256: Squash the Confusion: Embrace New Food and Discover Enjoyable Meals On Your Plant Based Journey To Health

0:00 Sister, we are pumped around here because one of our favorite ingredients is back in season, and y'all know, if you've listened to us for long, how big we are on eating in season because the flavor is so amazing. Well, let me tell you, today we are squashing the mystery around winter squash, because we love winter squash. It is delicious. If it's something you avoid because you don't know what it is, or you don't know how to prepare it, or you just want some new ideas around it, this is episode for you. So here we go. Peter Potter, let's get at her. Hey sister, welcome to the Power On Plants podcast.

0:42 Are you tired of staring into the fridge wondering what to eat so you can just feel better? Do you wanna avoid spending hours in the kitchen making complicated meals in the name of health? Would you love to leave fatigue behind and finally have the energy to do all the things you want to do? Hi, we're shared in an eatery cell Christ followers, healthcare professionals, parents of four and big fans of great tasting food. We, too, tried exercising more, eating natural and clean foods, but we still found ourselves struggling with what we thought were changes that come with age or bad genes, and we weren't finding answers to traditional routes. So we dug into the research and created our secret nutritional weapon sustainable plant-based living.

1:26 The truth is, you can eat more whole plant foods and it's not hard. You just need the way that's realistic and delicious so you never feel deprived. If you're ready to enjoy your meals, no longer be held back by your health struggles and actively live your life, then you're in the right place. So grab your favorite plant-based cup of happy pop in those earbuds and let's get started. Did y'all hear that intro? I seriously cannot take him anywhere when we go out in public. Stuff like this happens all the time, but I guess it does make life fun, although unpredictable. Well, we did say that we value authenticity, and I don't think it's much more authentic than that. That is so true 100%.

2:09 That and my car analogies. Meep, meep. Now today we're talking about the mystery of winter squash. We're squashing the mystery around squash. But here's the thing when I talk about the mystery of squash, it takes me back to the days that I remember standing in the store when I finally figured out what store to go to. Let's just be real. When you're at the beginning of your plant-based journey, you're thinking I don't even know where to shop. I don't know if they're gonna have the ingredients I need at my usual store, which may be an inconvenience to me, which makes me think plant-based feels overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be that way. But just picture me go with me for a minute into the grocery store for the first time after we started our plant-based journey, when I was feeling my sickest and realizing I've got to do something.

2:54 Now is this a flashback. It's a total. Oh no, are you doing a flashback? Okay, he's, didn't know it. I knew it, didn't know it. You gotta have the sound effect. I knew exactly where you were going with that, didn't I? Yeah, that's what happens when you're married for 30 plus years. I'll be good, go ahead, go ahead. So I remember standing there in the store again when I finally did know what store to go to and thinking what do I buy? And then, when I get it home, how am I gonna keep it from rotting in my refrigerator? Because I'm too scared to make something with it, because I don't know what to make or how to prep it. I mean, this is the reality of the situation. If you know what I'm talking about, can I get an amen?

3:36 I mean because, seriously, this is the way it is when you don't know what to do. But is it because maybe you're afraid of doing it wrong? You get it and you're afraid. Well one, I don't know what to do with it, but then I might do it wrong. Absolutely. But the thing is, when you have the simple steps and you have the strategy and you have a plan ahead of time, that's really easy for you to work into your way of living. It's just so incredible. So, sister, what I want you to do right now, if you feel that overwhelm and you're stuck in a situation like I was, where you're standing there and you're thinking I don't know what to buy, let's just say you've made it to the store, right, I don't know what to buy, I don't know what to cook, I don't know how to use this ingredient.

4:18 It might not even be a foreign ingredient. It might be something as simple as squash or winter squash. Maybe you've never even made summer squash before, but you don't know what to do with these things. You know your body needs the nutrients. If you're not sure what to do, I want you to come right now to PowerOnPlanetscom forward slash society and see if this might be the answer. You've been praying for Our group coaching programs opening up December 28th to January 4th. So to see if it might be right for you, go to PowerOnPlanetscom forward slash society. But I want to give you some simple places to start. Okay, so let's say you're landing at the store and it's wintertime, like it is now, and you're thinking I don't know what to do with this squash.

