We harvested the tiny butternut squashes from our community garden plot this weekend. I also wanted to use up some of the kale that’s still in the garden, so we made plans to have squash, greens and bacon, and wild rice, but when the squash came out of the oven, we thought: why not combine them all and make stuffed squash?  Alas that, in my eagerness to eat, I only took this low-quality cellphone picture.

Recreate this ultimate October in Minnesota meal:

Find some small squashes. Whatever kind you like. While they’re baking, start some wild rice cooking on the stove. Fry some bacon, chop it up, set it aside. Then saute some onion and whatever greens you have on hand in the bacon fat. Toss in a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and a few hot pepper flakes. (See full recipe for bacon and greens.) When the wild rice is done cooking, toss with some olive oil, salt and pepper. When the squash are done, stuff the hole of each with a generous spoonful of wild rice, then top with the greens, then the bacon. Drizzle a small amount of maple syrup over the whole thing.

Wow. Even Miss Ultra Picky 6YO Who Will Basically Only Eat Venison At This Point ate this enthusiastically. Well, she didn’t throw a tantrum anyway.