Mabon Celebration: Stuffed Acorn Squash

Harvest Home has arrived, and with it the last of summer's bounty. The squash symbolizes rebirth, and is the last of the Three Sisters to be harvested.  We are now ready to settle in for the cold dark months ahead, which means indulging in comfort foods like buttery, rich acorn squash!






The key to acorn squash:

In order to get a good cooked texture, the squash must steam inside. the easiest way to accomplish this is to cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and bake in a baking dish with the cut sides down at 350 for 20 minutes. Then flip them over and bake face-up with foil covering the pan for another 20 minutes.  Squashes are now ready to stuff!

I chose to stuff them with a mixture of cooked ground pork, apples, and wild rice. (Gluten Free!)

They are also good as a side dish when brushed with butter and brown sugar instead of stuffing.

After stuffing, bake for another 20 minutes uncovered.






Give thanks, and enjoy!

It's Game Time! - wild turky pie

Step 1:  Shoot a turky.

Step 2: Remove guts, feet, head, feathers.
(I outsource these steps :) You can just buy regular turky meat at the store, but if you have wild turky meat to work with, this recipe is excellent. Either way, you need about 2 pounds of meat.

Step 3: Cram turky meat into crockpot.  Fill with chicken broth.

Step 4: Add spices as you like. I use rosemary, savory, black pepper, and garlic.

Step 5: Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours. If meat is frozen, allow extra two hours.

Step 6: Remove turky from broth. Shred.

Step 7: Dice potato; microwave with 2 tbsp water for 2 minutes.  Or use canned diced potatoes,drain.

Step 8: Drain can of peas/carrots.

Step 9: Press bottom crust into pie plate.

Step 10: Fill with shredded meat, top with veggies.

Step 11: Pour gravy on top.

Step 12: Lay top crust over, press edges to seal.

Step 13: Cut slits in top crust to vent.

Bake 20 minutes at 350.
Cover crust edge with foil.
Bake 20 more minutes.
Cool and serve.

Fa-Hee-Ta

Grill season is winding down, although we do still use ours until the snow is too deep to get to it.  It's not a good idea to cook temperature sensitive meats like roasts on the grill in cold weather - it is difficult to be sure that the food will reach safe temperatures for long enough.  But you can still do pre-cooked or quick foods, like hotdogs and burgers and ham steaks, and as you can see here - fajitas!





Slice chicken or beef into strips, and marinate if desired.  I used lime juice, olive oil, and black pepper.

Grill on high for 10 minutes.  Small strips can be grilled in a grill basket or on a piece of foil with holes poked in it.

Serve with fajita fixins.

Onions and peppers can be sliced thin and sauteed with a little black pepper to bring out the flavor.

Stuff It!!

With a little imagination, you can stuff just about anything :)



Summer Veggie Stuff & Bake:

Hollow out veggies.  Peppers can be cut in half to make two little boats, then blanched in boiling water for two minutes. Drain and stuff.

The round things in this photo are small yellow zucchinis with the stem ends cut off and seeds scooped out.  Also try hollowing out large tomatoes, eggplant halves, onions, or regular long zucchinis sliced lengthwise to make two boats.  Put hollowed veggies into baking pan coated with cooking spray; bake at 350 for about 20 minutes before stuffing.



This stuffing has been approved by my testing victims, who all claimed to dislike stuffed peppers but had only tried the traditional method using green peppers, hamburg, rice, and tomato soup. I find that green peppers develop a bitter flavor when cooked with tomato, and prefer the sweeter yellow or red bell peppers.

Veggie Stuffing:
1 c.grated zucchini
6oz crumbled feta cheese
1/2 c. italian bread crumbs
15oz can small white beans, drained
14oz can diced tomatoes
half of a 3 oz jar Hormel Real Bacon Bits 
1 tsp each oregano, parsley, onion powder

mix & stuff. cover with shredded mozzarella or parmesan.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  Broil on low for 2 minutes to toast the cheese.