Acorn Squash Recipe?

Does anyone have any great / "simple" acorn squash recipes? One is sitting on my counter and I would like to use it in the next 24 hours, if possible!

vegan corn chowder

Here's how good this soup is: I made it yesterday, ate it for dinner, put some leftovers in the fridge, and froze the rest. I ate the fridge leftovers for lunch and thawed the freezer soup to eat tonight. MMMM.

I got the recipe from Food.com.

Also, I used my brand new Pampered Chef knife and it was AMAZING. I'd never used a good knife before and cutting with it made me feel like I had super chef powers.

Anyway. Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced (I used a whole one)
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced (I used a whole one)
• 2 small carrots, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage (I used oregano instead)
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• fresh black pepper
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 cups frozen corn
• 2 small russet potatoes, diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne (I used 1/4)
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 6 tablespoons soymilk
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup (I used honey)

Directions:

1. Sautee onions, pepper, and carrot in oil over medium heat until onions are translucent. Add herbs and salt, sautee a minute more.
2. Add corn, stock, potatoes, bay leaf, and cayenne. Cover and bring to a boil for 3 minutes.
3. Reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, uncover and simmer for 7-10 minutes more.
4. Puree half of the chowder. Add soy milk, lemon, juice, and maple syrup. Stir to combine and serve.

 
  

Completely excellent.

2 great uses for candy canes

1.) Peppermint bark
This is my favorite Christmastime recipe! It's sooo easy and sooo delicious. And its perceived fanciness level is higher than the level of difficulty in making it.

Ingredients:

• 12 candy canes
• 1 lb vanilla almond bark*

* When I lived in California literally no grocery store knew what I was talking about when I asked for almond bark and they kept trying to sell me almonds. Umm no, almond bark is a chocolate-ish substance designed for melting. Technically nowhere on this package does it say almond bark, but, IDK, that's what my mom always called it.

I misread "CandiQuik" as "Candique" which sounds a lot fancier.

Anyway, all you do is crush all the candy canes. I used a dumbbell. Be careful because even if you put them in a nice Ziplock bag you'll probably still crush right through the bag and get candy cane dust on the counter. And if the counter is wet, the candy cane dust will melt into a pink crust that is really hard to get off the counter. Not that that exact thing happened to me OR ANYTHING.

Then, melt the almond bark, either in the microwave or in a double-boiler on the stove.

Then, add the crushed candy canes and pour it out on waxed paper on a flat surface.

Let it cool for about an hour (or put it in the fridge if you're in a hurry) and break it up into pieces. Oh, and some recipes will call for you to melt dark chocolate and drizzle it over the top. This does admittedly make it look even fancier, but I think it tastes better with just white chocolate. Also, some recipes call for you to add peppermint oil, but... let's be real, with 12 candy canes in there it is straight-up minty enough.

For an extra fancy touch, you can put it in festive little bags!

2.) Peppermint brownies

Again, the perceived fanciness here exceeds the difficulty level.

Ingredients:

• 1 box brownie mix and everything the box says you need to make said brownies (eggs, oil, whatev)
• 1 can buttercream frosting (or you can make the frosting yourself if you are like that)
• 1 tsp peppermint oil
• Crushed candy canes (I used 6)
• Red food coloring*

*Some might make a case for green here. I will only say that my college dining hall had green mint-frosted brownies that were universally referred to as "toothpaste brownies."

Make the brownies like usual and let them cool. MEANWHILE mix half the can of frosting in a bowl with the peppermint oil and food coloring until you get minty, appropriately-colored frosting. Frost the brownies and top with crushed candy canes. BAM.

peanut-yam soup

Recently, I attended a potluck where this was far and away the star dish. Everyone, myself included, raved about it. The chef confessed it was from a Moosewood cookbook, and I immediately went online to look for it and attempt to replicate it.

I ate leftovers of it today for both lunch and dinner and I'm still excited about it.

Anyway, here's the recipe. It's a little messy to make but totally worth it. And it makes a lot so you can freeze some for later. Or just bring it all to a potluck and show up everyone else.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil or 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh gingerroot (you can peel ginger with the back of a spoon, if you had not already learned that from the Food Network!) 
• 1 cup chopped carrot
• 2 cups chopped sweet potatoes (up to 1 cup white potatoes can be substituted)
• 4 cups vegetable stock or 4 cups water (I used half stock and half water, cuz I ran out of vegetable stock. It was fine)
• 2 cups tomato juice
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar (optional... I used honey)
• 1 cup chopped scallions or 1 cup chives  (I didn't use these)

 So... first cut everything. I tried to cut it as I went along and it ended up a little chaotic. Then start sauteeing the onions in the bottom of your soup pot for a few minutes. Then add the cayenne and ginger. Then add the carrots and sautee for a few MORE minutes. Then add the sweet potatoes (and regular potatoes if you are using them) and the stock or water and bring everything to a boil, then let it simmer for 15 minutes.

Then blend all of that with the tomato juice with a food processor or immersion blender if you have one, or with a shitty regular blender if you are like me.

Ugh it looks disgusting in this phase. It gets better, I swear!

After it's blended, put it back in the soup pot and stir in the peanut butter. Taste it and add sugar or honey if you think it needs it. (I did.)

Then eat it because it will be so delicious!! Oh yeah and the recipe called for topping it with fresh chopped chives or scallions, but I had it that way at the potluck and I personally feel like it's better without them. But you can add them if you think you will like them.

Mmmm!

Seriously, I know I said the other spicy sweet potato soup recipe was the best soup ever, but I think this is the NEW best soup ever until further notice.

Roasted Pear Salad

I made this for Thanksgiving and everyone loved it! Even the non-vegetarians (i.e. everyone at Thanksgiving besides me). My mom clipped the recipe out of a magazine. Here it is on the Marzetti salad dressing website.

It's pretty easy and really fancy-looking, like restaurant food!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup balsamic vinagrette dressing (Marzetti.com would prefer you use Marzetti brand but I betcha any brand is fine)
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (the original called for 1/4 cup but I doubled it because my family loves pecans)
• 4 oz blue cheese
• 1/4 cup dried cherries
• 3 firm pears
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 8 oz butter lettuce (but we just used bagged salad mix)

Preheat the oven to 375. Mix 3/4 cup of the salad dressing with the sugar over low heat until the sugar has dissolved and set aside. Toast the pecans in a skillet over low heat (making sure they don't burn), then add the cherries and blue cheese. 

THEN cut the pears in half and scoop out the middle a little bit. Also, cut a slice down the back so the pears will lie flat on a baking dish. Sprinkle lemon juice over the pears to keep them from getting brown. Fill the pears with the pecan-cheese-cherry mix and then pour the sugared salad dressing over the pears. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes and baste the pears a few times. (I had to look up what "basting" means since I don't usually cook things that require basting... just scoop the salad dressing off the bottom of the pan and pour it back over the pears I guess!)

Meanwhile put the lettuce on salad plates and then when the pears are done put one on top of each pile of lettuce, and drizzle the rest of the balsamic vinagrette over them.

That is a fancy salad, son!