Butternut Squash & Pear Casserole

I love fall and this recipe is perfect this time of year.

Recipe

1 butternut squash (peeled and chopped)
2 pears (peeled and chopped)
2 onions
3 slices bacon
3 tbsp of bread crumbs
3 tbsp butter
1/2 Romano or Parmesan cheese (shredded)
1/2 cup walnuts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Begin slicing the onions into rings. Melt 1 tbsp of the butter in a pan and place onions in there until they are caramelized -about 10 minutes

Then grab your butternut squash and start peeling it

Once you have it peeled, slice it in half length-wise. This can be tricky so use a big knife, but be careful. Then scoop out the seeds like below.

Once all of the seeds have been scooped out begin chopping the squash into 1 inch square pieces.

When the onions are done set aside and begin frying the 3 pieces of bacon in that pan. When done frying let cool and chop into small pieces.

Then peel the pears, and cut into thin slices. Get a 9x13 pan and put half of the squash in the bottom, top with half of the pears and half of the onions. Then repeat with the remaining ingredients. It should look like this:

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until squash is tender.

While the casserole is cooking you can make the topping. Melt the remaining butter in a medium sized bowl. Then add the breadcrumbs, walnuts, chopped bacon pieces, and cheese and mix together. Once the squash is done top with this and you are finished.

Unfortunately I didn't get a finished picture of the casserole because we were in a hurry to take it somewhere, but it was a big hit! Also, next time I would probably double the topping but I love toppings, so you may want to do that depending on your taste.