5:04 You've watched around the corner and there's a huge display of them and they're beautiful. All different colors, all different shapes and varieties. Maybe you're thinking like what I have sometimes, what's that weird little pumpkin? Yeah, what is that? Wait, but that doesn't look like a pumpkin. It's kind of long and green. Yeah right, and you don't know what to do. You don't know what it would taste like, you're not sure what to put on it. They're just not hard. A lot of the time. The problem is you're just stuck in the land of almost like fear and overwhelm, where you're just held back from trying something new because you just wouldn't even know where to start with it. You wouldn't know what to do. You don't have an idea. And maybe you've gotten some ideas and you've tried it in the past and again you didn't like it.

5:46 Maybe that's something that's holding you back too, but in reality there are all these amazing nutrients that you may not be getting on a regular basis, sitting there waiting to get into your body, or maybe your favorite flavors are there, those things you would absolutely love that your taste buds have never explored before. I want you to look at Hulfe Plant-Based and don't see it as limiting, because it is not limiting. This is the most varied, most interesting way to eat. You can try all kinds of things. Think about just the ingredients. We talked about this on a recent podcast episode and I want you to think about, in each of our five categories fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds all the different things you can try under each category.

6:30 You just go under beans, you've got a ton of peas and lentils and beans all different types, and that's just one category. So you're so much more free eating this way than you've ever been before. So you're in the grocery store, you've got your cart and you round the corner and you see this beautiful display but you don't know which ones to pick up. What would we recommend? First? What's your favorite of the ones that we've tried? What's your favorite? So we have not tried them all. I'll just tell you, like our member mentioned some the other day. They were talking about Honey Nut Squash Never even heard of them, never heard of them. Never even seen them before in our store, but you better believe that I'm looking for them now because I'm in the community that we've created.

7:13 And listen, you'd think, oh, you know it all. No, we've done this for years and there is always always something new to try and something new to learn. And even if it's an ingredient you've used before, there's always a new way to use that ingredient. But I'm talking a new to us ingredient and they're freaking out over it. They're like oh, I thought you've got to try this, it is so good. They kind of look like a Butternut Squash, if you know what that looks like, and they're talking about how amazing and how delicious they are. But of the ones that we've eaten that are readily available in our area, what's your favorite? And the two that come to mind are Spaghetti Squash and Butternut Squash. Oh yeah, we love those so much it might gravitate a little more to the Butternut Squash, but I do like the Spaghetti Squash.

7:56 It's got a little bit of that sweetness, kind of like a sweet potato, and it's great with some cinnamon sprinkled on it. But I'm talking, these are the easiest things you've ever made. You won't believe. It takes a little bit of time to cook them in the oven, but it is literally as easy as let's just take the Spaghetti Squash, for example. You wash it off. I always recommend just washing your produce off. We cut it lengthwise, but be very careful, have a sharp knife. They are hard skinned. Most of them. They're a couple that aren't like Delicata, because it's more delicate skin. That's why it's called Delicata. But the Spaghetti Squash you take it and cut it lengthwise and all you have to do is sprinkle a little bit of pepper or herbs or seasonings on the inside once you've scraped out the seeds.

8:40 So you cut it in half lengthwise, scrape out your seeds, season it up with whatever you like on the inside, leave the oil off. Every recipe online almost has. Then you drizzle it in oil. No, there's no reason for it, it is not necessary at all. We never missed it, we never needed it. So we take the Spaghetti Squash, we turn it over inside down. In other words, your skin is on the outside and you turn it over on a baking sheet. So the cut side is facing down? Yeah, cut sides down. Cut side down and I will usually put it on something like parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet, because those last great. They're easy to clean and that's what we use instead of parchment, so you can turn it over.

