Wegman's Recipe Re-do - Fit Foodie Style

Up here in New England Butternut squash seems to be a staple, much like grits in the South. Wegman's (The once small Mom and Pop Grocery turned into Mega New England Food Market Mecca) creates a Menu magazine every few months with tons of recipes using their brands of food products. The newest Menu magazine is all about produce, which I happen to love! So, I decided to take one of their recipes (that looked delish!) and lighten it up a bit.

Aztec Blend with Roasted Butternut Squash - Fit Foodie Style

1- 20 oz. package of cleaned and cut Butternut Squash (or clean and cut one yourself - it's worth the work)

1 cup Chicken or Veggie stock ( I used Goya chicken bouillon - because it's calorie free)

1/2 cup Ocean Spray Diet Cranberry Juice drink

1/2 cup chopped red onions

2 tbsp. dried cranberries

1 tbsp. raisins (it calls for golden but I had regular - works fine)

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup Aztec blend** (see note below)

1 tsp. Olive oil

**If you don't live near a Wegman's to get this Aztec blend you can sub in any sort of rice/pilaf/couscous/grain you like best. The Aztec blend is essentially a mixture of: Colusari, Heirloom red rice, brown rice and multi-colored split peas. 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and lay out squash in a single layer on a baking sheet. Spray squash with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper. Bake 15 minutes, then flip squash, bake another 15. Now, the Wegman's recipe requires a braising pan (which I do not possess) and that you put it in the oven for 55 minutes. I cannot wait that long to eat! So I shortened it up a bit...

In a 4 qt. sauce pan heat your olive oil, toss in your onion - cook a 2 minutes, then your garlic - cook another minute, then your dry rice/grain mixture - cook 2 more minutes - stirring constantly. Add in your broth and juice - bring back to a boil - stir a few times, reduce heat to low and cover for 35 minutes. After 35 minutes, remove from heat, fluff with fork, recover for another 10 to let rice continue to soften. Add butternut squash back in to mixture and heat through - about 2-3 minutes on medium. 

Serves 2 - about 2 1/2 cups and 375 calories each

Wegman's serves 4 - but uses 4 tablespoons of Olive oil and the entire box (1 1/4 cups Aztec blend). For their recipe you get only 1 1/2 cups and you pay 480 calories and 15 grams of fat! So essentially, I've made the recipe heaviest on the squash, lightest on the grains and oil. View their recipe.

I will note, this turned out to be a bit sweeter than I expected. Perhaps it was the diet Cranberry juice - or the amount of dried fruit - however, feel free to substitute all veggie/chicken stock and/or roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) instead of a tablespoon of raisins or cranberries. 

Also, since Wegmans has a prettier photo - I'm throwing theirs on here as well!