Serves 2 
Ingredients

• 1 Acorn Squash (FM)
• 3 Tablespoons Maple Syrup (plus more during roasting) 
• Sprinkle of Cinnamon 
• 1/3 cup wild rice (PFC)
• 1/3 cup brown rice (PFC)
• 1 1/3 cup vegetable broth (more if needed) (PFC)
• 2 tablespoons dried cherries (chopped)
• 3 tablespoons pecans (broken)
• 1/3 Golden Delicious apple (about 3 T) 
• ¼ cup onion (diced) (FM)
• 1/3 cup ricotta cheese (Z)
• Marjoram 
• Fresh Rosemary (dried is okay too)(FM)
• Fresh Oregano (or dried) (FM)
• Butter 
• Oil
• Cooking spray
• Salt and pepper

Local Ingredient Key:

FM: Farmer’s market
PFC: People’s Food Co-Op
Z: Zingerman’s

 
Instructions:
Squash

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.
2. Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds (you can save them for roasting later!).
3. Coat the inside of the squash with oil or cooking spray. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Place the squash cut side down on a sprayed baking sheet and roast for about 20 minutes.
5. Flip squash over and coat the inside with maple syrup and sprinkle with cinnamon.
6. Roast cut side up for another 20 minutes or until squash is done. Note: Coat the inside of the squash with more syrup throughout roasting if desired.

Rice Filling

1. Add brown rice with 2/3 cup of broth to one pot and wild rice with 2/3 cup of broth to another.
2. Bring broth in both pots to a boil and then turn down to a simmer until rice is to desired doneness, about 10-15 minutes. Note: More vegetable broth may need to be added to completely cook rice.
3. Sauté onion and apple in butter and/or oil until the onions are translucent, about 7-10 minutes and set aside.
4. Toast the pecans in the residual butter or oil until they are fragrant, about 3 minutes.
5. Combine wild rice, brown rice, dried cherries, pecans, apples, onions, rosemary, oregano and marjoram.
6. Add ricotta cheese to rice mixture, stirring until cheese is completely melted.
7. Divide the rice mixture between the two squash halves.

I found some Meijer brand sausage that was on sale, so I just cut apart the casings and squeezed the sausage into the pot to cook. I wanted crumbly sausage, but if you don’t want to get your hands potentially messy, just slice the raw sausage and you can have sausage slices in the soup instead!

Ingredients:

• 2 links Spicy sausage
• 5 New Yellow potatoes, diced
• 24 oz or so of Chicken Stock
• 3 stalks of Swiss Chard, sliced into shreds
• 1 Tbsp Corn Starch mixed in 2 tbsp water
• Splash of cream 

Instructions:

1. Cook the sausage in a large soup pot until browned
2. Add the potatoes
3. Pour in chicken stock and bring to a simmer
4. Cook for 10-15 minutes to cook through potatoes.
5. Add Swiss Chard shreds
6. Pour the corn starch slurry mixture into the soup and add the splash of cream.
7. Enjoy with some crusty French bread!

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Ingredients:

• Quinoa (pronounced Keen-Wah) an ancient Mayan grain which, in addition to being very healthy, holds the largest amount of protein of all grains, making it an immensely valuable addition to a vegetarian’s diet
• Two apples
• Walnuts
• Cucumber
• Red Onion
• Red Wine or Sherry Vinegar
• Dijon Mustard
• Honey
• Salt and Pepper

 
Instructions:

1. Cook quinoa per the quinoa Box Instructions (if you buy the quinoa in bulk, general rule of thumb: use 2:1 water to quinoa ratio, bring water to boil on stove, add quinoa and stir occasionally until all water has been cooked off).
2. While quinoa is cooking, dice the apples, cucumbers, and walnuts into relatively small pieces (a grain of quinoa is very small, so. in my opinion, chunks of roughly half-inch cubes produce the most pleasing effect- both aesthetically and taste-budly).
3. Dice roughly ¼ of the onion to slightly smaller size than mentioned above, as pieces of onion too large can overwhelm a bite of quinoa salad.
4. Once quinoa has finished cooking (usually 15-20 minutes, depending on the oven and the quinoa quantity) add quinoa and other diced ingredients in large bowl and mix with a spoon.
5. Add one cup of red wine or sherry vinegar to smaller mixing bowl along with roughly one teaspoon of Dijon mustard and several squeezes of honey. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top and mix dressing. I sometimes find it helpful to transfer the dressing into a water bottle where it is much more easily and efficiently mixed by shaking.
6. Taste-test the dressing and adjust to your preference. I like my dressing characterized by a sort of vinegary bite balanced, and followed, by a sweet honey after-taste.
7. Once thoroughly mixed with no chunks of mustard visible, pour dressing over quinoa salad and allow to soak while mixing salad again with spoon. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Refrigerate, serve chilled, and enjoy.
9. I usually follow this recipe every Sunday and place the remainder in Tupperware in the fridge, allowing for a daily, quick, and nutritious on-the-go snack/lunch.

Nutrition notes: Overall, this is a really great lunch/snack idea. As mentioned above, quinoa, particularly with the addition of the walnuts, has a large amount of protein, which is great for longer lasting energy (and recovery from any type of strenuous activity, be it academically or athletically related…). Adding the diced apples also allows for the opportunity to add some fruit to your daily diet. Likewise, while the cucumbers and onions, although they are perhaps not the best vegetables (in terms of nutrient content), they are still vegetables.
 
            Enjoy,
            J.F. Quinn

Recipe (makes 6 wraps, ~two each for three people)


Ingredients

• 6 slices of pork shoulder butt
• 6 shitake mushrooms
• half a handful of dried wood ear fungus (soak these in cold water for about an hour so they unfurl) (if you can’t find these, pan-fried firm tofu might work as a substitute)
• 1-2 bunches of bok choy or a similar vegetable
• 3 cloves of garlic
• quarter sheet of nori (Japanese seaweed sheets), cut into five strips along the long edge (optional)

Instructions

1. Separate the bok choy into individual stems, wash and dry before cutting into thin strips length-wise.
2. Cut shitake mushrooms into strips.
3. Dice garlic.
4. Grease and heat pan. Saute garlic lightly before adding fungus, mushrooms, and vegetables. Cook thoroughly. Set to side in a bowl.
5. Cook each slice of pork individually. When done, take the slice on a plate and place some of the cooked vegetables in the center of the pork. Roll.
6. Optional Take a strip of nori and tie carefully around center of roll.
7. Repeat for five other slices of pork.

Although the nori is entirely optional, I highly recommend it. The nori is a complementary flavor to the pork as well and makes it easier for the entire wrap to stay together.

Like many other cooking adventures, substitution and flavoring is really up to your own individual tastes. If you can’t find certain ingredients or just can’t really stand the idea of bok choy, try something else and let us know what you did to make this dish your own!