9:22 You don't have to add water to your pan or anything. You don't have to prick it. I've seen people do that too. You don't have to do any of those things. 400 degrees an hour oven. It's a convection oven. Some ovens differ a little bit, but I'll cook it about 55 minutes face down like that, and then you just take it out of the oven, let it cool for a few minutes, flip it over and you run a fork through it from short side to short side, so like the narrowest width across. It is how you wanna drag your fork and you get these beautiful little strands that look like spaghetti. Now, the longer you cook it, the softer they'll be. If you cook it less time, it's gonna be more crunchy. If you cook it a longer time, it's going to be softer. It's not identical to pasta, but it is so fun to try.

10:04 We love the flavors. The kids are freaking out about it right now because we haven't had it in what a full year at least, and they're going. Why don't we buy this more? Well, because it's not in season and you can't usually find it, or it's really expensive, and that's the other thing. Eating in season, it's cheaper. It's so much cheaper, so you're getting more nutrients, which decreases your medical bills. You're getting a cheaper product by. I don't mean cheaper, like, not better but it's cost less. Like poor quality but inexpensive. Right, it's inexpensive and so you want to get these foods on your plate Now. Our Power On Plants Garlic Cashew Cream is amazing on this, so we made it the other day and we put the Power On Plants Cashew Cream.

10:45 We put some tiny little tomatoes. Our members got to see pictures and I mean I went step by step. They've got a video on there showing exactly how to do it, but we love doing stuff like this. So we have the spaghetti squash topped with the garlic cashew cream, some fresh little tiny tomatoes, all different colors, cut up, really good greenhouse-grown tomatoes. They are delicious and I put a little hot sauce on mine because I love hot sauce. I mean you could do so many different things. One of our children took and put a little bit of the fat-free, oil-free marinara and mixed it in with the cashew cream. It made almost like a vodka sauce without the vodka. It was just really really good. So think about how simple that is how I've described to make it.

11:27 You cut it, you scrape out the seeds into the garbage can and you do all that while your oven is preheating. You put on your seasonings whatever you like, just sprinkle it on there. I think I just did a little pepper. You could do a little bit of real salt or pink salt, celtic sea salt, something like that. But don't go overboard on the salt, because we buy in large, eat too much salt in our society and then you want to get those herbs on there and just turn that pepper over. Now we're not talking about ingredients here. We're gonna flip it, cut side down each half onto that silicone baking sheet. This is spaghetti squash, but you can do any kind of winter squash this way. So we've just opened up a whole new window of opportunity for you, because this can work for any of these types of squashes.

12:10 Now, one of the squashes that is not quite as big. Spaghetti squash are a little big, so an acorn squash. You might cook it five, 10 minutes less. All you have to do is take it out of the oven, flip it over, check it with a fork to see if it's soft all the way through. So I just I take that half, flip it over to where the cut side is up so I can test it and just see if it's ready. If it's not, flip it back over, back into the oven. It goes. What was the difficulty in preparing this here? What's the most difficult part, do you? think the most difficult part was knowing you could do it. Absolutely 100%. I was gonna say cutting it, but I agree with you. But no, and now that you know, there is no difficulty. But yes, do you be careful with the knife.

12:51 Yeah, I think-. Some of these are kind of big and harder skin, so just be careful, Take your time, get it on a cutting board and have a sharp knife and keep your fingers out of the way. That's the most difficult part of it. This is the point where you have to ask yourself can I cut A vegetable? Can I cut a vegetable? Yes, yes, you can, you can. I have faith in you, you can do it. You cut a vegetable. Can I press a button and turn my oven on? Or turn the dial and turn my oven on? Yes, you can. Can I put this squash on a baking sheet and pop it into the oven and when it's done, pull it out and then season it how I want? You can put any kind of sauce on this spaghetti squash. It's wonderful.

