Maria Cooks, Part 4

Editor's note (I've always wanted to do one of these): This is a slice from the life of Maria who is studying for a master's in criminal justice at Indiana University in Bloomington.

The butternut squash is next. I (Maria) was making dinner the night before I left for St. Louis. I hardly had any food left in my fridge, and what I did have was somewhat random. I had half a butternut squash left so I decided to follow the directions on the sticker. I cut the squash in half so that two spoon-type hollows form. I spooned out the seeds and other mush. Instead of baking in the oven I cheated and did the microwave. I put an inch of water into a glass baking dish and put the squash skin-side-up in. I microwaved for about 8 minutes. I then turned the squash over and spooned some butter and brown sugar into each hole. Microwaved for two more minutes. Delicious! I had just a tiny bit of lettuce and baby cucumber left, so I made a salad. The dressing was olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey and lemon juice.

I also had a small portion of basmati rice and tikka masala leftovers. I had sauteed chicken, asparagus, red peppers, orange peppers and broccoli, then added the sauce. It was restaurant-quality. The meal was all over the place but very tasty.

Editor's note (can't help it, the last one was so much fun): Here's a photo of Maria to appear online until Maria requests that I remove it (and replace it with a photo from New Year's last year, yeah, don't make me go there). Will she kill me for this? She posted this photo on facebook, so I assume it's OK for public viewing.