Turkey Dinner Stuffed Acorn Squash

      Not many things make me happier than a turkey dinner. A great feast of potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, vegetables galore and of course the beautifully roasted bird, leaving you in the most wonderful kind of food coma there is.
       Recently my mom sent me back up to school after fall break with a nice 15 lb turkey to cook up a roommate family dinner. Everyone contributed a side dish, and we had ourselves a wonderful meal!

      As all Thanksgiving lovers can attest, the left over meals after the big day are just as enjoyable. You can imagine that 6 girls can only do so much damage on such a big bird, so I had quite a bit remaining and decided to do something a little creative with the leftovers to get my boyfriend in on the feast. 

      Last year I made a Chipotle Chicken Stuffed Acorn Squash and I was absolutely in love with it. I decided that using a squash fresh from a farm in Maine and stuffing it with all the leftover fixings of a turkey dinner was the absolute greatest option I had. 

Topping them with melted cheese and leftover gravy wasn't half bad either.....

     You really could use whatever leftover turkey dinner ingredients you have. You could use leftover stuffing in the mixture, but if you need to keep it gluten free go with quinoa! It adds some great nutritional value and is fairly moist so it's a great binder. (Rice wouldn't be quite the same)

     This recipe is such a great way to create a leftover meal that is just as exciting as the first!





Turkey Dinner Stuffed Acorn Squash
Ingredients:
1 acorn squash, halved lengthwise and guts removed
1 tbsp melted butter or oil
2 tsp brown sugar
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups chopped leftover turkey
1 cup cooked quinoa
1/3 cup cranberry sauce
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
1 tsp thyme
1/4 cup cheddar cheese
Leftover gravy

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Brush acorn squash with butter or oil, sprinkle with brown sugar and season with salt and pepper.
Place squash cut side up on foil lined baking sheet. Roast in preheated oven for 35 minutes or until just fork tender.
While squash is in oven, mix together turkey, quinoa, cranberry sauce, onion and thyme.
When squash is done, stuff each with half of the mixture. Place back in oven for another 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and top with cheese.
Put back in oven for 5-10 more minutes or until cheese is completely melted and edges have started to brown.
Top with gravy to serve.

Sweet and Spicy Rainbow Carrots

     These carrots are absolutely beautiful. I had never seen them before making this recipe, and I fell in love with their vibrant colors. They basically taste just the same as your regular old orange carrots, but it's hard to say no to something this pretty!

Behold! (It's hard to believe, but I promise I'm not even using a filter!)

    While I was cooking them I couldn't get over how bright they were. Initially when they were heated up, the colors just enhanced and It didnt even look real! After they cooked down a while, they absorbed some of the delicious orange juice and brown sugar sauce which allowed them to lose some of the bright color, but they still stayed so pretty!

    It's a perfect side dish for a fall meal. The flavors are sweet, warm, and reminiscent of Thanksgiving. Plus the colors just scream Autumn!

   A forkful of these carrots, cranberry sauce, my mom's garlic roasted onions and fresh turkey is to die for.....

(I will have to write a post about the onions my mom makes because they're absolutely amazing!)

     This will definitely be a recipe I continue to make year round. It would be great with chicken or pork, as well!







Sweet and Spicy Rainbow Carrots
Ingredients:
2 lb bag rainbow carrots (regular works too)
3 tbsp butter
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp cinnamon
salt and pepper
garlic powder

Directions:
Peel and slice carrots fairly thin
In skillet over medium heat, melt butter.
Whisk together orange juice, brown sugar, cayenne and cinnamon, and mix into melted butter.
Increase heat to medium high.
Add in carrots and mix around to coat. Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until sauce has reduced to a glaze and carrots are tender and browned slightly on the edges.

Kale Salad with Chicken Sausage and Curried Squash

   I've been making some variation of this kale salad basically every day. It's so good and so flexible based on whatever vegetables you have. This particular one I had to blog about, because it's a perfect fall dish, from the flavors to the colors of the ingredients.

     The Al Fresco sausages really are great because they have a variety of flavors, and they're perfect for a quick weeknight meal because they're totally cooked so they heat up in just a couple minutes. Plus they're not nearly as bad for you as regular italian sausages, without sacrificing any flavor. The sweet apple sausages and the curried squash was such a delicious combination, and it's a pretty healthy meal. I promise, once you make a kale salad like this, you'll be addicted.

   You could of course use another type of sausage, but because apples are in season, it seemed only fitting to use the apple sausages. Using a regular sweet sausage and then topping the salad with some apple pieces would be delicious as well. Anything that celebrates this beautiful fall season!






