Roasted Acorn Squash & Brussels Sprout Salad

Roasted Acorn Squash & Brussels Sprout Salad

I love creating meals that resemble the current season. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I’m in the mood for autumnal colors in every dish. Butternut squash, brussels sprouts and apples are fall on a plate.

Brussels sprouts have pushed kale to the side and stepped into the spotlight. They’re the latest trendy vegetable to hit the table. I grew up eating them every week and have always loved them. It’s wonderful the rest of the world has finally caught on and fallen in love with this delicious vegetable. They are easy to prepare too. Try slicing them up, tossing with butter and coarse sea salt, then roasting at 425 degrees for 30 minutes.

For this recipe, I wanted complimentary flavors, colors and texture. And I nailed it! The apple cider vinaigrette with cinnamon drizzled over the top pulls it all together.

Roasted Acorn Squash & Brussels Sprout Salad

Roasted Acorn Squash and Brussels Sprout Salad

Makes 4 servings.

1 cup onion – thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic – minced
2 cups acorn squash – cubed
1 cup honey crisp apple – cubed
1 cup brussels sprouts – sliced
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp salt

Apple Cider Vinaigrette
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp white pepper
3 tbsp apple cider
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

All of the vegetables in this recipe must be cooked at different temperatures and lengths of time to maintain the right levels of doneness. You’ll have a few extra dishes to wash but the final product is worth it! You can also buy pre-cubed squash to save some time.

►Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat baking dish with coconut oil. Slice acorn squash in half, sprinkle salt on the insides and place face down on baking sheet. Cook for 45 minutes until a butter knife easily slices through the squash. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.
►Peel and cube the squash.
►Heat oven up to 425 degrees. Slice brussels sprouts and toss with 1 tsp salt. Coat roasting pan with coconut oil and spread sprouts evenly over pan. Roast for 20 minutes or until cooked and crispy.
►Turn oven down to 350 degrees. On a separate baking pan, evenly spread onions, garlic and apples. Bake for 15 minutes.
►Make dressing while vegetables cook. Combine all ingredients and whisk together.
►You can either toss all the vegetables with the dressing in a large bowl OR place all vegetables on a serving platter and drizzle dressing over everything. Either way, it will be delicious!

Grocery List: Buying Real Food

Grocery Shopping
This is the result of a successful shopping trip. A few items are missing that are camera shy, including liver, coconut yogurt, arrowroot powder and nutritional yeast.

Here’s the entire list:

Red Cabbage
Broccoli Rabe
Carrots
Ginger
Native Forest Coconut Milk
Native Forest Coconut Cream
Coconut Aminos
Sparkling Water
Figs
Avocados
Zucchini
Butternut Squash
Ginger Lemon Juice
Sugar Pumpkin
Turnips
Nutiva Coconut Flour 
Real Salt
Wild Caught Sardines in Olive Oil
Grass-fed Beef Liver
Coconut Yogurt
Arrowroot powder
Nutritional Yeast

There is a popular ad right now posted all over the city that says, “6pm at the grocery store is UnHappy Hour.” I strongly disagree. First, as a mostly non-drinker I realize this ad is not targeted to me. Second, grocery shopping is always my happy hour. In college, my friend and I spent hours at the grocery store, taking time to go up and down each aisle. Just for the fun of it. Now I carve out time to linger over labels. I classify it as research and inspiration time.

Companies like Fresh Direct and Amazon have made it possible to shop for any food product online. I use Amazon occasionally for specialty items I can’t find at my grocery store, although I feel guilty about the waste that delivery generates and that I’m not supporting my local businesses. Could there be a happy medium? Well it looks like Whole Foods may be on to something. They are beginning to offer personal shopping services. You can order all your groceries online and have them delivered right to your kitchen. I like that it’s my local store and I like the product selection at Whole Foods.

How do you feel about personal shoppers? Convenience is king in my lovely city. It takes too darn much time to schlep bags from one end of the city back home. I learned my lessons the hard way when I traveled downtown one day to pick-up a box bigger than me. The sucker wouldn’t budge when I tried to lift it.  Then every cab driver passed me by for twenty minutes. Fun day. Delivery isn’t such a bad option.