Roasted squash with cranberries and feta

The calendar and scuttling tree leaves say autumn is here, so it's time to enjoy fall recipes despite this gloriously unseasonal weather. Mid-October doesn't usually call for a bike ride for ice cream at Selma's, but it was sublime.

Honey roasted butternut squash with cranberries and feta

From peasandcrayons.com

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil for drizzling

Salt, pepper, garlic powder, cinnamon for sprinkling

2 cups fresh cranberries

2 to 3 tablespoons honey

¼ crumbled feta

Fresh parsley, chopped fine, for garnish (or your herb of choice, tarragon, sage or rosemary would also work in this recipe)

Method

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, toss squash cubes with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder to personal preference. Spread on baking sheet. Roast at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Add cranberries and roast for another 10 to 15 minutes more, until they’re starting to soften and burst.

Remove from oven. Toss with honey, feta and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Garnish with parsley or other herbs.

Rating: Super simple, super tasty, pretty fast to fix and pretty to look at. A good side dish for pork or chicken, and could make an easy Thanksgiving side if your guests aren't too wedded to specific traditions.  I'm going to make this again soon while my pineapple sage plant is still going strong; pretty sure that will make this even better.

Bacon corn chowder

Just like that, we've gone from ice cream weather to soup weather. Although our back yard did manage to escape frost the other night, no doubt because we brought in every sizeable green tomato we could find. And the red cabbages, the arugula, the herb pots and all the green beans we could stand to pick. All those efforts were enough to make the weather warm up again a bit, but it's still time to start thinking soups.

Light corn chowder

From “Country Cooking” an American Country book I've been lugging around since it came out in 1989. It's the source of my favorite yellow split pea, yam and carrot soup, so I thought I'd give another soup recipe from it a shot.

Ingredients

4 to 6 slices bacon

1 medium onion, chopped, about 1¼ cups

¼ cup flour

2 cups broth

1 cup water

3 cups peeled and chopped yams (1/2-inch cubes)

½ teaspoon fresh thyme

2½ cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen

1 red bell pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)

1 medium zucchini, chopped small

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Method

Cook bacon in a large deep pan until crispy. Remove from pan, leaving drippings, and set aside until cool enough to crumble/chop into pieces.

Add onion to pan and cook over medium heat until softened. Add flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

Add broth, water, yams and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce to medium heat and simmer, covered until yams are tender. Figure on 10-15 minutes. Add corn, bell pepper, zucchini and milk. Simmer for a few minutes until corn is cooked. Stir in most of the bacon. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Serve garnished with remaining bacon and parsley. Serves 4 to 6, depending on whether it’s the main course or a side.

Rating: Fine enough. It's a little bit of a hodgepodge of a lot of vegetables, but the bacony-flavored broth is tasty. I might not reach for this recipe again, but I will happily reach for the remaining meal's worth in my freezer come winter. And I've got more yams to make that split pea soup recipe ...