vegan spicy roasted squash spread

This recipe evolved from an urge to fill wraps with something other than hummus.  I adapted a fabulous recipe for cashew ‘cheese’ from the blog Positively Vegan.  It works well with butternut squash or yellow winter squash.  The spread received enthusiastic thumbs-ups at home, so I’m sharing!

Time:  1 hour soak/roast + 15 minutes prep.
Yields 4 cups spread
Ingredients:
1 cup raw cashews (soaking them will take an hour)
2 acorn squash
4  cloves garlic
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 t smoked paprika
1 t cayenne
1 t red pepper flakes
1 heaping T white or red miso
tamari to taste
1 T tahini
1 T apple cider vinegar

Method
Step One:
Cover cashews with water and set aside to soak (allow an hour or more). Preheat oven to 425.

Step Two:
Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds (delicious washed and roasted, later). Cut squash into fourths or a bit smaller. Place open side down in baking dish with a little water in it. Toss in the garlic cloves, smashed slightly to get the peel off easily. Cover with aluminum foil and bake forty-five minutes to an hour, or till soft.

Step Three:

Scoop squash away from its peel and place in food processor. Drain cashews and add them, and all other ingredients, to food processor. Whir it all together, about a minute, scraping down sides a couple times and adding a little more (or less) spice as you like. That’s it!