Flavors of Fall

The trees in DC are slowly but surely changing colors.  There is still a quite a bit of green though. 

I <3 fall colors and fall food, especially squash.

My brother and his fiancé have been coming over once a week to watch Dexter (my current favorite TV show) since they don’t have Showtime.  We’ve been taking turns picking up pizza, but after being out of town for a few days I was itching to cook.

Fall flavors inspired this dinner – pumpkin & acorn squash were the stars of the meal.

First I baked pumpkin bread.  I made this recipe with some modifications (1 C less sugar, mixture of whole wheat flour and regular flour, some cinnamon applesauce in place of some of the oil, and added walnuts and chia seeds).

For the main course I made up a fun new recipe – Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash.  This is something my brother would call “hippy food,” but I’m happy to say everyone loved it!  I didn’t take pictures during the cooking process, but it’s pretty straightforward.  

Ingredients:

• 2 acorn squashes
• 1 cup uncooked [red] quinoa
• 1.25 cups vegetable broth
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1 small zucchini
• 1 small summer squash
• 1/2 onion
• 1 tbsp melted butter
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cup of feta cheese
• olive oil
• spices: cumin, curry power, salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*.  Cut acorn squash in half, scoop out seeds and place on a baking sheet, cutside down.  Cook for about 30 minutes.
2. If you have a toaster oven – roast the chickpeas while the squash is cooking.  Heat your toaster oven to 450*.  Toss chickpeas with 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp each of cumin and curry powder, and 1/2 tsp of salt.  Roast for 30 minutes.  [If you don’t have a toaster oven, just turn up the heat in your oven and cook them once the squash is done]
3. While the squash and the chickpeas are cooking, heat a tsp of olive oil in a large non-stick pan.  Dice zucchini, squash, & onion and cook with a dash of salt in the pan for about 10 minutes. 
4. Cook quinoa in veggie broth according to directions.
5. Mix brown sugar into melted butter.  When the squash is finished, remove from oven and brush with sugar-butter mixture.
6. Mix quinoa, roasted chickpeas, veggies and feta cheese in a bowl.  Place as much mixture as you can fit into each squash half.
7. Optional: cook up and add some chicken sausage to the stuffing mixture.  I did this for my guests, but not for me.

I have never had roasted chickpeas before and let me tell you, they lived up to their reputation.  I can’t wait to eat them as a snack. 

The best part of this recipe is that there was plenty of leftover “stuffing,” which made the perfect lunch for today.

I’m still feeling a little under the weather, so I’m going to bed early tonight to prepare for my last long run before the race.  Only 3 runs left until the big day!