13:31 Okay. And then the acorn squashes or the butternut squashes, the ones that are sweeter, things like that. You can put yummy cinnamon on it. Before you turn it over and put it in the oven, put some delicious Vietnamese or Ceylon cinnamon. Those are two great kinds of cinnamon. Get that into the oven. When it comes out, you can sprinkle a little date syrup on there. It's really delicious If you really wanted it a little sweeter. Now, cinnamon is naturally sweet. Yeah, it's really delicious. But if you wanted just a little bit extra sweetness to put a little bit of date paste on there or date syrup, that's really good. I'm talking very little on the surface and you just spread it around. It's wonderful. I mean, you won't believe these dishes.

14:13 And then you can cut it up and add it to other dishes. You can add it to your bowls and things like that. Let your imagination soar. What are some other type of squash you can keep your eyes out for? Delicata squash, hubbard squash, sweet dumpling squash have you ever heard of that? It's waiting for you to discover it. So look for the beautiful winter squash displays in your store. What if this is not winter squash time? What is in season? This episode applies to you too. What is in season right now? Look at something that you have never tried before. It might be a new type of citrus. If it's winter, that also applies for winter.

14:55 It might be a new type of summer squash. It might be a new type of potato. Have you tried purple sweet potatoes? Have you tried white sweet potatoes, girl? If you haven't tried that, you've got to get going to the produce section Stat, because white sweet potatoes, purple sweet potatoes, are delicious no matter what time of the year. You're listening to this. Always, always, look for and find your new favorites and do not get stuck not knowing what to do. Get inside a community where you can gather these ideas, the right community, and we love Power and Plants Society. There's no place. We'd rather be Honestly. We've created the community that we wanted to be a part of because we did not find what we needed and what we wanted out there.

15:40 We wanted to be in community with like-minded believers, someplace that we wouldn't be bashed for sharing our beliefs or our views and we would be supported and loved on and not talked ugly to. But we wanted a place where we could share openly, without harsh reactions from others. There's some groups I met even the other day. Somebody just posted something it was a struggle or an issue she was having and instead of offering to help her, someone in this other group started bashing her and it made me want to cry and I thought if she was in our group she would be experiencing that. I was thinking that very same thing right before you mentioned it and I had asked a question because Anita was looking at it, she was telling me about it and I thought how in the world did that help that person?

16:25 How were those comments in any way beneficial when some of these questions were genuine questions? Right, and then you get shut down. When you're in a group like that and you feel like I can't even ask my question or I can't really be myself, I've got to pretend to, or I've got to spend 30 minutes figuring out how to word this question so that somebody won't accidentally get offended, that I won't accidentally hurt their feelings. You know there's so many groups today we're making them angry. Yeah, there's so many groups today. You've got to worry about hurting someone's feelings, so I might say something that would set them off. That's not the case in our community, because we just want to be real and authentic, loving and kind to each other, speaking to others in the way we want to be spoken to.

17:07 I mean, it's just real, authentic, loving life. We all want to feel better. That's why we're there. We want to feel better, we want to grow better, we want to get to the next level together, and it's so important that you're surrounded by people who are on that same path with you, so that you can walk the journey together and make memories together. This is how you make lasting friendships. I mean, you may not have everything in common with every single person, but you're going to make a couple of friends that are probably going to be lifelong friends. We see it happening day by day. We've loved sharing these new winter squash favorites with you. And if you think I just don't know what to cook, and if you're like me and you find yourself standing in the little produce section and you think I don't know what to do here, I don't know what to buy, I don't know what to make.

17:56 Or maybe you've been doing plant based for a long time and you're thinking I am so frustrated. I've tried plant based so many times and I just can't get it to work for me. We have a lot of members that have been through that situation and now they're saying finally, finally, is sticking this works, it just works, it works. So, if that's you, come right now to powerandplantscom forward, slash society and see if this might be the answer to prayer that you've been looking for. We are excited to get to know you more and to help you step by step to your journey to feeling better, so you can live that active life that you were born to live. We hope you have an incredible day, sunshine, and we'll see you again soon.