Tonight’s dinner wasn’t as ambitious as Friday night’s, but it had the distinction of using only ingredients from our farm share boxes other than the meat and a few pantry items. I had a little bit of extra butternut squash from Friday’s pizza, so I cut it into fry-shapes and tossed it with some olive oil and kosher salt before roasting it in the convection oven at 425° for about 30 minutes to make Butternut Squash Fries. They were quite tasty, reminiscent of sweet potato fries, and I would definitely consider making them in large quantities next time I have some butternut squash.

I also jazzed up my typical roasted broccoli with some garlic and lemon zest & juice after getting inspiration from this Amateur Gourmet post. I wouldn’t call it the best broccoli I’ve ever had, but it was a nice addition to my usual recipe.

And, finally, I tossed the rest of our mixed greens with a little Newman’s Own Lighten Up Italian Dressing, which I find has a piquant lemon flavor that also works perfectly on arugula salad. I put a small pile of the greens on each plate and placed the Whole Foods spinach-crusted chicken breasts on them. Not bad for a low-key Sunday night dinner that hardly required any shopping and was a breeze to make!

Friday’s my day off from Spells Writing Lab, so I had plenty of time to do some heavy-duty cooking for dinner, including what are probably the two most creative uses of my farm share produce. When I received a butternut squash in the first week, I knew I didn’t want to simply roast it or make a soup. My search on the Cooking Light website found this recipe for Pesto Pizza with Butternut Squash, which I immediately knew I had to try. The recipe actually references two other recipes for the dough and the pesto, both of which I made from scratch, but I’d imagine you could get away with a pre-made pizza crust and a store-bought pesto in a pinch.

I frequently use my breadmaker to make flatbread dough, so I adapted this dough recipe for the appliance. Basically, I just dissolved the yeast in warm water and put the yeast-water mixture and the oil into the breadmaker. Then I added the dry ingredients (which I whisked together first for good measure) and started the pizza dough cycle. I usually use a spoon during this cycle to make sure all the dry ingredients are incorporated into the dough early. Then, I let the appliance do all the hard work, kneading and rising.

Once the dough began rising, I went to work on the butternut squash. Keep reading »