Dried Cranberries

Picture this: A cold autumn’s night with green vegetables, toasted pine nuts, butternut squash and goat cheese. Sounds T.W.O. perfect, right? Well it is! Check out how to make this dish below.

Ingredients:

– 1 large butternut squash
– 2 large shallots, quartered
-4 gloves of garlic, skinned and halved
– 1 ½ Tablespoon cinnamon
– 1 ½ Tablespoon nutmeg
-1 large head Swiss chard, stems and leaves chopped separately
-¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
-¾ cups dried cranberries
– ¼ cup honey goat cheese, crumbled
– balsamic vinegar, to drizzle

Preheat oven to 375ᴼ. Peel the squash and cut in half lengthwise. Seed the squash and cut into bite-size cubes. Spray/brush the squash with olive oil and mix in cinnamon and nutmeg. Once the squash is coated, place on a baking sheet and cook for about 30-40 minutes until soft. Check the squash periodically and mix.

At the 20 minute mark, add the garlic and the shallots to the butternut squash on the baking pan in the oven.

While the squash medley is cooking, chop the Swish chard stems and sauté in a fry pan for 3 minutes with a drixzle of balsamic vinegar. After 2 minutes, add the Swish chard leaves.

Mix in the cranberries and the roasted pine nuts.

Remove the squash, shallots and garlic from the oven and add to the Swish chard mixture. Once mixed, remove from stove and plate the ingredients. Add the goat cheese to the top for garnish. Serve immediately.

T.W.O. enjoys having this for leftovers for lunch the next day. Just heat it up in the microwave or on the stove and you will have another tasty meal!

Happy cooking!!!

Fall is just not in the air, but also in quinoa! T.W.O. loves making this harvest quinoa salad during the autumn months. It makes a great side dish, lunch meal, or snack! Serve it hot or cold! It’s just not perfect sweater weather, but perfect quinoa weather.

Ingredients

-2 cups water
-1 cup red quinoa, rinsed
-1 green apple
-1 cup spinach
-1/2 cup of dried cranberries
-1 lemon, juiced
-3-4 tablespoons olive oil
-1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
-3 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
-Garlic powder
-Cinnamon
-Salt & Pepper
-Goat cheese, crumbled

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add a dash of cinnamon and garlic power. If you want a little kick, add a dash of cayenne pepper. Once the water is boiling, add quinoa and reduce to low-medium heat. Cook for about 12-15 minutes. While the quinoa is cooking, cut the apple (unpeeled) and spinach.

When the quinoa is done, fluff with fork and cool for 10-15 minutes.

Once cool, add olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, apple cider, garlic powder, salt and pepper and mix. Next add in apple, spinach and cranberries and mix well.

Allow salad to chill for about 20 minutes. When you are ready to serve, crumble goat cheese over salad. (If you plan to serve, only let quinoa cool for about 2 minutes before adding in the ingredients. Top salad with goat cheese when you are ready to serve.)

Bon appetite!