Butternut Squash and Onion Frittata

You know what feels pretty dang frittata’d right now? Me.

I’m not throwing a pity party (as my mom would say), because I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I promise! But I am feeling a little fried, tired, stressed. It’s just the facts. It’s just the midterm-exam-season facts. Nearly all of my friends are in a similar state. We got the blues.

But by the time you’re reading this, I’ll probably be writing my last midterm exam! I’ll be thrilled. After today, I’ll be able to catch up a little. Get some errands done. Do some readings I’ve missed. Do a project for the magazine that I’ve been putting off. And perhaps make some more recipes as delicious as this one!

For Thanksgiving dinner this year, my dear mother made a very similar (though probably prettier, and tastier) frittata to this one, which was a hit! Well, a relative hit, because the vegetarian option just can’t ever really compete with the turkey option. I for one, however, adored it, and vowed to make it for school lunches as soon as I got back to Montreal. It was two weeks until I finally got my act together, but hey – it didn’t disappoint!

It’s inspired by Joy the Baker’s baked potato frittata – the number of eggs and baking time are the same. Let me tell you, both times I’ve had it, it’s come out wonderfully, peeling itself away from the edges of the baking dish and being done exactly when the recipe says it should be. We swapped out some of the ingredients though, and I’m sure you could put absolutely anything you’d like in it.

Ingredients

  • the neck of a butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes
  • 1/2 a large onion (I sliced mine, but you could also dice!)
  • 7 eggs
  • 2 tbsp heavy cream
  • Salt, pepper and spices, to taste (I used thyme, oregano and basil in mine)

Method

Preheat the oven to 400. Toss the cubes of butternut squash in oil, salt, pepper and the spices of your choice (I used garlic powder). Note: I baked the round bottom part of the squash at the same time as the cubes, de-seeded, sliced into wedges and seasoned in the same way. I didn’t use those parts in the frittata, but ate them as a delicious snack!

Bake the squash for about 20-30 minutes, checking and turning the pieces if necessary until they are soft.

Meanwhile, cook the onions at medium-lowheat in a frying pan in a little oil until they are very soft, about 15 minutes.

Beat the eggs together, add the cream and the spices of your choosing.

Put the squash and onions in the bottom of your pan (I used an 8×8 baking pan, greased) and pour the egg mixture over top. Mix slightly to make sure everything is evenly distributed.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 400, then remove the foil and cook for 10 minutes more.

Eat warm!

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The flavours are so autumnal, I loved every bite. I always forget how much I love butternut squash until I have it again after a (much-too-long) hiatus. Plus this is a great lunch to pack for school or work. Delicious, nutritious, it’s all good.

Who Needs Feminism?

“Who Needs Feminism” is an awesome project, a branch of which is going on at my school right now.

Who Needs Feminism is a photo campaign, started at Duke University last spring, aimed to start conversations about feminism and its continuing relevance today.

I love that bit about “continuing relevance”. Because it’s my belief that feminism is still very relevant and very important. It’s also my belief that feminism should not be a dirty word, or a scary one. I love this campaign for the way that it brings up so many valid reasons for feminism’s importance in a non-judgemental, unaggressive way. I find it’s such an accessible campaign, it can be read without feeling attacked or blamed. It’s just a wonderful way to get the message across.

I took photos with a few friends last night, and sent them in. Hopefully they’ll be up on the website soon! Until then, take a look at all the other submissions, they’re really wonderful.

Besides the statement in the above photo, I could have said any number of other reasons. Here are some others I was considering:

I need feminism because I pay for cabs instead of walking home, even when I’m totally sober and capable.

I need feminism because only roughly 1/3 of the characters in popular media are female.

I need feminism because there exist subreddits that are devoted to glorifying/fetishizing the beating, raping and even killing of women.

I need feminism because I want there to be more positive female role models in the public eye than there currently are.

