recipe

# Butternut Squash Taco Recipe: Cooking Therapy for Mental Health

by Beverly Blaine
March 29, 2017
Comments 13

Do you have a go-to restaurant where you frequent when you just don’t have the spoons (more on spoon theory here) or the energy or right mental health state to cook a meal? Mine is a local Toronto chain that is amazing. Fresh. They have delicious vegan and vegetarian food. I honestly go there a few times a month because it is right down the street and I enjoy it so much. I usually order the exact same dish each time - the squash tacos. There is something about the textures and flavours that is just so appealing and that I crave constantly. It’s one of my comfort foods. A few weeks ago, I was thinking about going to eat some but also considering that I needed to eat out less for financial reasons. I thought - what if I could recreate the squash tacos on my own? This past weekend, I got to work. It is a relatively simple recipe and took me about 1.5 hours to make. But I’m a slow cook.

The process of cooking and creating the dish was so therapeutic for your mental health. A little while ago, I wrote about cooking therapy in my blog post with my Winter Vegetable Layer Cake recipe. I’ll try not to repeat myself but I just really cannot stress how much cooking improves my mood, even for just a few hours. It’s a great distress tolerance activity. Making the squash tacos took a lot of concentration so I couldn’t focus on my negative or anxious thoughts. The creative aspect of figuring out the recipe helped challenge my mind and expand it. Cooking and baking also stimulates the senses which increases feel-good endorphins.

I will warn you though - as someone with a mental illness, the cooking process was a bit exhausting. Cooking takes a lot of energy and strength, something I don’t always have. However, it is so worth it. First of all, the energy expended led to a few days of good meals for me and my partner. It also boosted my self-esteem because I was proud of myself for accomplishing this task and because he could not stop telling me how yummy the squash tacos were. This totally increased my confidence.

I have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and have missed a lot of work lately due to a major depressive episode that won’t seem to go away. I’ve been feeling a lot of self-hatred and worries due to this, but finding small ways to be productive like through cooking has been really satisfying and has boosted my mental health. It also feels really good to know that I am playing an active role in nourishing myself and in my self-care.

Without further ado, here is the squash taco recipe and photos from the process.

# Butternut Squash Tacos : Recipe

Ingredients:

SQUASH:
1 larger butternut squash
1/2 cup flour
3 eggs
1 cup or more of Panko bread crumbs

SAUCE: (adapted from this Epicurious recipe)
4 jalapenos (stemmed, seeded and coarsely chopped)
the juice of 2 limes
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup vegetable oil

TOPPINGS:
1 cup shredded kale
1 cup diced tomatoes
1/2 red onion diced
as much as you want of crumbled goat cheese
A package of miniature tortillas

# Instructions:

1. Prepare the toppings: Shred kale to a size of your liking and set aside in a bowl. Dice your tomatoes and set aside in a separate bowls. Dice your onions and again, set aside in a separate bowl. Use a spoon to help you crumble your goat cheese and again, set aside in a bowl.
2. Prepare the sauce: Pulse jalapeños, garlic, lime juice, and salt in a blender or food processor until puréed. Add oil and blend until smooth. Add cilantro and pulse a few times until chopped and incorporated.
3. Prepare the squash: Peel and cube the butternut squash and set aside. Put flour, eggs and panko crumbs in three separate bowls. Coat each piece of squash first in flour, then egg, then panko crumbs and set aside. The panko crumbs might start to get sticky so you might need to freshen up your bowl with a new heapful. Pour vegetable oil in a large pan (1/4 cup or more) and fry each piece of squash for three minutes on one side and three minutes on the other. Set aside on a large plate or in a bowl.
4. Prepare the tacos: Set your table with all of the toppings laid out. Lay out the kale first on the tortilla and then place 1-3 pieces of squash, depending on size. Add your other toppings to your desire and drizzle on sauce. And voila, you are done! YUMMY! Make sure to eat the tacos with squash WARM for the best taste! This is a great meal that is easily re-heatable,

### Share this:

- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
- Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)

### Like this:

Like Loading...

## 13 comments on “Butternut Squash Taco Recipe: Cooking Therapy for Mental Health”

1. rambling kori
   March 29, 2017

   This looks really good!

   Like Like

   Reply
2. dyane
   March 29, 2017

   Yummmmm! That looks SO good, even at 6:15 a.m.! I hope that the depression goes away STAT! Good for you for taking this step (cooking) because I know it’s therapeutic. Now, where’s my butternut squash breakfast taco?

   Like Like

   Reply
   - Beverly Blaine
     March 29, 2017

     Oh it would be such a good breakfast!! I am sure if you added scrambled eggs it would be delicious too.

     Like Liked by 1 person

     Reply
     - dyane
       March 29, 2017

       I have 3 chickens laying right now & adding eggs sounds egg-quisite.
       (Sorry, I’m terrible…believe me, I know it!) 😉

       Like Like

3. Jill
   March 29, 2017

   I couldn’t agree more re: cooking as therapy as well as the fact that it takes a tremendous amount of energy to cook ‘from scratch’.

   Also happy to know that we’re neighbours. Most bipolar bloggers I know are in the States. I’m in Peel Region.

   Hope your Wednesday behaves itself!

   Like Like

   Reply
   - Beverly Blaine
     March 29, 2017

     Cool!! A fellow Ontarian. Thank you for your comment. Have a good day!

     Like Like

     Reply
4. Rose Herscovitch
   March 29, 2017

   This recipe looks delicious. I look forward to making this, especially since I like butternut squash.

   Cooking is therapeutic, once you start preparing and then you can get right into it if you think of the

   food that you will be serving. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

   With Love, Rose

   ________________________________

   Like Like

   Reply
5. aborderlinebutterfly
   March 29, 2017

   I love butternut squash. How about giving a lasagna recipe a go. It is one of my favourites! http://www.waitrose.com/home/tv/meat-free/parky-s-top-tablemaryberrysbutternutsquashspinachlasagne.html

   Like Like

   Reply
   - Beverly Blaine
     March 29, 2017

     Mmm yumm!!! Thank you!

     Like Like

     Reply
6. Cassandra Stout
   March 29, 2017

   Oh, wow, that looks amazing! I bet it tastes just as good as it appears. I hope your depression improves soon.

   Like Like

   Reply
   - Beverly Blaine
     March 29, 2017

     Thank you!!

     Like Like

     Reply

7. Pingback: Cooking Therapy for Mental Health - Health, Healing & Faith Center

8. bipolar-uninvited
   March 29, 2017

   This is wonderful. I feel as you do, cooking helping mental health. I run into a problem because of physical limitations, but I still enjoy studying cooking. Even that is good for my MH.

   Like Like

   Reply

### Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Enter your comment here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Email (required) (Address never made public)
Name (required)
Website

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Google+ account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Notify me of new comments via email.

Post to
Cancel
%d bloggers like this: