The Top 10 Things I make with Squash and Sweet Potatoes

 Fall is in the air and as I'm gathering all my gorgeous squash and sweet potatoes from our local farmer's market! Here are my top 10 favorite things to make with squash and sweet potatoes during the Fall season. Beautiful organic squash is just too stinkin' beautiful to just lob off the back of a truck during a zombie appocolypse...but it would work for that too. Just saying...it might even confuse the zombies for a minute if the middle looks enough like brains...right? I digress.

 I know there are many more things to make, but these give me a variety of sweet and savory applications that we just love around here.

#1. Spiced Acorn Squash. This is a method of filling the squash with maple syrup or just a dot of butter with some sweet spices. Baked, it is heaven...and totally easy to make!

2.Apple Sausage and Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash has been a great freezer meal to have on hand for wonderful weeknight meals, as well as a simple grab-n-go to take to work. I think it has just the right amount of wild rice and the sweet hints from the apple add nice depth.

#3. Danish Sausage Stuffed Buttercup Squash  with mushrooms and dried cranberries was served at my Dad's birthday event. It was amazing and was probably one of the most memorable events as far as squash is concerned.  Dad grew this beautiful buttercup squash and we baked it whole with the stuffing inside. Sliced open at service, it made a really nice presentation. It would also work for Halloween...but I'm not going ot explain that application. Use your imagination.

#4. Savory Pizza Stuffed Zucchini is a go-to around here. It is saucy, meaty, cheesy and well...awesome! Oh...and it freezes beautifully too!

Now for Sweet Potatoes:

Moment of silence for the beautiful sweet potatoes of freakish-glory. I should not love them as much as I do. Yet...here they are.

#5 Fall Edible Decorative Sweet Potato Bread this is a full tutorial on how to turn those beautiful sweet potatoes into a gorgeous loaf of edible joy. The perfect centerpiece for Fall! Wait until you see how easy it is!

#6 Red Corn, Sweet Potato and Roasted Green Chile Skillet

The fresh red corn, sweet potatoes and roasted chilies are in perfect balance in this fast skillet meal! What a great weeknight dinner or midnight snack!

 #7  Sweet Potato Biscuits with Turkey Sausage Chipotle Gravy
I made a friend over this recipe! One of my readers named Heather wrote about a dish she'd had and I wanted to make the delicate sweet potato biscuits sing! So this is my original recipe based on an e-mail...and yes, Heather is still a darling friend on Facebook. Love that lady!

 #8Cuban Grilled Sweet Potato Salad with Pineapple and Jicama

A light and fresh twist on the classic potato salad can be found with this divine salad. The sweet potatoes and pineapple are grilled then tossed in a sweet and savory dressing that is low fat and still remarkably flavorful. Brace yourself for a totally amazing experience!

#9 Pepper Cardamom Rubbed Pot Roast with Balsamic-Glazed Sweet Potatoes
I'm not going to lie...I love pot roast. The savory lemony rub coupled with the tangy-sweet balsamic glazed sweet potatoes was an instant classic around here. I can almost taste it!

#10 Sweet Spiced Sweet Potato Tamales with Chocolate Sauce  Admittedly I used pumpkin in this last one, but I use mashed sweet potato in place of the pumpkin in these and it is really an amazing dessert!

There you go! Ten great ideas for using squash and sweet potatoes!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Apple, Sausage and Wild Rice stuffed Acorn Squash (Freezer Friday)

It's Freezer Meal Friday once again. Never mind that it's "black Friday". My children have been obsessing lately with zombies. No. Not the Grinch. Do not ask me why they are worried about getting their brains sucked by half-living-leg-dragging freaks. I have no one to blame but my husband Ace ...who apparently loves old weird sci-fi movies from the 70's. Yup. I have one of those guys who thinks "Omega Man" was cool. I was not impressed...but he has certainly gleaned priceless information to compile a big "game plan" for total survival should that become a real-world scenario. Yes. The army of undead walking brain suckers might actually happen. Dude...Look...I never claimed to be married to the brightest bulb on the tree. Should that ever "really" happen, I'm taking these frozen squash-bad-boys out of the freezer an hurling them down the street at the angry mob of brain eating troglodytes. Behold my awesome power you freaks! I'm certain it would buy us enough time to light explosives...and gas cans and crap. Now there's a visual certain to haunt you the rest of your days. Sorry about that.

On the more practical side, it does give me ammo for dinner most nights of the week. It's a powerful thing to be able to triumphantly raise a frozen squash over your head and pronounce, "Prepare to worship me! For behold, I hold the power of the squash!" That may not really happen either. More recently, this recipe has been a great use for those acorn squash we've been collecting in droves from the garden. I'm pretty sure that they are not alien egg pods. I'm wearing foil on my head just in case though. Relax. Alas, they are just food for my hungry family of zombies. I will not mention how I lose my brain cells just thinking about motherhood. Wait...I mentioned it just now huh? Sucking the brain cell (singular) out right now in fact...as I post this blog entry...

Apple Sausage and Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash

You will need:


3 medium acorn squash, cut in half and seeds removed.

Stuffing:
1/2 cup cooked maple sausage (about 6 oz), 1/2 cup chopped granny smith apple,
1 1/2 cup cooked wild rice (well seasoned with Chef Tess All Purpose Seasoning )
1/2 cup condensed soup of your choice, I use my Homemade cream of condensed soup replacement , 1/2 cup cooked carrots, 1/4 cup chopped red onion, 2T minced fresh parsley, 1/4 cup mashed roasted garlic,

Combine well.

Sprinkle the squash with Chef Tess All Purpose Seasoning and stuff squash with 1/3-1/2 cup filling.

To cook in oven, place in an oven safe dutch oven or covered casserole. Bake 350 degrees 35-40 minutes, until squash is tender. I had to use both of my dutch ovens for all six halves.

To cook in microwave: Place in covered microwave safe container and cook on high 7 minutes, turning half way through cooking.

Allow to cool 5 minutes before cutting into squash. Serve immediately or make into a freezer meal.

To Freeze. place one half stuffed squash into a quart size freezer bag and remove as much air as possible. Put in the fridge until well chilled and transfer to the freezer. To serve, remove from bag and microwave on high from frozen 5-7 minutes. To heat in the oven, remove from freezer bag. Place in covered casserole and bake 350 degrees 35-40 minutes if defrosted, or 45-50 minutes from frozen. May cover with cheese the last 10 minutes of baking or just before microwaving.

There you go. Freaks.