Acorn Squash Soufflé with Apple Cinnamon Topping

Acorn Squash Souffle

When I think of Fall recipes, there are two ingredients that immediately come to mind; squash and apples. So in my hunt to make the perfect dish to combine these flavors, I headed to the Broadway Farmers Market in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle to obtain the absolute best apples. My favorite apple orchard, Jones Creek Farms, has a small stall here each Sunday with apples that taste so much better than anything I’ve ever bought in a store. I also selected two beautiful acorn squash from Alm Hill Gardens. The market itself spreads across a small courtyard at Seattle Community College and further North along the sidewalk – giving it a somewhat more urban feel than many of the other markets I’ve visited in the city.

 

In pairing these two flavors I took some inspiration from one of my favorite, rather indulgent, recipes; Sweet Potato Soufflé with a Twist from the Kitchn. I love this recipe and make it every year, however in doing my best to cut way down on meat (I can’t resist loading that recipe with bacon) and sugar – I wanted a similar dish without the indulgence.

 

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Parmesan Sweet Potato Tots with Buttermilk Chive Dressing

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So I can either sound very gullible or very enlightening, but I just learned that sweet potatoes and yams are the same thing!  The U.S. government has perpetuated this error by mislabeling, and all this time we thought we were making a choice on two different vegetables.  You can see how we’ve all been so confused! Or maybe I was just late to the party…

 
When most of us think of sweet potatoes, we reference the orange variety. However, the majority of sweet potatoes found in grocery stores are pale and almost yellow in color. Since we’ve been calling the orange type of sweet potatoes “yams” since colonial times, the name caught on to reference that specific variety. It’s like when your teacher misreads your name for attendance, and the whole class thinks you’re Sam Weiners instead of Sam Weyner for the end of time. Poor Sam Weiners. 
 
Anyway, true yams are starchy tubers that have an almost black bark-like skin and white, purple or reddish flesh, found in Africa and Asia. That’s quite different from those canned yams you buy for Thanksgiving! 
Did you know that there are 16 varieties of sweet potatoes? The pale type you see in most grocery stores are called Hannahs, and the orange type that we mistake for yams are actually Beauregard sweet potatoes. There’s also Garnets that have a pumpkin-like taste, and Covingtons that are more widely found in the South. 

 

I tried Hannahs for these Parmesan Sweet Potato Tots, and they were delicious!

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Homemade Pumpkin Applesauce

I’ve been on an applesauce kick lately. I don’t know why, I usually only want it when I am not feeling well. I think it might just be the time of year. It’s actually been quite nice temperature-wise. And by nice, I mean like 90 degrees. This is fall in Phoenix. I guess I’ll take what I can get!

I’ve made homemade applesauce a few times before. It’s really quite simple to make and what’s better than an applesauce that only has a few natural ingredients and nothing else? No weird, unnecessary ingredients here. This time around, I wanted to give my applesauce a fall twist with the addition of pumpkin puree. Not only does this applesauce taste great, but it will also make your house smell amazing while cooking!
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Roasted Parmesan Potato Wedges

roasted-parmesan-potato-wedges

Making your own delicious potato wedges is so easy! It is one of those recipes you can throw everything in a bowl and just let your spoon do the work.

For these Roasted Parmesan Red Potato Wedges you will need:

  • 6 good sized red potatoes
  • 1 clove of garlic minced
  • pinch of black pepper
  • 1 tsp coarse sea salt
  • fresh rosemary
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbs bread crumbs
  • 1 tbs parmesan

Once you have preheated your oven to 425 degrees:

1) Wash your red potatoes and remove any blemishes

2) Cut into wedges