Autumn Weekend Menu

Isn’t fall fun?  The golden colors of leaves, gourds and the harvest moon; the adventure of walking through corn mazes; picking out pumpkins to carve; and cheering for your favorite football team all make for happy memories with family and friends.  This menu maximizes your ingredients, with cranberries and walnuts doing double duty in the salad and muffins, and the salad and bread both easy and cheesy.  

My grandmother grew a variety of squash in her garden, and there was always plenty of butternut.  This year I managed to raise a large, oblong, butternut-colored squash in my own garden.  So Grandma-Inspired Roasted Butternut Squash Soup by The Food Duo caught my attention.  This takes a classic roasted squash, changes up a couple ingredients for a savory flavor profile, then runs it through the blender.  Sugar-free, with a little cumin, allspice, sage and black pepper.  A great treat for folks living with diabetes and hypoglycemia, and SugarBusters diet followers.  You’ll swear you’re sinning.

  

Crisp apples and Bosc or Anjou pears cross the Romaine field and collide with crunchy cashews and tart cranberries, while shredded Swiss waves her pompoms in Winter Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing by My Kitchen Addictions.  Dijon mustard and onion steal the halftime show in the Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing.  The leftovers will be a touchdown in your lunch box on Monday.  Splenda can go in for the sugar, and walnuts can go in for the cashews.

The result of a Sargento cheese tasting challenge, Game Day Cheesy Chorizo Bread is adapted by Are You Hungry from the company's original recipe.  Needless to say, there’s plenty of cheese involved.  It starts with pizza dough conveniently made in your bread machine.  (If it’s handier for you, you could roll out that can of biscuit dough in the fridge.)  Then it takes a spicy Mexican turn, with chorizo, onions and pepper jack cheese.  This could go vegetarian simply by substituting Soyrizo for the chorizo.  Roll it into a dough log, bake and slice for fluffy pinwheels of spicy, crusty, gooey goodness.   

Cranberry Tangerine Muffins by Get Natured, while originally designed as a breakfast recipe, can also make a sensational, seasonal dessert for kids of all ages.  Flaxseed and whole wheat flour combine with walnuts or pecans for more complex nut notes.  This recipe will make your baked goods championship team.  Another great lunchbox item.

Give your reliable winning lineup of raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg a twist, while keeping it simple with Noodle Kugel with Raisins by Food Adventures of a Comfort Cook.  Stir the basics in with the noodles and cold butter, pour, cover and bake for 30 minutes.  You could even add a healthy field goal with No Yolks or whole wheat noodles.  This reminds me of my aunt’s leftover pie crust crisps with its simple genius.

Have a happy, healthy weekend!