize this as she suggests.

It took a little fumbling but I quickly got the hang of it and, my oh my, do those bright orange spiralized pieces of squash look beautiful!

I didn't really change much in this recipe.  I didn't have fresh thyme

on hand and wasn't motivated to spend the money to buy it so I used probably 1/4 tsp of the dried thyme.

I'm not really a big fan of thyme flavor so I didn't want it to be too strong.

I was also too cheap to go buy a shallot for this so I used a regular yellow onion and then cooked it well in the skillet with broth before adding into the mix.  I do this because I don't like raw onions.

Other than that I really stuck to the recipe you'll find on her site.

I will be hosting Christmas this year with my husband's family and I wanted to do a trial run of some new recipes before the big day.

You know once you make a recipe once it goes twice as fast the next time.

I've also picked recipes that are plan friendly that I would make again for just the three of us.

Here's a peek into my kitchen as I made this recipe~

One of the downsides is that my kitchen was a total mess!  It cleaned up quickly though.  :)

Oooohhhh... pretty right?

But then...

Uh oh!  I burned it a little when I broiled it AGAIN!  

Geesh!  I only put it in for 1.5 minutes instead of the 2-3 she recommended.  

Maybe someday I'll master the art of broiling without burning but it wasn't today.  

Still, it wasn't a total loss.  

So, the verdict?

Good, not great but good.  I think my hang up here was the taste of thyme.  

I probably should've just left it out altogether.  I also think the flavor needs punching up a bit.

I might even consider adding just a touch of cayenne and/or smoked paprika next time.  

Would I make it again?  Yes, with a couple small changes.  

This is definitely worth trying.

Happy Cooking!