Light and Fluffy Butternut Squash with Parsnips

Ingredients

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed. (You need an extremely good knife for this one, people)
• 2 3-4 parsnips, peeled, cored, and cubed
• 3 1 cup instant mashed potatoes, made with less water than instructions. (very dry)
• 4 3 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 5 1 baseball size yellow onion, peeled and sliced (you want the pieces to be medium to large)
• 6 3-4 large cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
• 7 2 TBS olive oil, butter, or bacon drippings.
• 8 A handful of parsley, finely chopped.
• 9 About a 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 10 Salt and pepper to taste (this tastes best with coarse salt and lots and lots of pepper)
• 11 1 cup chicken stock or reserve water from squash and veggies.

Method

1. Set heat to medium. In a large, preheated frying pan, add fat, garlic, and onions. Make sure the onions are caramelized and wilted. Do not burn! The slower you cook this, the sweeter the onions and garlic become.
2. Set pan aside.
3. In a large stock pot, fill with water and add squash, parsnips, and cut potatoes. Boil on high heat for about 20-25 minutes, or until everything is tender.
4. Drain squash mix, and then pour back into pot. You can reserve some of the water or all of it for veggie stock for a later date, or reserve stock and use instead of chicken broth.
5. Salt and pepper heavily and add brown sugar.
6. Take an electric egg beater or hand masher and mash everything together. If mix is too dry, add stock.
7. Add instant mashed potatoes and blend well by hand. This is the secret ingredient to make the squash light.
8. Add onions, garlic, and parsley. Hand mix.

Consistency should be light, and just melt in your mouth.

Hint

I like to add just a little more butter when serving. I guarantee you will love this as much as my family and extended family! Also, sometimes I like to add celery to the onion, garlic mix.