conquering the acorn squash

If I ever have anything remarkable happen to me medically, it will probably be due to the fact that I eat obscene amounts of salsa. No, really. It's true. Tortilla chips and salsa are my go-to snack. Sometimes I melt a little cheese on top, but more often than not I just pop the container of salsa and pig out (straight from the container, of course). I figure if I'm going to pig out on something, it might as well be relatively healthy. So if I make it to 100+, I'm totally going to have my gravestone read, "Eat your salsa, yo!" Or something like that. 

But I digress. I have nothing cool to tell you to do with salsa at the moment, so instead I'm going to tell you three awesome things you can do with an acorn squash. Omnomnom! I really like figuring out how to make totally underrated vegetables totally scrumptious. Acorn squash is a lovely fall squash that, while hard to cut open when all you have are cheap knives with three-inch blades (guess what's on my Christmas list?), is worth the effort. And once you do get it cut open, it practically makes itself. I can't take credit for the first two acorn squash options (that goes to my lovely former neighbors, with whom I spent Saturday afternoon making acorn squash and yummy banana nut bread), but I do take credit for the seeds.  

First, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Then cut the squash in half along one of the grooves. Be super careful! It's even more difficult to cut open than a pumpkin. Scoop out the seeds (don't throw them away!!) Now you have two options:

1. Fill the fruit about halfway with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to your taste.
2. Fill the fruit about halfway with maple syrup and add brown sugar to taste (I used a generous teaspoon).

Bam! You're done. Place the halves (rind down) on a baking sheet and pop it in the oven for about 40-45 minutes. When they're done, mash up the fruit so the olive oil or maple syrup mixture gets evenly distributed in the flesh. It should be soft, about the texture of baked sweet potato. Then eat it! Straight out of the fruit if you like - it's a nice natural bowl. 

maple syrup/brown sugar on the left; olive oil/salt/pepper on the right

Now, back to the seeds. While the fruit is in the oven, wash the seeds to get any stringy fruit off of them. Mix a teaspoon of maple syrup and a teaspoon of brown sugar in a Ziploc bag and throw the seeds in there, mixing it together until the seeds are pretty evenly coated. Spread them in a round, 8-inch cake pan and cover with aluminum foil. Why? Acorn squash seeds pop! Or at least they did when I roasted them. Those suckers hadn't been in there for ten minutes before they started popping all over my oven. So yeah. Cover them up. After the fruit is done, put them on the top rack for about 15 minutes (still at 375). Let them cool and crunch away! They're pretty similar in taste to pumpkin seeds. You could also roast them with olive oil and salt. 

pretty, no?

All smiles, 

b