I have always been afraid to cook fish at home. When I was growing up, we never had fish – not even on Fridays when, as a Catholic, you couldn’t eat meat. My father abhorred fish. Apparently it was forced upon him as a child. In fact, even our cat was not allowed to eat a canned fish cat dinner. That’s how strong his aversion to fish was. So I never learned to cook fish. But I like fish even though I don’t think I ate until I was in college.

The first thing to get started was the butternut squash. I cut it in half and scored it. Then it’s sprayed with butter spray and seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg (microplane some from a nut) and baked in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes. This one looked especially good when I took it out of the oven. After that, I mashed it up and corrected the seasoning.

Roasted butternut squash

John took care of the fish. He seasoned it and dusted it with a little flour. The fish was cooked in a little oil, butter and spray. It’s hard to cook fish with no fat at all. Each side cooked for only a few minutes.

Red snapper fillets

I also made some green beans. This time I only frenched a few of them since they were small enough to eat whole without being tough and fibrous.

Another easy dinner that was delicious and filling.

Red snapper with butternut squash and green beans