acorn squash

The candied yams I made for Thanksgiving were a big hit. They always are. The sweet, creamy earthiness of the baked yams made even sweeter and creamier with generous dollops of maple syrup and butter tends to please diners of all ages and levels of culinary sophistication. (And the toasted marshmallows on top are the, um, icing on the cake.)

A similarly earthy, sweet, creamy -- and easy-to-prepare -- dish that’s sure to please everyone at your dinner table is maple-apple acorn-squash.

It's easy to be part of a CSA during the summer - the produce is beautiful and plentiful, the variety fun and interesting. Having perused a bunch of other blogs throughout the prime growing season, it was sometimes hard to tell in what region of the country the producing farm was based. Everyone seemed to get carrots, radishes, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and much more.

Many of you know by now that I was neither born nor raised in the Midwest. But a few farmshare weeks into the cold season, I'm feeling like a true Minnesotan. Delicata squash? Baby white turnips? Red kale tops? If those things existed on Long Island, none of my family or friends knew about it. (We did have raisins for Halloween though.)