tonight i decided to take advantage of the flavors of fall! we have always tried to eat "in season" and it's especially easy to eat in season on the cheap!
i started with a simple and delicious fall salad with the bag of lettuce i bought for the week (my favorite is butter crunch) and some red apple that we had in the fridge leftover from our trip to the orchard. apples are great in salad this time of year! it adds an awesome sweet crunch! i made a dressing with some balsamic vinegar and honey and tada!
a simple and beautiful fall salad! if you have already carved your pumpkins, this salad would be great with some roasted pumpkin seeds tossed in it!
next i had billy chop our acorn squash in half, and he did such a great job that i let him prepare the whole thing! he stuck a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of brown sugar in the "well" of the acorn squash and then sprinkled the rest with salt, pepper, and cinnamon.
they roast in the oven for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. the butter and sugar melt into delicious nearly dessert-worthy yumminess! but secretly, acorn squash is SO good for you! (and if you want to be even healthier you can use smart balance instead of butter ;))
next i grabbed the remaining chicken breasts out of the fridge. they had been marinating in italian dressing for the past couple days so were sure to be extra yummy. to give them a special autumn twist i seared them in apple cider! mmm!
this dinner has been my favorite dinner on the cheap meal this week so far! the flavors were really great together... the balsamic vinegar and honey in the salad mixed with the sweet earthiness of the squash mixed with the apple cider kick in the chicken breast all went really well together.
and if you look back to my grocery list from earlier this week, you'll see that this half of my chicken for the week was $3.25, the acorn squash was $1.50 and i used half of my bag of salad at $1.75... that's $3.25 a piece for our delicious and healthy meal tonight! woot woot!
this is fun!
3 comments:
Yum!!! I made acorn squash the other night stuffed with meatloaf. Ground turkey is best. It's super good, and I don't even like meatloaf! (I think I don't like because of the name...meat...loaf...gross.) I just saw all of these cheap dinner posts, and I love them! We are doing the same thing around here because we are on a super tight budget. I think it's kind of fun having the challenge and getting creative, especially staying gluten-free and healthy!
you're right taylor, i think having an extra challenge like a tight budget or a special diet just makes dinner more fun because it forces you to be more inventive! i'm going to try to keep it up! send me that recipe if you get a chance, it sounds great!
So I've never had acorn squash but have been trying new veggies...i will be trying your acorn squash tomorrow night!
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