Kale Salad w/ Chicken Sausage and Curried Squash
(For One)
Ingredients:
1 cup cubed butternut squash (1" pieces)
2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp curry powder
pinch cumin, salt and pepper
2 tsp oil
1/2 small onion, sliced
1 Al Fresco Apple Chicken Sausage, chopped
1/4 cup halved cherry tomatoes
2 big handfuls chopped kale (with no big veins)
2 tsp rice vinegar
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Toss squash pieces with oil and season with curry powder, cumin, salt and pepper
Spread evenly on cookie sheet and roast til squash it tender and lightly browned, about 20-25 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat oil in skillet over medium/medium low heat.
Add sliced onions and cook slowly until they're tender and just starting to brown.
Add in sliced tomatoes and sausage pieces, and stir around.
Raise heat to medium/ medium high.
Add in kale and use a spatula to mix around the ingredients and get the kale moistened.
Add in rice vinegar and immediately cover pan and let steam for 2 minutes or so.
Season with salt and pepper and serve when kale is tender, top with butternut squash.



   

 

Cauliflower "Fried Rice"

     I wish I had come up with this on my own because this idea is pure genius! It is probably the first thing I've actually tried off of Pinterest and it's magical. I might be way overly excited about it, but I tend to do that about food. It tastes delicious, it's super healthy and it's really not that time consuming like other creative health conscious recipes tend to be. It makes me happy just looking at it!

       You can cook it just as you do traditional fried rice, and add even more veggies to the mix. I paired mine with my favorite coconut curry chicken thighs, (which I will post a recipe for sometime soon) and it was by far the most satisfying, feel-good meal I've eaten in a while.

       Cauliflower is a great vegetable to incorporate in your diet because it's loaded with Vitamin C (antioxidants) and K (anti inflammatory). And just look at it! You can't even tell that it's not rice! I'm talking to you, mothers with picky children. This would've been gold for me as a kid because I would hardly look at vegetables, let alone pick them up with a fork and eat them.

     
    You could add cooked an egg and pork, shrimp or chicken to the mix, too! The recipe below is very basic, so there's plenty of room for modification!



   

Cauliflower "Fried Rice" 
Ingredients:
1/2 large head cauliflower, chopped (for ease in food processor)
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce (or tamari)

Directions:
Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and peas and saute until tender.
Meanwhile, pule cauliflower in food processor, until rice sized chunks. Don't over process because you won't end up with "rice".
Add garlic to pan with onions and peas and stir, then add in cauliflower and raise heat to medium-high. Pour soy sauce on top and stir to combine.
Cover and cook for about 5 minutes. Cauliflower will be tender but not mushy- similar to rice!

Apple Crisp

    It's plain to see why New Englanders are obsessed with fall. It's such a beautiful season, and we've been fortunate to have wonderful weather so far, making it easy to enjoy some outdoor activities.

Exhibit A:   Acadia

Exhibit B:   In the woods somewhere

    Although the weather and foliage is first on the list of my favorite things about fall, the second is (you guessed it) the food. Fall comfort food is absolutely the best, and there's no way I would let winter come without first making a delicious apple crisp!

    There's nothing fancy about this recipe. It's traditional, basic, and absolutely perfect. With the warm cinnamon apples and sweet crunchy topping paired with ice cream, I honestly don't know what could be better for a fall dessert.

(Please ignore the poor photo quality - I use my iphone and the lighting in my kitchen is so terrible that I literally have to use one of my roommate's flashlight on their phone to even be able to see the dish. No professional blog photography here haha!)


      It is a perfect comfort food dessert, which happened to be a current necessity. My roommates and I ate half the pan in impressive timing, then dished the rest out to kids at a party we had, so I promise you it was thoroughly enjoyed.

      My roommates and I have a slight froyo obsession (I know, typical girl thing), so when I asked one of them to bring home ice cream to go with the crisp, it was no surprise she came home with a yogurt blend. Generally vanilla is great with crisp, but this caramel one was so good, especially with the little pecan crunchy bites in it! I think a maple walnut ice cream would be a great pairing as well :)


    It's a super simple recipe, and apple picking season is in full swing - so get to it!





Traditional Apple Crisp
Ingredients:
4-5 lb apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I used McIntosh)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp flour - gluten free if necessary
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp water
1 1/2 cup oats - gluten free if necessary
1 cup flour - gluten free if necessary
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 cup softened butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Toss with apples to coat and pour into 9x13 baking dish. Top with lemon juice and water.
Mix together oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder & soda and salt. Mix in butter, with your hands if necessary, until mixed and crumbly. Top the apples evenly with the mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, top will be browned and sides bubbling.
Serve warm with ice cream.






Recipe altered from allrecipes.com