Smoked Tempeh with Butternut Squash, Vegan Marshmallows with Sweet Potato

I was surprised several days ago to find butternut squash, a winter squash, at my local coop - and some of the smallest ones I've seen. I prefer small squash as it cooks faster. I had this idea of baking the squash and serving it with smoke-flavored organic "fakin' bacon" strips of tempeh and perhaps other vegetables, similar to a course I made at the last wedding that I catered of tempeh and vegetables stuffed within acorn squash, and topped with melted vegan "cheese".

I preheated the oven to 375°F and baked sweet potatoes for about an hour (normally, allow 40-70 or 80 minutes, depending on the size; when done, the potato should give with pressure). I prepared the squash by cutting in half and spooning out the seeds, then baking for about half an hour (I added it to the oven half an hour into the sweet potato bake time). In the meantime, I sauteed the smoke-flavored tempeh in very little oil in a cast iron pan. I served the tempeh simply atop the tiny squash, and dabbed it with some Indian chutney that we got last Friday at an Indian restaurant. It was surprisingly good, though I'd like to try this again with more normally sized squash that can accomodate additional sauteed vegetables.

Marshmallows are not usually vegetarian as they are traditionally made with gelatin from animals. However, the all-vegan store Pangea (which also soon should be set to sell my cookbook!) sells marshmallows! I picked some up when I was at a conference a few weeks ago. I served the sweet potato with marshmallows in the middle.