I never thought I’d say it. I’ve hated summer for as long as I can remember – probably as long as I’ve been overweight. But since I’ve started cooking the way that I have, I have been very sensitive to how the weather affects what produce is in season.

I MISS MY SUMMER SQUASH!

I put a chicken in the crock pot today, and all I wanted to go with it were the little yellow eight-ball squash that I had been using with chicken and roast before fall came and took them all away. But I didn’t have any of those. All I had was a butternut squash, and I’ve never cooked that in the crock pot with any meat before. So I peeled it (a very tedious and not fun task, by the way), cut it up, and put in in the bottom of the crock pot, put the chicken on top of it, and added my spices. I usually throw some paprika, poultry seasoning, garlic, salt, pepper, and rosemary into some oil, pour it on top of the chicken, and spread it all around. Set the crock pot on high for six hours (the chicken is less likely to completely fall apart this way) and let it go.

I guess we will see how the squash does. I’m hoping that it will be really good and a nice change. I was in love with roasted butternut squash for the beginning of fall, but that is getting very old. I tried some roasted butternut squash mixed with roast (along with the yummy roast juices) about a month ago, and that was really good.

I really need to find some new winter recipes. I’ll let you know how that goes.