Roasted Acorn Squash Polenta

Meatless Monday has been a tradition at the Church-Camp household for the last year. We try to eat meatless once a week, usually on Mondays. It doesn't always happen, but we try.

Tonight I had an Acorn Squash that I have been really wanting to use, so this is what I came up with: Roasted Acorn Squash Polenta.

It is a pretty intensive recipe for a week night, but it has tons of leftovers, which will be nice for lunches.

1 large Acorn Squash (about 3 lbs)
6 cloves garlic
5 t. rubbed sage
1 1/2 c slow cooking polenta
1c skim milk
1/4 c. pure maple syrup
1/2 stick butter
salt & pepper to taste
6 c. water.
olive oil spray

Preheat oven at 425
Cut squash in half and peel garlic. Put garlic in squash and sprinkle with 2 t. of rubbed sage and spray with olive oil.

Roast in oven for 45 minutes.

After done, puree in food processor until smooth.

(My polenta called for 4 cups of water, but I ended up with 6 cups and 1 cup milk. I like my polenta a little runny, but you could use less)

Bring water to boil with 1 t. of salt. Stir in polenta slowly. Then stir in milk. Bring down to a simmer. Cook for 25 minutes stirring often.

Then, stir in squash, butter, and sage and bring back to a simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often. Just before finishing, add maple syrup. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

It takes lots of salt, but it is a big pot. It is easily 6-8 servings.



This recipe, with the butter and syrup and all, is a great recipe for those of us on WeightWatchers and other diets. Lose the butter and milk (maybe add some soy milk) and it makes a great vegan recipe. This is great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It would be good with a fried egg or with a tomato sauce.

Overall, a really great recipe.

Hillary Clinton is Basically a Republican Chicken

I don't like Hillary. I really hope her pro-death penalty, pro-using force in Iran, pro-Patriot Act, anti-gay marriage, more of the same butt loses tomorrow.

But, she inspired a good chicken.

I started with a very large chicken because mom and dad were coming over and we like leftovers. 24 hours in advance I salt and peppered the chicken and put rosemary under the skin and in the cavity.

1 hour before cooking take it out and bring it to room temperature. I then stuffed garlic under the skin and put garlic all around it and in the cavity. I also squeezed lemons all around and put them in the pan too.


The preheated oven was at 400. Put the chicken in breast up for 20 minutes. Then flip the whole thing over, which takes some skill. Cook breast down for 20 minutes and cook breast up until done. USE A THERMOMETER. Take out when it reaches 175 or so.

My skin split open, so it wasn't beautiful, but it was tasty.