Baked Acorn Squash with Butter and Brown Sugar

 I've got guests coming for dinner tonight, my last hurrah for entertaining in this house, before all my worldly, ok, many of my worldly goods get loaded onto a moving truck to be reunited with me sometime soon, hopefully, in the future.  

I'm making Jägerschnitzel, Spätzle, and the squash.  Maybe not a traditional side for this, but the acorn squash looked good at the store, so I grabbed a couple.   

This week, the Sunday Funday bloggers were blogging about Winter Squash, and I wasn't going to participate until I had a last-minute, down-to-the-wire brainwave.  I was making squash, and I could participate this week.  I'm hoping I can get included in the final countdown, but if I can't, I can at least tell you about the other awesome bloggers who are participating and got themselves included early.  

I grew up on a farm, and as soon as the fall came, we'd harvest squash, and my mother would make squash.  Personally, I was neutral on all kinds of veggies, but this was probably my favorite way she'd prepare it.    We grew all kinds of winter squash: acorn, butternut, and the behemoth of all, Hubbard  Squash.    Those suckers were huge, and Mom would go out into the shed where the freezer lived and hack off a chunk for dinner with an axe.  Nothing else would go through the skin/rind or whatever it's called.  I liked the acorn squash myself, but wouldn't turn my nose up at any of the other kinds.  The way the sugar and butter would meld into the flesh- so good.  I always tried to get as much of the butter/sugar sauce as possible; it really helped the squash.   Luckily, my tastes have matured a little, but for nostalgia's sake, I still like the baked squash with butter and brown sugar.    

I'm actually going to cut these squash into quarters for serving. But for now, I cut the acorn squash into halves and nestle them into a baking pan.  Adding about a rough tablespoon of brown sugar to each half, along with a nice chunk of butter. I measure by eye.   Maybe a half tablespoon.    Bake for about an hour in a 350-degree oven.  Check for doneness by inserting a paring knife into the squash after an hour, and if it goes in easily, they're done.    I cut the halves into quarters for serving, keeping as much of the sugar sauce on each piece.   And I forgot to take a picture as they came out of the oven. This was all that remained on the plate.   The butter-sugar sauce had soaked into the squash and tasted so good.

• Mayuri's Jikoni: Apple & Butternut Squash Salad 
• Sid's Sea Palm Cooking: Baked Acorn Squash with Butter and Brown Sugar
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Butternut Squash Cake 
• Amy's Cooking Adventures: Creamy Sausage, Tomato, & Squash Pasta 
• A Messy Kitchen: Gnocchi with Roasted Squash and Sausage
• Karen's Kitchen Stories: Parmesan and Thyme Honeynut Squash 
• Culinary Cam: Pumpkin-Filled Flat White Pumpkin 
• Sneha's Recipe: Pumpkin Soup For Two 
• Food Lust People Love: Roasted Butternut Squash Lentil Vegetable Soup