Roasted Squash with Sage Cream

I am concomitantly blessed (and cursed!) with a freelance job of writing for a number of food companies. The cursed part is how they expect me to write all sorts of annoying health tips for the holidays. For crying out loud, it's Thanksgiving!

Helloooo! The whole point of the holidays is NOT to be healthy. This is the most wonderful time of the year because we finally have a legitimate excuse to buy pounds and pounds of real butter, heavy whipping cream, and bacon galore!

Jump start the feeding frenzy with this little goodie.

This beauty is a Butternut Squash

Roasted Butternut Squash with a Sweet, Sage Cream Sauce:

Yummy Squash: 

• 2 pounds Butternut squash (Here's a handy dandy guide so you don't mess up on the kind.)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Remove the icky junk inside and then slice the squash into wedges.

Brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast on a baking sheet @ 350 (F) for about an hour.

Delightful Sage Cream:

• 1.5 cups heavy cream
• 8 fresh sprigs of sage
• 2 tablespoons, or 3, of real maple syrup (I add 2, taste it, and decide if it needs a bit more.)

Simmer heavy cream and sage sprigs in a saucepan over low heat for about 30 minutes. Remove the sage sprigs. Bring the cream to a boil and cook until this aromatic mess is reduced to about 2/3 cup.

Place your pretty squash wedges in a serving dish. Drizzle with sage cream. And, stay outta the line of fire. 'Cause they'll be fighting over this one...

Serves 8 polite guests or 4 ill-mannered friends.

Fun Facts to Know and Tell:
1) There has never been a study proving the association of saturated fat consumption to heart disease. (Even though the entire low fat, no fat food industry is based on this premise.)
2) The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition recently published the results of a major study on saturated fat intake and cardiovascular disease (58,453 men and women over 14 years.) They found that people who ate the most saturated fat had the same heart attack risk as those who ate the least.