Fakin' the Bacon: Quinoa with Butternut Squash, Bacon and Walnuts

I’d like to welcome November with a hearty seasonal dish. I tried another recipe from the Raley’s magazine. This was another opportunity for me to use a fall-favorite ingredient (butternut squash) and quinoa.

Wow – this was great! When we tasted it, my husband and I found it to be very hearty and rustic. A delectable fall meal. The original recipe calls for bacon, but I used soy bacon (which my husband has coined “Fakin’ ”). This made it healthier and allowed me to enjoy it as well! (The soy bacon keeps the smokey flavor that you'd achieve with real bacon, but cuts out the cholesterol and saturated fat.) I used more squash and onion that the original recipe called for, and also used a clove of garlic instead of garlic salt (all changes noted below).

Quinoa with Butternut Squash, Bacon and Walnuts
(Adapted from Raley’s "Something Extra", Holiday, 2009)
Ingredients
* 2 cups vegetable broth
* 1 cup rinsed and drained quinoa
* 4 strips chopped bacon (or “Fakin’”)
* 1 tbsp. olive oil
* 2 cups diced butternut squash
* 1 medium-size onion, chopped
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
* ¼ cup walnuts, toasted
* Top with chopped fresh sage or thyme and chopped

Directions
Bring 2 cups vegetable broth to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in 1 cup rinsed and drained quinoa; reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 12 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

Cook 4 strips chopped bacon (or soy bacon) in a large skillet until very crisp. Remove and set aside. (If using real bacon, drain off all fat.) Add 1 tbsp. olive oil and stir in chopped onion, diced butternut squash, and minced garlic. Cook and stir over medium-high heat for 10 minutes. Stir vegetables and bacon into quinoa and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Top with chopped fresh sage or thyme, and chopped toasted walnuts.

More Apples: Apple Brandy Pies with Cheddar Crust

The fall foliage is peaking around here, and we are savoring every day of fall. A couple weeks ago we spent the day visiting our favorite cider mill (a perennial favorite and local institution in the town where I grew up), and enjoyed fresh cider and spiced donuts.


We’ve been eating a lot of apples, and I’ve also been cooking with them. It seemed like the perfect time to try a new recipe that I saw.

My friend Christina was kind enough to snail-mail me a copy of a complimentary magazine that is available at her local food store in northern California. The Raley’s Something Extra magazine has a plethora of recipes, and new ways to use different grocery items. I received it in the mail from her one Friday evening when I arrived home after work. I read through the magazine no fewer than three times before the end of the weekend. (I am very thankful that she sent a copy my way!!)

While I’ve flagged many recipes in the Holiday edition of Something Extra, I decided to add a little more apple to our autumn and start off trying their Apple Brandy Pies. I sent them with my husband to his football tailgate today, and I think they’d make a nice hors d'oeuvre or addition to a dessert tray.

Apple Brandy Pies with Cheddar Crust
Ingredients
* 2 tbsp. butter
* 1 large green apple, peeled, cored and chopped
* 1/4 cup apple brandy
* 2 tbsp. honey
* 1 (15-oz.) package refrigerated pie crusts
* 2/3 cup finely shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, divided

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Melt butter in a medium skillet. Add apple and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir apple brandy and honey into apples and cook over medium-high heat until excess liquid has cooked off; set aside to cool.

Unroll pie crusts and sprinkle 1/3 cup cheese onto each. Press cheese into crust with a rolling pin, rolling into a 10-inch circle. Cut into circles with a 3½-inch cutter. Place equal amounts of filling in each pastry circle, then brush edges of pastry lightly with water. Fold over to enclose filling and press with the tines of a fork to seal.

Place on prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.