Squash Bars

I got this recipe from a friend, Kami. She has been doing the GAPS diet with her kids, and these squash bars were one of the things that they ate. Ryan and I are not on any type of diet, but I have been trying to eat healthier and these sounded pretty good. I decided to try them with a butternut squash we got from our garden. I'll be honest and say that I really did not like these at first. They tasted like cardboard (not that I know what cardboard tastes like). BUT, I found a solution and now I LOVE these! I actually prefer these as a dessert or snack over other things because they are just so healthy!--and only four ingredients! As Kami mentioned in her post, these do smell like pumpkin pie as they are baking. Yum!


Ingredients:
8 eggs
2 cups pureed winter squash
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter or ghee

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Separate egg yolks and whites into different bowls. Whip egg whites until light and fluffy. Combine egg yolks, winter squash, cinnamon and butter. Mix well. Fold in egg whites. Pour into a 9x13 pan buttered and lined with parchment paper. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Let cool, then slice into small squares and optionally top with butter. Enjoy!


Ok, my solution to make these taste better... a little bit of maple syrup along with strawberries or raspberries (or any other kind of berry or fruit would probably taste good with it too). The strawberries shown in the picture below are strawberries from our garden. It was heavenly and so tasty! :) They are also good just with maple syrup (without fruit).


One more thing--we didn't have any parchment paper, so we just used cooking spray on an 8x8 pan (I had to cut the recipe in half because the butternut squash we had was little and I only got 1 cup of pureed squash from it). It turned out ok with the cooking spray, but the first couple of bars fell apart when I tried to get them out of the pan. Oh well. I still recommend these for anyone wanting to eat healthier (and still wanting some kind of dessert!) :)