Fall is officially here. As in last week we celebrated the first week of fall. Also as in, I practically went from sandals and tank tops to scarves and cute coats overnight.

I quickly realized the err of my ways when we went to Charleston this past weekend for the Southern Living Taste of Charleston food and wine festival. I was in jeans and a warm cardigan. It was all very cute.

And it was all so very wrong.

Unfortunately it was a warm 80 degrees and Beau and I found ourselves over a delicious sampling of shrimp (not just any shrimp mind you – it was, as they called it, the world’s best shrimp) completely overheated. As we plopped juicy, saucy shrimp into our mouths we began discussing how many clothes we could strip off before being asked to leave the festival grounds.

This conversation escalated quickly as we found ourselves nonchalantly talking about taking off our pants, thinking it should be fine because surely EVERYONE here would understand and OF COURSE they would probably want to take their pants off too…RIGHT?!

It was at that moment that we knew it was time to leave. Because, let’s all please keep our pants on in the public arenas. And also, I would like to issue a prompt, “You’re Welcome!” to Southern Living because we did keep our pants on.

So while the weather might have us tricked, the produce aisle does not. It is fall. There are pumpkins and acorn squash and well, all the squash.

So, let’s make and eat fall things! And if you want to wear your scarf while you cook, I am down for that. But also, this might be hazardous – so do this at your own risk.

Paleo Stuffed Butternut Squash Recipe

This paleo stuffed butternut squash is satisfying and easy enough for a weeknight meal.

First we cut the butternut squash in half (sharp knives, please!) and cook it.

Once it is cooked we scoop out all the seeds. Then we hollow out the squash and add the soft flesh into a bowl.

Be sure to leave some squash around the edges of the skin to maintain its structure.

Now we cook the meat. We had ground turkey on hand but you can use ground chicken or ground pork. We also had apples but I think pears would taste yummy too.

We like to embrace the savory flavors of the fall so I add fresh sage which is brilliant up against the boldness of cracked black pepper and the sweet crunch of the apples.

We stuff the squash, bake it in the oven and then serve.

Beau and I can get four servings out of one squash. We do this by splitting each half into a half. It’s perfect.

Here’s to a time in the near future where we can all leave our pants on while amidst the public.

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