Maple-Glazed Butternut Squash and Apples

I insist my refrigerated, half-used condiments justify the square footage they occupy. I’m not impressed with idle squatters or those tricked-out divas of the fancy food world. All condiments must be able to perform double-duty in recipes to justify their valuable real estate.

Bottled salad dressings, for instance, should be able to play second string as a marinade, or a marmalade as a glaze. Today I’ve got my eye on the apple butter – anything with apple butter sounds wonderful at this time of year, and it’s a great way to add flavor – without the fat. But I know, come December, to my fickle palate it will be yesterday’s news.

My original recipe calls for a stick of unsalted butter. Richard winced so I’m going to test a lightened up version tonight, substituting Earth Balance, a vegan butter substitute, for butter. It has a lot of added salt so there is no need for additional salt in the recipe. I’ll also add that apple butter, really more of an apple purée, to the sauce.  I’ll put the butter back in for Thanksgiving.

No apple butter squatting in your fridge? No regrets. Just eliminate, double the butter or butter substitute, and season the apple cider with a teaspoon of cinnamon.