good dinner

So this week I've been trying to only eat food that we already have at our house. I am not gifted in the grocery shopping department. I often see blogs where all these different women talk about how much they save on groceries and their carefully crafted plans to stay under budget on the food they buy. I do not have any carefully crafted plan. I do not clip coupons. (We don't get the paper, otherwise, I probably would.) I do not always compare the grocery circulars and see where I can get the best deals that week. There are a few grocery stores that have good prices and good store brands, and that is where I shop. So even though there were many things we really needed from the grocery store, I held out last week and only cooked with what we already had. It made for some interesting nights, but overall, it went well. My favorite and I think most creative meal involved an acorn squash. Before this week, I had never purchased, eaten, or cooked an acorn squash. But a few weeks ago, they were on sale, so I bought one, wanting to branch out. I used to be what I call "vegetably challenged." I did NOT like vegetables. Except corn, which really doesn't count. And green beans. Mostly because when my grandma cooked them, she added some pork or fat back. (That's how we southerners like our vegetables. Seasoned with meat.) Certain vegetables I could barely look at without feeling nauseated. My mom would actually have to move the dish of peas away from my plate, since I actually would gag. (My relationship with peas is sort of a long story that involves my brother, peas, nostrils, and tweezers. Let's just leave it at that.)

All that to say that I've been trying to branch out. This acorn squash actually had some directions for how to cook it on the sticker that identified it as acorn squash. I cut it in half, baked it for about 45 minutes (the amount of time it took me to go and vote) and then came home, took it out of the oven, sauteed some onions and sausage together, filled each half with the mixture and added a little brown sugar and butter, and baked it for another 10 or 15 minutes. All I have to say is yum. I almost felt like a vegetarian, since our main course was squash. I do realize, though, that by filling it with some sausage, it became a decidedly unvegetarian dish. But hey-that's how we do vegetables around here. Seasoned with meat. (That is probably also why South Carolina ranks near the top of the nation for strokes and high blood pressure and obesity.) So here is the before eating picture:


















And here is the after-eating:















You can tell I enjoyed it. I think Jeff tolerated it. At least, he definitely enjoyed the sausage part.