I need feminism because women make up only 3/250 top CEOs, 1/22 Canadian Prime Ministers, and 0/44 American Presidents.

I need feminism because I don’t want me or my younger sisters to be held to unreasonable standards of Barbie doll beauty.

I need feminism because I sometimes don’t tell people I’m minoring in Women’s Studies, because I don’t feel like dealing with their looks or questions.

I need feminism because society still preaches “don’t get raped” more than “don’t rape”.

I need feminism because the pay gap still exists! And it is absurd.

I need feminism because people think we don’t need feminism anymore.

______________

Some of those overlap with submissions on the website, but that doesn’t make them any less true! Also – I’d love to hear your answers. Or better yet, take a photo and submit it either to the McGill chapter or the original campaign.

So, why do you need feminism?

22 Before 22: Run a Race

Before..

This is a great example of why I set goals for myself.

I’m a person who likes my routines. I am not super fond of changes to my routines, or disruptions in my life. These things are inevitable, of course, and I deal with them as they come, but I sometimes think I’d be quite content to just have my steady, reliable schedule to follow. At the same time though, I have lots of dreams and plans and things I want to accomplish! I have lots of fun activities in mind that I hope to one day do. I don’t want to miss out on anything, and I want to experience my life to the fullest. Conundrum.

That’s where goals come in. They remind me of all the fun things I hope to do, and motivate me to disrupt my regular patterns in ways that ultimately make me very happy. Yes, sometimes I grumble, or am annoyed by the hassle that these activities bring, but in the end I am always so excited that I signed myself up and followed through. For Diner en Blanc, the annoyances were things like running countless errands in order to collect all the white materials we needed. For The Colour Run, my major grumble was having to wake up at 6:30AM to do it! (and don’t worry, every time I caught myself getting annoyed about that, I just thought “get over yourself, Stephanie!”) I was also a little stressed about keeping up with my friends, and sometimes cursed myself (usually while on a run) for having initiated the registration of this event with my friends.

In the end, though, it was wonderful. I got to spend time with friends I don’t see nearly often enough, and we spent the whole 5K gossiping and catching up. Because I participated, I ran my first “race” since high school. I laughed and laughed and laughed, especially at the DIY colour powder station where we practically rolled around on the ground and put orange handprints on each other’s faces. They played music, everyone was smiling, we were running right by the water for most of it, and it was the most beautiful fall day. Even taking the metro home, full of coloured people, was fun and special.

They say that you can buy happiness if you buy experiences instead of stuff. I tend to agree. This past year I’ve bought myself a few really wonderful experiences (this race, Diner en Blanc, tickets to Wicked) and they have been so rewarding. The memories are really special, and I feel like I bonded with my friends through them. As I’m pondering my goals for next year, I think I’m going to try to more actively incorporate that idea of buying experiences into my life.

If you ever get the chance to do The Colour Run (or one of the similar races), I recommend it! It’s a great way to get used to a busy, hectic race environment with lots of people, but it’s also fun and laid back, not really a high pressure situation. Plus it’s awesome to run through clouds of coloured powder (doesn’t affect your lungs as you might think) and end up looking like a rainbow.

PS. I didn’t take these photos (because I was running!). So thanks, V, for being our personal photographer! And thanks to Amanda for letting me use them. 

Project 365: Weeks 39 + 40

I still love the idea of this project. Truly, I do. By using my camera every single day, I know I’ve improved. I know more about how my camera works, I can experiment with settings, etc. I’m nowhere near an expert, but I have improved.

But it does get tiresome, taking a photo every single day! If only because it forces me to find something to photograph on a day that seems otherwise fairly mundane. I suppose that’s a good thing! Still, a good number of these photos end up being inside my apartment, posed on my dining room table. As you can see, I have mixed feelings about this project. I think next year I’ll prefer to just take photos whenever inspiration strikes (as much as possible) and not have a daily “must”.

Happy Friday!

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