Roasted Acorn Squash with Walnuts and Cranberries

Work is kicking my ass.  And from what I've been told, it's not going to let up until the new year.  Part of it is my fault.  I signed up for a lot.  I could try to defend my decision to help out and stretch myself thin, but I have tried.  I just sound whiny.  I'd rather not sound whiny.  Let's just say, work is kicking my ass and I'm having trouble finding the bright spot on the horizon.

So life after work, what very little life I do have after work, has been subdivided into mini-sized goals.  Make new food, but make it fast, easy and simple.  Don't let home become a mess and laundry back up, because that's a hole I don't have a weekend to spend digging out of it.  Enjoy what is left of fall, because (and it pains me so to say this, but...) one day soon I'm going to blink and there will be snow outside.  Snow.  Do you see what we are up against here people?  It's daunting and we need solutions.

Luckily, I found at least one solution to my mid-November stress out.  Acorn squash that has been roasted with walnuts, cranberries, brown sugar and just the cutest little pat of butter.  In that one sentence, I not only described what I would consider to be a legitimate and delicious weeknight dinner, but the dinner that's going to save you from forgetting the wonders of fall.  It's quick, has five ingredients and takes minutes to throw together.  While it's roasting you will have time to start that load of laundry, empty the dishwasher and vacuum the living room.  Plus, your nose will be serenaded with the smells of fall the whole time.  Because squash and brown sugar are basically building blocks of fall.  Plus, it hits all your food groups: squash—vegetable, cranberries—fruit, walnuts—protein, butter—dairy, sugar—sugar!

Sugar is part of the food pyramid, right?  It's at the very top, so that must mean it is the most important.  Right??  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Roasted Acorn Squash with Walnuts and Cranberries
Adapted from Let the Baking Begin!

This is absolutely a BGCB member.  I was simply in love with how quick, easy and delicious the recipe turned out.  To be honest, the full recipe (reflected below) is just a tad bit decadent.  Don't get me wrong, I loved it as it was, but for every day use, I would scale back the walnut/cranberry/sugar mixture.

1 acorn squash
1/2 c. walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 c. frozen cranberries
4 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp. butter

Preheat oven to 375.  Get out a rimmed baking sheet.  If you are afraid of spillage, line with aluminum foil.

Cut squash in half length wise.  Using a large spoon, scoop out inside "guts" and seeds, discard.  In small bowl, toss walnuts, cranberries and brown sugar.  Divide among squash halves equally.

Using 1 tablespoon of butter for each half, dot walnut/cranberry mixture with butter.  Move squash to baking sheet and tent loosely with foil.  Roast squash 1 hour and 15-20 minutes, or until a fork inserted into the flesh goes in easily.  Remove from oven and enjoy hot!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Cranberry Chipotle Dressing

I have always loved sweet potatoes.  The affair began when I was young, during every Thanksgiving when mom would make her candied yams.  While I'm sure six-year-old Liz only really loved the gooey marshmallow and toasted coconut topping, I now do love the mushy, bright orange underneath too.  I love them mushed, roasted, baked and made into fries.  And I do remember one pop-up video (remember pop up video?) that boasted that eating sweet potatoes increased your chance of having twins.  I've always wanted twins...

Anyways, when I lived in McAllen, I made another sweet potato salad about once a week for over a month.  That recipe, roasted sweet potatoes with black beans and chili dressing, came from a NYT article and has been safely pasted in my big green cookbook for awhile.  And now it is not as lonely on the page, as I wasted no time snipping this recipe out of my October issue of Cooking Light and into my cookbook.

And you know what is truly awesome?  And I really just realized it as I was looking up a link for the sweet potato and black bean salad.  They're both came from the same person.  No shit.  I wouldn't make something like that up.  Both recipes accompanied articles aimed at easing the transistion from lovely and bright summer salads to meaty, yet equally bright, fall salads.  Both written by Mark Bittman, the New York Times famed Minimalist columnist, and a man who obviously likes his sweet potato salads roasted and delicious.  And some how, even though they were published 2 years apart in 2 very different places, these recipes have ended up co-inhabiting the same page of my big green cookbook.  It's a little crazy, and a whole lot of awesome.  

