What's For Dinner: Acorn Squash

This idea started out basically as acorn squash stuffed with rice and Italian sausage.  After I went shopping and then started actually putting this together it turned out something like this:

Here are my ingredients: about 1/4 lb. mild Italian sausage, leftover brown rice, chopped onion and red bell pepper, gruyere cheese, kale, and the acorn squash.  I also added salt, pepper, and a dash of crushed red pepper for some kick.

I started off by browning the sausage with the onion and then red pepper. I chopped some kale into bite-sized pieces, added to the saute pan and then them cook down to release some water.

Once they were wilted, I dumped it into a bowl with the rice, cheese, and seasonings.

Probably the most difficult part of the process was cutting the stupid squash in half- from top to bottom.  A cleaver would have really come handy :)   After removing the seeds and guts I filled the holes with a dab of butter to retain moistness and then the filling, put it in a pyrex dish, covered it with aluminum foil, and let them cook at 400 for about an hour.

The sweetness of the squash was a perfect balance to the small amount of kick from the filling and nuttiness from the kale.  We dipped it in the ranch because we're like that, but it was good by itself too.  Delicious!

Avocado Extravaganza

When avocados went on sale for .50 over Superbowl weekend, to say that I was gitty would be an understatement.  It literally made me smile when I looked at the ad.  I bought 10.  Now that I only have one in the refrigerator I'm wishing I'd bought more.  Oh, well.  These last few weeks have been heavenly.

Besides salads, sandwiches, and guacamole, there was a list of recipes I wanted to tackle with these green goodies.  Most of them have been sitting on my Pinterest board patiently waiting their turn.  As sad as I am to see avocados back up to $1, I can look forward to Superbowl weekend again.  Only 50 ish weeks away!

Avocado smashed on multigrain toast- delish!

So here's the line up and some notes on each recipe.

Avocado-chickpea Sandwich from Two Peas and Their Pod
      We had this for lunch today, and even though my two-year-old stuck her nose up at it, I thought it was fantastic.  I didn't have any cilantro so I left it out.  Honestly, smashing everything together was kind of a pain, so I'll probably stick everything in mini chopper next time.  I also added about 1 T. of plain yogurt because it looked a little dry.

Mexican Lime Soup with Chicken from Williams Sonoma
      S liked this more than I did.  I didn't put the cheese on it, and it probably would have helped a lot.  The lime is pretty powerful, but it's a lime soup so I suppose it's allowed to be.  But, it was good.

Chicken and Avocado Enchiladas from Gimme Some Oven
       In a word: winner. I couldn't find poblano peppers.  I checked three times, no go.  So, I subbed some green bell peppers.  They were okay.  I cut them too big and didn't soften them enough before I put them in the tortilla.  They are an okay sub, but I would recommend finding the real thing.  The sauce it to die for.

Egg-Avocado Wrap from Never Home Maker
        I was super excited about this idea, but only thought it was okay.  The curry was kind of strong.  I would definitely try something like this again, maybe adding some cilantro and lime like in the chickpea salad.  C loved it though.  Anything with eggs is a winner in her book.

Avocado Smoothie from Martha Stewart
        This was S's contribution to the green line up.  To tell you the truth I was a little hesitant to drink something in such an interesting green color, but it was delightful.  I really liked it.  The creaminess of the banana and avocado balances the sweetness of the orange and honey.  Five stars.

My Favorite Toast

Recently, I read a comment in an article somewhere that on average Americans prepare, eat, and clean up breakfast in 15 minutes.  Yup, that sounds about right.  It's a little sad that that's the case, but who doesn't love a bowl of cereal in the morning? Or a doughnut, bagel, egg mcmuffin...coke?

I'm in the cereal lovers category.  I try to exercise in the mornings, and after working out and being sometimes famished afterwards it's usually the only thing that sounds good.  When I was pregnant I literally ate a bowl every single morning.  I give full credit to cereal for not throwing up once.  But, cereal can't happen every day.  Don't want to be a dull Jane :)

Yesterday I put together my favorite toast for breakfast.  I was in a little bit of a chocolatey mood so I threw in another version because it sounded delicious.  Take your pick, either one would be a fabulous start to the morning.

Apple Cinnamon Toast (My Fav!)

Take a slice of whole wheat bread
Toast it
Smear peanut butter on top
Take about a 1/4 of an apple
Slice it thinly
Put on top of the peanut butter
Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar
Voila! Breakfast

Banana Nutella Toast

Take a slice of whole wheat bread
Toast it
Smear Nutella on top
Take about 1/2 of a large banana
Slice it up
Pile on the toast
Done! Eat Up