Fall Favorites - Paleo Style

Fall sweater weather is finally here! Well, sort of. It's forecasted to be about 70 degrees and breezy today here on the Central Coast of California. But it’s supposed to be back in the 90's this weekend. So I obviously took this one day opportunity to bust out my favorite sweater and boots! I also busted out my favorite Le Creuset pot to make some homemade soup and bought some acorn squash at the market.

So yesterday, Cindy and I got to talking about our favorite fall dishes. We both LOVE squash. Like, we love everything about them; their colors, their shapes, their flavor. We also love berries. Obviously. So we came up with some squash and berry inspired fall recipes, which are paleo and gluten free, to kick start our fall obsession.

Simply preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Cut open your acorn squash, clean out seeds, and lay them face down on a baking sheet. Fill your baking sheet with about ¼” of water. Cover baking sheet loosely with foil. Bake for about 45 minutes. While your squash is baking, sauté shallots (or your favorite onion) in olive oil. Add your choice of meat to the sauté pan (we used Italian sausage, but shredded pork would be yummy, too!). When meat is browned, add walnuts and blackberries. Cook for a few minutes longer, until blackberries begin to breakdown. When squash is done baking, simply fill with the meat and berry mixture!

Did I mention I also have an obsession with sweet potatoes? These didn’t even last five minutes in our kitchen. So. Darn. Good.

Use this same method for the sweet potatoes. Simply cut the sweet potatoes in half, and bake for 20-25 minutes. After they are done baking, scoop out half of the potato. Mix the excess sweet potato with the meat mixture (almost like twice baked potatoes!) and spoon it back into the potato. These would be perfect for Thanksgiving dinner!

What are your favorite fall recipes? Sound off in the comments below!