Written by Guest Nutrition Blogger Beth Naylor

Beth Naylor is a registered dietitian and teacher at Lane Community College, where she has taught nutrition classes for more than 30 years. Beth relishes the exploration of food – its history, culture and science, as well as cooking and nutrition – and she savors every opportunity to share her knowledge with others.

As I walked by Market of Choice’s beautiful outdoor display of winter squash and pumpkins the other day, I was thankful we had squash at home and some Oregon-grown filberts that are coming back in season.

A few nights later, we toasted and chopped them and sprinkled them on two different kinds of baked squash that included a little brown sugar and melted butter. A quinoa salad completed the meal. The only thing I would change next time is that I would add some crumpled bacon to either the squash or the quinoa salad.

Quinoa, pronounced KEEN-wah, is grown at high elevations in countries like Bolivia and Peru and is rich in complete, gluten-free protein. A research project is under way at Washington State University (underwritten in part by Eugene's Hummngbird Wholesale) to see if quinoa can become a unique and successful crop in our region.

We chose two varieties of winter squash, because I wanted to see which I preferred. I had already compared nutrients in squash varieties, although the USDA nutrient database just had four varieties of winter squash, acorn, butternut, hubbard and spaghetti squash. This comparison reinforces the importance of variety when it comes to health because almost all of them have one vitamin or mineral that is the highest among them. For example, acorn has the most fiber, butternut the most vitamin A and hubbard the most protein. For more detailed info, check out this handy nutrient chart.

I’ve also found this online winter squash glossary to be very useful. Although I’ve never eaten it, I’m intrigued by their description of kabocha squash as “bigger and badder than most winter squash.” This glossary includes many recipes. I plan to try the Leek and Delicata Squash Soup with Caramelized Apple Croutons!

Enjoy!