Roasted & Stuffed Acorn Squash

Columbus Day = no work!!  With this great gift of a three day weekend after coming off a month of travel,  I am putting it to great use…cooking, exercising, cleaning, prepping for fall, and yes, catching up on all the fall shows I keep missing during the week (gotta love Scandal and Quantico!).  After a 6 mile walk through Chicago and along the waterfront this morning, I decided to keep up the clean and healthy eating by making this acorn squash recipe I stumbled upon.  I loved that it was a full meal, vs just eating the squash as a side dish.  It is very filling and scrumptious!

Vegetarian Crockpot Stuffed Peppers

Mexican is always one of my favorites and this is one of the best stuffed pepper recipes I have tried.  It has a great blend of spices, making it super flavorful and hearty enough with the rice and beans to be filling.  I loved the slight crisp of the onion and sweetness from the pepper.  And, if you have rice leftovers from dinner a previous night, it makes the cook time much quicker. 

Corn & Black Bean Salsa

Finally! Warm (well somewhat warm) weather in Chicago that lasts more than a day!  It has been fun to see Chicagoans emerge from their winter hibernation.  Everyone is looking forward to summer barbecues and spending time outdoors.  In celebration of that and the fact that Cinco de Mayo is one week away, I thought I would share my ‘famous’ corn and black bean salsa recipe.  Okay, okay, maybe it isn’t famous, but it is AMAZING, and I plan on entering it in our Quaker Cinco de Mayo salsa competition this week (fingers crossed!).  This one is definitely a keeper and a crowd pleaser.  Don’t be shy with the lime juice and salt…it makes the difference.