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Cranberry Chipotle Dressing
Adapted from October 2011 Cooking Light

2.5 lbs sweet potatoes
3 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt
Fresh ground pepper
3/4 c. fresh cranberries
1/4 c. water
2 tsp. honey
1 Tbsp. minced chipotle in adobo sauce
1/4 c. cashews, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1/4 c. cilantro, chopped

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Peel and chop sweet potatoes into 2-inch pieces.

On jelly roll plan, spread out sweet potatoes.  Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast in oven for 30 minutes, turning potatoes every 10 minutes.

While sweet potatoes are roasting, prepare dressing.  In small sauce pan over medium low heat, combine remaining tablespoon of olive oil, cranberries, water, honey and chipotle chilies.  Mix together and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cranberries pop. Remove from heat and stir until all cranberries have popped and sauce is right consistency.

In large bowl, combine roasted potatoes, chopped cashews, onions and cilantro.  Pour dressing over top and toss gently to coat.  Serve warm.

Note:  Mr. Bittman suggested toasted and chopped pumpkin seeds instead of cashews.  Since I was fresh out of those buggers, I decided to go with cashews over pecans or almonds.  I thought the saltiness would substitute well for pumpkin seeds.  I was a fan!

Corn Bread with Dried Cranberries

Hey.  Drop that.  And drop that.  No, seriously, drop everything and get your sweet little butt into the kitchen.  You need to make this.  Make this immediately.  And eat it warm.  And then even try to tell me you aren't in love with it.  I bet you can't.

It all started innocently enough.  I was reading the cookbook I bought for myself in my end-of-tax-season celebration and I saw something that would use some of the leftover buttermilk I had in my fridge.  And sure, it called for dried blueberries, but why couldn't I use the handful of dried cranberries I still had in my pantry, purchased on my very first Greenville Costco trip.



If all I needed to buy was a bag of good yellow corn meal, I was in.  And lucky for you, it all came about. 

This cornbread is delicious.  It came out of the oven and I really tried to imagine not cutting it and eating it immediately.  See, it's traveling with me to Terre Haute, IN this weekend, and I figured it'd be sweet to bring it whole.  But then I realized, in the name of food blogs everywhere, it was my duty and my honor to taste it if I was going to blog about it.  And that's my defense.  Granted, there are no excuses for the second and third I went back for.  But no one has to know about those. 

 
It was by the sheer grace of God that I managed to wrap the rest of it up in plastic wrap and aluminum foil.  I did double layers to discourage any trickle of an idea that I could just unwrap it for another slice.  My second choice was to hide it somewhere.  Which may explain why it's already packed into my suitcase.

Ben was trying to guess what it was that I'm bringing this weekend.  Spoil the boy as I have, he is no longer surprised that I bring something homecooked, something usually sweet.  Not telling him what I'm bringing is the only element of surprise I have left.  The only hints I gave him was that in contained both butter and deliciousness.  And really, what else do you really need to know?

Two quick notes: when the butter is melting in the pan in the oven, watch it like a hawk.  It'll go from sizzling to burnt quick.  Also, when you pour the batter into the pan, some of that melted butter will come up the sides and on to the top.  I was worried about it, but as far as I can tell, didn't effect the beauty or pure deliciousness of the corn bread.  Guten Appetit! 

Corn Bread with Dried Cranberries

Adapted from The Williams-Sonoma Cookbook

4 Tbsp. (60 g.) unsalted butter
2/3 c. (105 g.) yellow cornmeal, preferably stone ground
2/3 c. (105 g.) all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. (250 ml )buttermilk
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 c. (60 g.) dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (190 degree C).

In a small saucepan over medium low heat, melt 2 Tbsp. of butter and set aside.  Cut up the remaining 2 tbsp. butter into a 9-inch round cake pan.  Place pan in oven until it is hot and the butter is melted and sizzling, about 3 minutes (Watch!)  Using oven mitts, rotate the pan as need to coat bottom evenly with melted butter.  Remove from oven. 

In large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.  Make a well in the center.  Pour in buttermilk, melted butter and beaten egg.  Using a wooden spoon, mix the batter just until it comes together, it's ok to have some lumps.  Do a quick chop of the cranberries and stir them in.  Spread batter evenly into the hot pan. 

Bake at 375 until "the top springs back when pressed gently in the center", about 20 to 25 minutes.  Let cool on wire rack for 5 minutes.  Best served warm.