As I was putting away the groceries the other day, I realized I had fallen into a vegetable rut, and my side dishes were afterthoughts. My daughter is very picky when it comes to vegetables, so we’d become limited to broccoli, corn, and salads. It was time to try something new.

So for the next few weeks, I’ll be focusing on some unique and delicious sides to accompany main courses. First up is this delicious recipe.

When do squash and sweet potatoes taste like a pumpkin pie? When they are pureed and baked into this amazing custard! Sweet, spicy, creamy, fluffy, – my goodness, this dish is addictive!

Ingredients:

6 eggs
2 whole sweet potatoes
1 butternut squash, cut in half lengthwise and seeded
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Place the squash cut side down, and the whole sweet potatoes on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for one hour or until the vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork.

2) Remove the vegetables from the oven, flip the squash over and cut the sweet potatoes in half. Allow time to cool.

3) Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees, spray 6 ramekins with cooking spray and place them in a roasting pan.

4) Scoop the cooled squash and sweet potato from their skins and transfer 1 1/2 cups of each into a food processor. Process until smooth.

5) Pour the pureed vegetables into a large mixing bowl and add the eggs, sugar, cream, milk, and seasonings. Blend the ingredients together with a hand mixer until combined.

6) Using a soup ladle, fill each ramekin to about a half-inch from the top.

7) Fill the bottom of the roasting pan with hot water up to a half-inch from the top of the ramekins.

8) Place the pan in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the custard is firm to the touch. Remove the pan from the oven and serve the custard hot.