Last night I had no real plan for dinner, so I rooted around my pantry and fridge and came up with chicken sausage, dried cranberries, acorn squash and rice. Hmmm….

Harvest Stuffed Acorn Squash

1 acorn squash, halved and seeded

1 c. brown rice, already cooked

2 links chicken sausage, sliced

1/4 c. dried cranberries

1/4 c. walnuts, rough chopped

1 tbsp. apple butter

2 tsp. stone ground mustard

1 tsp. maple syrup

Directions

1. Place halved acorn squash face down in 1/4 inch water and cook for thirty minutes at 400.

2. In a bowl mix together precooked rice, sausage, cranberries, walnuts, apple butter, mustard and syrup. Stir well.

3. Take out the squash, turn them over and stuff. Cook an additional 15 to 20 minutes. Voila!

I served it with a hot spinach salad that was…okay. I need to work on that.

Harvest Stuffed Acorn Squash with Hot Balsamic and Honey Spinach Salad

Coleman's Natural Garlic Chicken Sausage

Jonathan and I opened a Pinot Noir from Marimar that we bought on vacation. The salad totally overpowered the wine, however, it went quiet well with the squash. Though,  it tasted more Burgundian, and therefore I think would really shine with a mushroom ragu. By Burgundian I mean that it tasted more earthy/rich/spicy, not super-fruity like Californian wines tend to be. Though that, of course, is an over-generalization, but still. Mushroom ragu! Or…ooo…pepper-rubbed lamb. Either.

Marimar Estate "Earthquake Block" Pinot Noir

We ended our night watching ‘Bones’–we are currently obsessed with the show. We’re on Season 2, Disc 4. Ahhh…Already I want Brennan and Booth to just get on with it! Still–every story needs a good dose of sexual tension, non?

By the way…speaking of TV…Glee returns tonight! My friend Christine and I always wait until Thursdays though, so we can watch it together on Hulu.

Nanowrimo: 11,232

Tags: autumn recipe, marimar, nanowrimo, recipe, sausage, squash, Wine