pumpkin bread

last weekend, i was feeling in the mood for some fall comfort sides to go with our salmon cakes, so we paired them with baked acorn squash and pumpkin muffins...yummy! 

i didn't take pictures of the results, but everything was great!  and went well with our fall beverage choices of pumpkin ale, dark chocolate stout, and hard cider :)

for the squash, here's what i did:

halved the squash and scooped out the seeds and other goop (i actually rinsed the seeds in a strainer, tossed on a baking sheet with a little olive oil, kosher salt, and fresh ground pepper, and roasted to make a great snack or salad topping)
put a little butter and brown sugar in the pit that was created (i actually used little packets of butter that we'd gotten with some takeout italian a few weeks ago, so it was the perfect small amount of butter to put in the squash)
baked in an uncovered casserole dish with about 1/2 an inch of water in the bottom at varying temperatures (between 350 and 450, as i was accommodating baking/roasting a couple other things simultaneously) for around 35-40 minutes...i kept my eye on the squash and tested it with a fork to make sure the "meat" had gotten soft enough

it was delicious and pretty healthy and made me excited about cooking more fall and winter veggies!

for the pumpkin muffins, i used this pumpkin bread recipe from real simple online that was yummy and very simple...and, i had everything on hand in my kitchen!  i ended up adding craisins and an egg white as well, and instead of baking in a loaf pan as the recipe said to do, i put the batter in a muffin tin.  i've found that's a little easier for storage and portion control!  the canned pumpkin and egg made the muffins fluffy and pretty too! 

this coming week, i'm planning on breaking out the crock pot to do some more fall/comfort food meals that will make themselves while i'm at work!