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Autumn Harvest Feast
This past weekend, Lex and I took a trip with Carrie and Kathy to Larriland Farms, a pick-your-own farm. It was the last weekend of the season, so we got in under the wire. While there, we picked up fresh apple cider, three jars of fruit jams and preserves, a couple of pie pumpkins, four acorn squash, a whole bunch of spinach picked from one of their fields, some homemade fudge and homemade fruit treats. On the way home, I was inspired by all the beautiful fall foliage to make an autumn-themed meal using all the vegetables I’d just purchased.
Yesterday’s dinner consisted of the following menu:
Sausage-stuffed acorn squash
Wilted garlic spinach
Savory mashed pumpkin
Sweet potato biscuits
Pumpkin bars (for dessert)
Sparkling apple cider (Just added club soda to the fresh cider and served cold)
My personal verdict:
Loved the sausage-stuffed squash. The savory sausage and the sweet squash was a good combo (not unlike applesauce and pork chops). The spinach was also a winner. Anything with that much garlick (12 cloves to 1.5 lbs of spinach befor the wilt) can’t lose! I enjoyed the mashed pumpkin, but Lex said it was “too exotic” for her palate. I might try mixing the pumpkin with potatoes next time and see if that helps her enjoy it more. I like squash, though, so this worked for me. If you like zucchini casserole, then you’ll like this. The biscuits were total losers! Sweet hockey pucks. I probably overhandled the dough, which didn’t help, but they were going to be heavy no matter what I did. Using yams in place of milk is NOT a winning combo when trying to come up with a light and fluffy biscuit. Another mistake I made: dropping them instead of rolling and cutting. This needs to be a THIN biscuit if it’s going to work at all. I ended up tossing these out. The pumpkin bars ended up more like cake primarily because I used too small a pan. My complaint about this recipe is the high level of oil used in it. They seemed a bit greasy to me. Finally, I enjoyed my little apple cider “mocktail.” The club soda cut some of the sugar in the cider, which was intensely sweet, and the drink helped to set off what was-on the whole-not a light meal. This is definitely “comfort food,” though certainly not the usual fare.
