Part I

Today is a day I will never ever forget.

It’s not any thing special of a day..no one’s birthday or the day we brought home the baby kind of day.

 Today I am at my desk…working rather hard actually…and I call home. JUST TO SAY HI.   Lately JJ has been in the background…MAMA….MAMA when I call. Hubs says, “You’re the only one I talk to so he knows it’s YOU.”

That’s sweet…but today…TODAY Dada hands the phone to my 19 mo love…and he’s telling me about his day…the play by play…and I wish I had my baby translator ON because I just KNOW what he’s saying is UBER important! At least it sounds like it IS.   I am just soaking his little voice all in…and I said…JJ….I LOVE YOU!

I LOVE YOU He yells back..crystal clear!

 OMGOODNESS! BABE..did you hear that? He’s chuckling in the back ground. Me n JJ chat some more…he’s reading the VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR…and, by memory, we are reading the page he’s on together…me at my desk, tears stinging in my eyes….

Okay baby….Mama has go to now….I Love you!

I LOVE YOU.

It kills me that he YELLS it! But I know, that this moment…October 8th 2009…my lil punkin said and/or YELLED at me… I LOVE YOU

I need a tissue break.

Part II

Stuffing Stuff, not just kids Stuff …to STUFF yourself…kinda STUFF..

It’s that time again everyone…where the air is crisper..the sweaters come out and so does my craving for STUFFING.

I used to be a fan of ..gasp…BOX stuffing but NO MORE!

A dear friend of mine has opened my eyes to a whole new WORLD (not to quote Ariel) but a whole new stuffing…a la HOME MADE.

 Not that unusual really, but it just never dawned on me to make my own dried/cubed bread. It has LESS SALT too! I have to read a box of stuffing now and get the stats! I am sure it’s LOADED with sodium (hence why I like it so much probably)…

 So today’s recipe de’ jour is Home Made Stuffing a La Alison…to honor my genius vegetarian food Mentor and friend! And to give today’s stuffing spotlight a little extra kick, let’s copy Alison some more and stuff it in shells of ACORN SQUASH.

WHY NOT…it’s DELISH…and I do have her permission so let’s DO THIS THING!

So this is what I/she /we did.

I cut and cleaned 2 acorn squash.

I also set the seeds aside for roasting later.

I oiled them (squash halves) and placed them in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes …next time I will make it an hour.

The stuffing cooks too fast and I like my stuffing moist. So 45 minutes to an hour and we’re set! While that is cooking I prep my stuffing. This is where the true fun begins! We always have bread on hand that needs to be used up..the JJ bread (the softer stuff) goes fast but my “nuts and bolts” bread lasts longer because less of us eat it. So nuts and bolts bread it is…I took 6 slices (because I am an even number kinda gal) and spread them out on a cookie sheet and baked them for a few minutes …WATCH IT..can toast fast.

Flip over and toasty up the second side and set out to cool.

Meanwhile I began chopping:

•  1 medium onion (or half a large one)
•  3 stalks celery
•  and 1 apple (your choice of flavor)…

I peeled the apple too, for good measure.

Heat up a pat of butter and a few tbsp of EVOO (thank you Ali) …Extra Virgin Olive Oil  (I had to ask too)…and add your sautéed veggies…cook till soft.

I added seasonings like Thyme, Sage, Rosemary…(really it was Mrs. Dash this time because it had the spices I like) and some dried thyme. I should have snipped fresh rosemary out of my garden too..that would have been AWESOME…but no…lazy!

So sprinkle seasonings and some S/P and give it a good stir and turn the heat off. Cut up the toast into small cubes and place in a bowl…I added some more shakes of the Mrs…and then added the apple/onion/celery mix…. I also added to the empty and warm pan a big spoonful of coconut oil. (love this stuff) SOOOO good for you…as any medium chain fatty acid is…and let it melt….

To my stuffing this time I added a large handful of dried cherries (it’s what I had on hand at the time) and some well chopped macadamia nuts…walnuts, pecans, or any other kind of nut will do…or not if you are not a fan.

Also add a can of vegetable broth (or your own home made kind is better) or hot water if you’re desperate! The whole idea here is to PLAY with your FOOD and experiment with flavors.

I wanted this to be sweet…ish. So I have my bowl of well mixed and seasoned bread crumbs and veggies. I added the coconut oil and mixed well and the broth.

When the squash has been cooked to almost done,  I took them out and stuffed them with the stuffing (who came up with the word “stuffing” it’s like it was MADE to describe what you do with this stuff)…

Stuff the squash with the stuff-ING and I also drizzled some leftover veggie broth over the top. Some more s/p and into the oven we go! I dropped the temp to 350…and could have covered it because my squash still had too much cooking to do…if it’s only in the oven for say less than half an hour I wouldn’t worry about it!

Wait till the kitchen smells like FALL and pull em out!

If you roasted the cleaned and seasoned seeds at the same time you not only used up oven heat VERY efficiently but made your house dwellers uber HAPPY.

Dinner’s ready…maybe a salad would be nice but I just had the squash. It was perfect!

This squash lends itself to MANY different flavors and really, it’s a good way to use up stale bread, and veggies you have that need using up. I would have added grated carrot, or zucchini…skies the limit here..(and your taste buds.)

Wrap any leftover stuffed squash in foil and sneak one in your go bag for lunch the next day at the office! See your cubicle neighbors drool!

 It’s a good day! Thank you Ali for selflessly letting my steal (with permission) your genius and providing me a ghost-guest post!

Luv ya!

and Bon Appetit!