Fall Frenzy

A few weeks back, I was itching to dig into fall's harvest. I was dogsitting for my parents and so I had access to my mother's amazing kitchen. Gas stove, kitchen island, and wide open counter spaces. My parents also happen to live two minutes from the UMass Cold Springs Orchard so I drove down there to stock up on fresh apples, cider, and local honey before heading back up to the grocery store to aquire the rest of menu items.

I started with acorn squash, washing and scooping out the seeds to roast for school snacks. I cooked them upside down for about 40 minutes in just a tiny layer of water, but flipped them over for the last 20 and added just a little bit of maple syrup for flavor.

Roasted Acorn Squash Seeds with Cinnamon & Salt

Meanwhile, I started in on the Sausage and Apple Stuffing. I got the recipe from my favorite new cookbook as of late The Gluten-Free Bible. I made a few adaptations for ease and preference such as not pairing it with turkey as I don't even really like turkey on Thanksgiving, and I used Jimmy Dean reduced-fat breakfast sausage for ease of cooking. Also, I had bought leeks for the soup I also made so I used that instead of onion. I aslo traded walnuts for hazelnuts.

All you do is cook up the leeks (or onion) and cut up celery in a pan with the breakfast sausage. Then you add a cubed up Granny Smith apple, and the nuts. You then transfer the mixture to a baking pan and bake at 325 for 40 minutes.

I then dished out the sausage into the four acorn squashes for delicious lunches for the week!

The Final Result! (7points plus)

After I was done with that course, I started in on the Honey-Spice Cake, a recipe I had seen while logging my points on the Weight Watchers website. To get the recipe for yourself, click on this link. I obviously traded the regular flour for gluten free flour. My mother has Domata Living Flour which is really great because it already has the xanthum gum mixed in with it. Randall's in Ludlow used to be the place where we could buy it, but after this last batch we just bought, they are discontinuing it there. :(

Honey Spice Cake. It's more bread-like than cakey and only slightly sweet. A prefect accompaniment to soup!

While the oven was still hot, I made another fun recipe from the Gluten-Free Bible of Cocoa Bottom Banana Nut Bars. They were similar to banana bread with a slightly chocolate taste. I made them because I had bananas that were past their prime on the counter and I wanted to try something new! Leave me a message if you'd like the recipe. I'd be happy to share. :)

Cocoa-bottom Banana Nut Bars (3 points plus)

Then, to finish off the cooking frenzy. ( I seriously cooked/baked for 6 hours straight!) I made butternut squash and apple soup. It was your basic recipe of softened and hand-blended butternut squash, chicken stock, carrots, and a Shamrock apple (from Cold Springs) but what made it really fun was the cider cream I added to it, paired with toasted bacon bits. It added just enough tang to offset the salt which went nicely with the sweet of the soup. I would add a picture but I forgot to take one!

Cider Cream: Boil 1/4 cup of apple cider until it is reduced by half. Take it off the heat, let it cool, and then mix it with 1/2 cup of sour cream.

Toasted Bacon Bits: I just bought Hormel's already cooked bacon bits and toasted them again in a pan until they were nice and crispy. All it takes is a little pinch of them to add flavor to the soup.

I also baked gluten-filled chocolate chip cookies for my parents return, and some apple chips! Fabulous fall food in a frenzy!

Apple Chips sprinkled with Cinnamon & Sugar