What’s in the fridge?

Sleepy day, eh? I was up early and out of the house to meet some Boston bloggers for a run. I met up with Alison, Elina, Ina, and Beth for a run on the Cambridge side of the Charles. I am SO glad Elina arranged the run and that we actually went out and did it because the weather was brutal at times. By the time we finished four miles, my shoes were full of water, and my clothes clung to me as though I went swimming in them. Still, I managed to drag my soggy self into Trader Joe’s to pick up some food for the week along with my Super Red Drink Powder to bring to San Diego with me this week. Must.stay.healthy. My office is split up into two areas by the reception area, and word on the street is that the other area is full of sick people at the mo. They should stay away. I am taking a short break from California posts just to break things up a little bit. I could seriously write about our trip for the next couple of weeks as I want to remember every second, but other stuff has gone on since we returned, and I don’t want to bore anyone with constant wine chatter.

We flew into Boston on a red eye and arrived a little before 7 am Wednesday. Virgin America just rocks. They got us in 40 minutes early with another perfectly smooth landing. On the four flights I have had with them so far, every landing has been like setting down on pillows. And landing normally terrifies me. The internet on Virgin America is also great and is free from now until after the holidays! Anyway, we headed home from the airport and pretty much the second we got in the door, I unpacked the laptop and logged into my office computer to greet the flood of emails that arrived when I was away. THIS is why I work on vacation. I would much prefer to handle a few things a day than be completely swamped and miserable my first day back. People yell at me all the time for working on days off, but for me it just works and not doing it this time made everything pretty bad. . . Working all day on no sleep meant no time to go grocery shopping. I wanted a healthy meal to detox from my 5 days of eating and drinking everything in sight, so I scrounged around to see what we had leftover from the week before.

A hearty butternut squash – I love how long it lasts!

Panko bread crumbs, thank you Kikkoman and Foodbuzz!
Trader Joe’s chicken apple sausage, so yum. (This recipe could be made with beans or tofu, very easily) I started by cutting and gutting the butternut squash.

The stuffing for the squash consisted of chopped sausage, 3 cloves of chopped garlic, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, a few dashes of cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and freshly ground black pepper.

Grenada nutmeg, love the travel memories it brings. . . The topping was topped off with grated Kerrygold Dubliner cheese.

I coated the butternut squash halves with olive oil and a bit of cayenne and popped them in the oven at 400 for about 25 minutes before I pulled them out and stuffed them. I returned them to the oven for about 20 more minutes, waiting until the flesh of the squash was able to be easily pierced with a fork.

Please ignore our ancient baking sheets 😉 This dish was easy, healthy, and actually a lot of fun to make and really, it could easily be vegetarian. I probably will make it with tofu next time. Being away from a kitchen for so long is always difficult for me. We have already talked about our next trip to California wine country and about maybe renting a little apartment or staying in a hotel that offers rooms with kitchens. Can you just imagine the wine and food pairings you could do in your own wine country kitchen? Travel Eat Love’s Wine Country Kitchen. . . I like the sound of it!