Hey guys. I’ve been thinking a lot about food and wellness as tools that can help us change the world. Cuz, uh, dream big right?

In the wake of everything horrible and devastating that happens daily in our world, I’m going deep on what I’m putting out into the world and why. Can we start making things better by breaking the cycle of not good/strong/beautiful/smart enough by taking care of ourselves of a physical and emotional level?

What if we created our own personalized wellness practices that fortify us to make this world a better place? To stand up to the old systems that aren’t working anymore, to throw out the status quo, and to create a new era (in our personal lives and the world) that upholds health, peace, and community.

I dunno, it’s just something I’m processing. But after all of this heaviness, I think we deserve a fancy toast situation for dinner, don’t you?

This feels like my new cooking wheelhouse: Low-key fancy. Something that looks or sounds fancy (like a tartine as opposed to just toast piled with stuff) — but in reality is pretty simple.

Pop some butternut squash in the oven — if you don’t feel like chopping up one of those beasts yourself, grab some pre-chopped cubes. While those are in the oven, spend five minutes assembling and blitzing your pesto together. And take the remaining 20-25 minutes you’ve got while the butternut is roasting to do something else.

OR roast the butternut ahead of time and assemble everything in 10 minutes. My dinner the other night was this tartine, a green salad, and some leftover roasted broccoli — done. It was a quick and easy meal but it felt special because of the three (totally delicious) elements on this tartine: Creamy ricotta (milk or almond-based, your choice), peppery and aromatic pesto, and sweet roasted butternut squash on top of crunchy, tangy sourdough toast. Where’s that Kisses Fingers Like a Chef emoji when you need it?

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Butternut Squash Tartine with Arugula Pesto

A toast recipe that's just fancy enough to be called a tartine. The recipe below makes about ½ cups pesto.

Course Breakfast, Main Course, Snack

Ingredients

Tartine

• 3 cups cubed butternut squash
• Olive or avocado oil
• Salt to taste
• 4 slices sourdough bread
• 1 cup ricotta or kite kill almond ricotta
• Arugula Pesto (recipe follows)

Arugula Pesto

• 1 packed cup baby arugula
• 1 packed cup basil leaves
• 1 garlic clove peeled
• ½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• ½ teaspoon nutritional yeast
• ¼ cup olive oil

Instructions

For the butternut squash

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Oil a baking tray with olive or avocado oil. Arrange butternut squash cubes on the tray, brush the tops with a little oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast in the oven for 25-35 minutes (depending on your oven and the size of your butternut cubes), flipping the cubes at the 20 minute mark.

For the pesto

1. Combine ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth-ish, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula once or twice.

Assemble your tartine

1. Toast sourdough bread, spread ricotta on the warm bread followed by a layer of pesto and roasted squash. Serve immediately.