Winter Panzanella
By: Anonymous
Published: Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 6:40pm

Ingredients




medium butternut squash
chopped fresh spinach
white beans (one can's worth)
crumbled goat cheese
sliced red onion
loaf of day old bread
dressing: 2 tbs apple cider vinegar, 2 tbs lemon juice, 4 tbs olive oil

Preparation

1 Peel and cut squash into 1 inch cubes 2 Toss in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in 425 degree oven for 30 minutes, turning once 3 Toast bread chunks lightly in oven, about 5 minutes 4 Mix vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil 5 Combine all ingredients 6 Serve immediately

About


Wow! It's 2010. And I have to go back to work next week. I have thoroughly enjoyed my break, but one of the dangers of having 5 weeks off is that you get too used to it. But I know that work brings needed routine into my schedule.
One of the items that got checked off my to-do list during the break was organizing my recipe notebook. Some new favorites that are already in rotation needed to be printed and added. Too many ripped out magazine pages had accumulated, so I narrowed them down to about 20, and declared a goal of trying one new recipe a week. 
I am such a huge fan of panzanella in the warm months because it doesn't require any heat to prepare, yet is more filling than just a salad. I had seen the idea of winter panzanella in Real Simple, but theirs seemed lacking in ingredients, so this is my version. It passed the test and is being added to the regular rotation.
Winter Panazanella
1 butternut squash, cut in 1 inch cubes and roasted with oil, salt and pepper, for ~30 min at 425, turning once.
chopped fresh spinach
white beans (about a can's worth, although I've been making big batches in the slow cooker for a while now)
crumbled goat cheese
sliced red onion
bread chunks, toasted lightly in the oven
dressing: 1 part apple cider vinegar, 1 part lemon juice, 2 parts olive oil
It's a new favorite, and perfect for the whole family because Cora can munch on some mashed squash. At this meal, though, I had made her some pureed brown rice (in the background), but I decided the boxed rice cereal is so much easier--another of those 'I said I would never' cases in which I proved myself wrong, again!
I'm excited about trying some more new meals this year. And I have lots of hope for 2010. I will never forget 2009, a year of great joy and terrible loss, but I'm ready and thankful for a new start.