Penne with Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese

The BEST fall dish ever!

I've never had butternut squash so I was excited to try it! I know, me try a new food? AND be excited about it??? But since this is one of the few fruits and vegetables in season for the fall that I know of, I was pretty excited. When cut up, it smells like pumpkin and the seeds are similar to pumpkin seeds. Therefore I thought it was going to taste like pumpkin, but it didn't-- to my relief! Roasted, the butternut squash tastes like a sweet potato to me-- yummy! This dish is so delicious and a fall favorite! Keep this recipe in your back pocket! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/penne-with-butternut-squash-and-goat-cheese-recipe/index.html

The other thing I learned with this dish, is how goat cheese can be used as a pasta sauce by itself! I don't know if I've ranted about the wonderfulness about goat cheese before, but it's just soooo great! Plus it's a food I'm sad that I just discovered it's greatness in this past year! Close mindedness kept me from goat cheese....how depressing! It's tangy and creamy and amazing.....mmmmm........ anyways--- with this dish just crumble the goat cheese in the bowl and when the penne is done, the heat from penne and the pasta water will melt the goat cheese to make a fantastic sauce! Someone even asked me what sauce I used.....just goat cheese and pasta water! I only needed a cup of pasta water (and I could've used less), so I don't know why it says put 2 cups aside.

Also, if you don't like onions I would actually recommend leaving them in this dish. Since they are roasted, their flavor and texture are not as strong.

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L

Meatballs a la Pizzaiola

I have to sadly admit that these meatballs were not as amazing as I thought they were going to be....

I know, right?! The first time for me to be slight disappointed with a Giada recipe! But I was just happily imagining an explosion of cheese to happen when you bite into one of the meatballs. Unfortunately there are so many powerful flavors going on in these meatballs that the cheese is overshadowed. Which you know makes me sad, cause I love cheese!

Others that I gave the meatballs to loved them, so try for yourself! And I actually thought they tasted better after a couple of days. They were good from the start but they were not the amazingness I usually enjoy with Giada's recipes: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/meatballs-a-la-pizzaiola-recipe2/index.html You can taste nearly everything you put in this dish-- the basil, tomato paste, the shallots, sun dried tomatoes, and the cheese. So if you like or love those flavors this dish is a must to add to your repertoire!

Before this year I don't think I knew what a shallot was! Kind of embarrassing but I'm glad I'm learning things. Another item in the onion family who I'm learning to love not hate! They don't need to be chopped sine you are putting them in the food processor-- just cut up a few times. And the only other suggestion I have for this dish is to prepare the meatballs before you start cooking them unless you are a great multitasker. I was not in this case!

Pretty picture! (I'm working on that too!)