Weekly Eats {Psyched for Fall Flavors)

Last Sunday marked the first day of fall, and I sure didn’t waste any time transitioning from summer to fall flavors.  I think I got a little too excited at the grocery store:

At the beginning of last week, I whipped up a big batch of a butternut squash and spinach salad.  I used this recipe, but replaced the wheat elbow pasta with barley and the raisins with dried cranberries.  Both versions are delicious.  But let’s be honest, anything with butternut squash is.

This was lunch for the entire week except for Tuesday when my group went out for a group lunch at work.  We went to Beer Works, and I ordered the El Paso salad with grilled salmon.  Yum.

Dinners were as follows:

Sunday & Monday
Southwestern stuffed acorn squash.  Un-friggin-believable.  Seriously obsessed.  Check back in for the recipe on Friday!

Tuesday
Grilled flounder topped with the spiced mango chutney that Tim and I bought at the farmer’s market at SoWa.  On the side we had sautéed Swiss chard and heirloom tomatoes with balsamic and basil.

Wednesday
More butternut squash… soup style!

Thursday
I had breakfast for dinner because I was too angry about the events of my day to even think about cooking.  Don’t judge my multiple slices toast slathered with peanut butter and Nutella.  Actually, who’s judging!?  Peanut butter and Nutella is frickin’ awesome.  You’re probably jealous.

Friday
I went out to dinner with Julia, Lauren, and Jen and enjoyed a yummy salmon dish from Seasons 52.  And a flatbread for an appetizer.  I just love this restaurant and am so excited that it opened in Boston.  I know it from my Atlanta work trips!

Saturday
I wasn’t very hungry for dinner because I went to Monique‘s housewarming party for a few hours in the late afternoon – evening.  I guess my dinner consisted of all the snacks I munched on while I was there!

I also NEED to share my favorite treat / splurge of the week, Patrice’s cherry cheesecake muffins.

This picture totally does not do them justice, but Patrice made the cherry cheesecake muffins for Tricia’s birthday at work this week.  Usually I am pretty good at refraining from all the workplace birthday treats, but I am a sucker for cheesecake.  And if I’m going to splurge, it’s going to be on something homemade!  I also really appreciated that Patrice brought in yogurts too (cheesecake flavored) to offer a healthier choice if people wanted it.

That’s it for today… off to the Minnesota office for more trainings!

What are your favorite fall flavors?

For some of my favorite fall recipes, check out last year’s fall recipe collection!

Fall Recipe Collection

Good morning!

Are you guys lucky enough to have a long weekend this weekend like I do?  I love Columbus Day weekend — smack in the middle of fall and there are usually lots of fun activities and so many autumn things to do.  And there’s nothing like a Monday off!!

In the spirit of one of my favorite fall weekends, I figured today would be a good day to post a collection of some of my favorite fall recipes.

Enjoy!

Tuscan Pumpkin White Bean Soup

Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

Apple Topped Pork Chops

Sweet Potato Quesadillas

German Apple Cake

Roasted Butternut Squash and Spinach Salad

Four Ingredient No Bake Pumpkin Pie

Butternut Squash with Goat Cheese, Sage, and Roasted Pecans

Pumpkin Pecan Muffins

 

It’s kind of exciting that I’ve been blogging long enough now to even have a recipe round-up, isn’t it?

What’s your favorite fall recipe?

Off to continue the long weekend!  Hope you are doing the same!

Roasted Chicken Balsamic & Butternut Squash

I love Friday nights in.

I also love pumpkin beer.

So this Friday night in + the first pumpkin beers of the season = a great combination.

I really enjoy Shipyard, but I thought the Smuttynose was a little too hoppy.

Joe & Cate came over to hang out, eat dinner, and drink some beers with us too.  While dinner was cooking, we munched on some chips & salsa.  I use the word “some” lightly.  I really ate the whole bowl I think.  Oops!

We also sampled some of the clam chowder Tim made on Thursday night.  I was proud of him – this came out great!  And was a nice appetizer to hold us over before dinner was ready.

Dinner was roasted chicken and balsamic (courtesy of The Food Network) with a side of butternut squash (courtesy of Kath at Kath Eats Real Food).

Recipes below!

CHICKEN

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (4-pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces (giblets, neck and backbone reserved for another use) — we used boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest — we left this out
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

1. Whisk the vinegar, mustard, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper in small bowl to blend.
2. Combine the vinaigrette and chicken pieces in a large resealable plastic bag; seal the bag and toss to coat. Refrigerate, turning the chicken pieces occasionally, for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. 
3. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
4. Remove chicken from the bag and arrange the chicken pieces on a large greased baking dish.
5. Roast until the chicken is just cooked through, about 1 hour. If your chicken browns too quickly, cover it with foil for the remaining cooking time.
6. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Place the baking dish on a burner over medium-low heat.
7. Whisk the chicken broth into the pan drippings, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the baking sheet with a wooden spoon and mixing them into the broth and pan drippings.  Drizzle the pan drippings over the chicken.
8. Sprinkle the lemon zest and parsley over the chicken, and serve.

SQUASH

All we did was dice up the squash and combine it on a cooking sheet with some chopped onion, fennel seed, olive oil, salt, pepper, and cinnamon.  Cooked it for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.  I could eat squash for every meal I think.  So good.

Viewing pleasure:

Question of the Day:  What’s your ideal Friday night?