Dinner at my house these days is a simple, nourishing affair, often assembled from whatever looks good in the refrigerator and pantry.

In these empty nest years, my evening meals tend to come together as a colorful medley of favorites: a side of rice, plenty of fresh vegetables, cut fruit, and either a lean protein or a generous helping of beans, one of my favorite foods — also highly underrated. Some might call it a “girl dinner.” I like to finish each plate with a drizzle of a favorite sauce or a bit of Sriracha mayo.

One of my favorite ways to simplify meal prep is to roast squash in large batches. Roasting draws out the squash’s natural sugars and caramelizes its edges, deepening its sweet, nutty flavor. Once cooled, the pieces freeze perfectly and can be warmed in the microwave in just a minute or two, making it easy to add a wholesome side to any meal.

Here is how I roast my squash.

For this delicata squash, I cut it in half and cut the ends off. They are rather easy to cut, so no warming prep is needed to make it soft beforehand.

Then I sliced the squash in bite-size slices of generally all the same width so they cook evenly. Tossed them in the bowl to prepare for seasoning and then started on my kabocha squash.

Kabocha squash has a really tough skin to cut through. The trick here is to cut 3 or 4 slits in the squash to allow for the hot air to escape (don’t forget this step) and heat it in the microwave for 3-5 minutes. This softens the skin enough to make it easy to cut into and avoid any knife accidents. Be careful taking it out of the microwave, as the squash is hot.

After letting it cool for a minute, I cut the squash in half, scoop out and discard the seeds.

Then I cut in slices in similar widths for even cooking. Toss in the bowl for seasoning.

Here I drizzled in olive oil and tossed for even coating.

Then I simply seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper. Sometimes, I like to add a bit of curry powder or chili pepper to elevate the flavor.

Now that the oven has been preheated to 425 degrees, I prepare my pan. Crumpling a piece of parchment paper, then lay that flat on a baking pan. This trick keeps the parchment paper from rolling up on you. Then toss the squash on the pan.

I roughly lay out the pieces so they are not overcrowding each other and roast for 35-40 minutes or until they look done.

Roasted squash is perfect once it comes out of the oven; especially lightly salted. It’s hard to not eat all the slices straight from the pan!

Once the slices are cooled, you can do one of two things. One, put the cookie sheet straight into the freezer — allowing the squash slices to freeze and then toss into a ziplock bag for storing. Or two, put the roasted slices into a ziplock bag, lay flat and arrange the slices so they don’t overlap and put into the freezer to store. Both of these ways keep the squash from clumping up together. The latter I tend to do when I have a small batch to freeze.

When you want some squash to accompany your meal, you pull out a slice or two and microwave on high for 1-2 minutes. There you have it. Enjoy.