Roasted Delicata Squash & Wheat Berry Salad with Feta

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Delicata Squash and Wheat Berry Salad with FetaYes, another salad.  I’m still coming down from all the rich eating I did while traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday (I promise we’ll talk about that food one of these days).

But this is not a salad to dread, it’s a salad to celebrate!  It’s hearty with chewy, nutty wheat berries and plenty of roasted squash.  Spicy toasted squash seeds counter a lightly sweet lemon-honey vinaigrette and creamy feta cheese adds just the right tangy punch.  Layer all that with the fact that eating healthfully this week will help you feel great about diving headfirst into holiday baking next.  Perfect.

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Butternut Squash, Leek & Brie Galette

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Butternut Squash, Leek & Brie Galette

The past few days have been “melty” here in Minnesota.  Everyone seems a little happier and finally has a little skip in their step now that we’re seeing a glimmer of spring.  The end is finally, maybe, in sight.

Perfect.  Except for one thing.  One thing I can’t believe I’m about to say.

Have I had my fill of winter cooking yet?  Am I ready to trade in the hearty root vegetables and braised meats for asparagus and artichokes?  I better get in a couple more soups.  Maybe a stew.  Better do some baking. Bread pudding?  Polenta.  Gooey cheese.  Root vegetables.  Roasts.  Winter squash.

Squash!  No, I haven’t quite had my fill.  I loaded up on it in the beginning and then it fell off my radar.

Alright, tonight squash’ll get crossed off our winter eating bucket list.  We’ll roast it, combine it with sautéed leeks and Brie, and use it as the filling for a savory galette.  Nice, 3 checks off our list: squash, cheese, and baking.

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Roasted Kabocha Squash & Sunchoke Soup

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Kabocha Squash & Sunchoke Soup

It’s actually embarrassing how little cooking I’ve done the past few weeks.  I might have 2 pizza boxes out waiting for the trash man this very moment.

You can relate though, right?  I mean you spend all this time before the holidays baking and planning the BIG dinner without really thinking about all the little meals in between. You come home, starving, look in the fridge and realize every time you’ve run to the grocery store in the last week it was for butter, heavy cream, another bag of flour, powdered sugar…

…and the pizza man’s phone rings.

But now it’s time.  The Christmas cookies have been baked and (mostly) eaten, the big dinner is over.  It’s time to break the cycle, time to erase the pizza delivery number from your recent call history.  Time to get back to cooking real food.  It’s time for soup.

Today it’s a velvety Kabocha squash and sunchoke soup.  And it’s a good one.  Really, really good even. It’s creamy and comforting with warm spices and a little sweet, nutty, can’t-quite-put-your-finger-on-it-yumminess from the roasted sunchokes.

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Squash & Radicchio Lasagna with Fontina

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People always want to hear the bad news first, right?

Here it is: homemade lasagna is an awful lot of work.  Pasta to mix, roll, and cook, sauces and fillings to prep, cheese to grate.  Then comes assembling the whole concoction and don’t forget cleaning up your disaster of a kitchen.

The good news: totally worth it!  And even better, you can prep everything in advance so the day you actually eat the lasagna, your kitchen will be tidy again, your stress level low, and you’ll be able to just get lost in all the cheesy, silky layers of straight-up comfort.

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Pumpkin & Goat Cheese Tart with Hazelnut Brittle

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Pumpkin & Chevre Cheesecake with Candied Hazelnuts

Something important happened this week.  I am taking a stand, committing to a position.

Don’t worry, it’s not political.  It’s about pumpkin.

For years I’ve been undecided, straddling the fence between loving and hating pumpkin desserts.  I should like them- I adore squash and like not-too-sweet desserts, but pumpkin has never been my pie of choice, nor have I ever gotten excited about pumpkin bars or the crazy pumpkin drinks coffee shops are hawking this time of year.  I probably would have happily stayed on the hate-side of the fence if it weren’t for my pumpkin-lovin’ bf whose taste buds occasionally influence what I bake.

It has taken me years to get to this place in my life, but this recent concoction makes me proud and confident in taking a stand and saying it.

People, I’m no hater.  I love pumpkin!

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