Squash from October meeting

• 
  
  
  Roasted Butternut Squash Filled with Port-Soaked Fruit
  
  
  Nonstick cooking spray
• 1
  1 1/2 pound butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
• 1
  tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4
  teaspoon salt
• 2
  cups port wine or pomegranate juice
• 1/4
  cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4
  cup sugar
• 1
  cup dried apricots, chopped
• 1/2
  cup dried tart cherries, chopped
• 1/2
  cup salted whole almonds, chopped
• Aged white cheddar cheese or Gruyere cheese, shaved
• Toasted baguette slices

directions

1.Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Coat a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

2.Rub squash halves with oil then sprinkle cut side with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Place squash, cut side down on prepared baking sheet. Roast until easily pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, 33 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a platter, cut side up.

3.Meanwhile, in a large saucepan combine the port wine, vinegar, sugar, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring mixture to boiling over medium-high heat and cook, uncovered, 4 minutes. Add the apricots and cherries. Remove from heat; let stand 10 minutes. Remove fruit from saucepan with a slotted spoon; set aside. Return saucepan to the stove over medium-high heat. Bring port mixture to boiling; cook until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and reduced to about 1/2 cup; about 14 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in the fruit mixture and nuts. Season to taste with salt and ground black pepper.

4.Spoon fruit mixture into squash. Place any remaning mixture in a serving bowl.

5.To serve, place shaved cheese on baguette slices. Spoon on squash and fruit mixture. Makes 6 servings.

From October 2012 Better Homes and Gardens.

See more squash recipes from that edition here: http://www.bhg.com/recipes/from-better-homes-and-gardens/october-2012-recipes/#page=6

Recipes from Levi's meet and greet

BEST CHEESEBALL EVER
2 8-oz. cream cheese
2 c. (8 oz) sharp cheddar cheese
3 T. chopped green olive and pimento
3 T. chopped green pepper
3 T. chopped red onion
1 T. Worchestershire sauce
3 t. lemon juice
Pecans, chopped

Mix all ingredients together. Roll into a ball. Chill. Roll in chopped pecans. Serve with crackers.
* I always add a little too much worchestershire sauce and lemon juice, and extra olives, pepper and onion. I like a lot of flavor, and this delivers.

MANGO MADNESS
(From Better Homes & Gardens February 2010)
2 c. Chopped mango
1/2 c. Chopped red pepper
1/4 c. Finely chopped red onion
2 T. chopped cilantro
2 T. lime juice
Pinch salt and pepper

*This recipe looks oh, so beautiful in a bowl with the vibrant reds of the onion and pepper, the orange of the mango and the green from the cilantro. Plus, when my hubby got home, he couldn’t stop eating it.



Cilantro, Bean & Tomato Salad

1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can corn
1 package grape tomatoes, sliced in half
2 T. scallions, sliced
2 T. fresh cilantro
1/4 c. lime juice
2 T. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients. Serve alone or with chips.

December 2012 book: Sing You Home

Amy has selected "Sing You Home" by Jodi Picoult for our December 2012 book.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Every life has a soundtrack. All you have to do is listen.

Music has set the tone for most of Zoe Baxter’s life. There’s the melody that reminds her of the summer she spent rubbing baby oil on her stomach in pursuit of the perfect tan. A dance beat that makes her think of using a fake ID to slip into a nightclub. A dirge that marked the years she spent trying to get pregnant.

For better or for worse, music is the language of memory. It is also the language of love.

In the aftermath of a series of personal tragedies, Zoe throws herself into her career as a music therapist. When an unexpected friendship slowly blossoms into love, she makes plans for a new life, but to her shock and inevitable rage, some people—even those she loves and trusts most—don’t want that to happen.

Sing You Home is about identity, love, marriage, and parenthood. It’s about people wanting to do the right thing for the greater good, even as they work to fulfill their own personal desires and dreams. And it’s about what happens when the outside world brutally calls into question the very thing closest to our hearts: family.

November 2012 book: Off the Grid

Cindy is picking the new book from one of our favorite authors for us all to read in November. PJ Tracy is a mother-daughter writing team. They live in Chisago City (or it is Center City). Anyhow, I was alway trying to convince the STAR we needed to write a story on them, but they were just outside of our coverage area so I never got to meet them in person. However, I think they are AMAZING writers, and I'm so glad Cindy picked their book. I didn't realize they had a new one out!! It is officially the sixth in the series, but I think you all will enjoy it standing alone. If you want to borrow the earlier ones (after you fall in love with the characters), just let me know :)

Off The Grid (US) / Two Evils (UK)

On a sailboat ten miles off the Florida coast, Grace MacBride, partner in Monkeewrench Software, thwarts an assassination attempt on retired FBI agent John Smith. A few hours later, in Minneapolis, a fifteen-year-old girl is discovered in a vacant lot, her throat slashed. Later that day, two young men are found in their home a few blocks away, killed execution-style. The next morning, the dead bodies of three more men turn up, savagely murdered in the same neighborhood.

As Minneapolis homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth struggle to link the three crimes, they learn that there have been similar murders in other cities around the United States. Piece by piece, evidence accumulates, pointing to a suspect that shocks them to the core, uncovering a motive that puts the entire Midwest on high alert and Monkeewrench in the direct line of fire. Before it's all over, Grace and her partners, Annie, Roadrunner, and Harley Davidson, find themselves in the middle of a shocking collision of violence on a remote northern Minnesota reservation, fighting for their lives.