It’s finally November, meaning its time to start planning your holiday meals. I spent my Sunday this week pouring over baking magazines and drooling over the recipes I plan on making for Thanksgiving (stay tuned for some jaw dropping recipes this season 🙂 ) In the meantime, I thought I’d work on creating a fall friendly meal, that is healthy, but still hearty. I found a version of this recipe on Pinterest and decided to give it my own spin. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
What you’ll need:
- 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 8 oz)
- 1 acorn squash
- 1/2 white onion
- 2 Tbs Fresh Rosemary (Finely Chopped)
- 1 Tbs Fresh Sage (Finely Chopped)
- 3 Tbs Kosher Salt
- 2 Tbs Fresh ground Pepper
- 2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 3 tsp ground cinnamon
- 4 Tbs olive oil
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
- 1 Tbs butter
- 1 Tbs agave syrup
- water
Shredded Chicken:
Place the chicken breast in your slow cooker and pour 2 Tbs of olive oil over top. Add 2 Tbs kosher salt, 1 Tbs freshly ground pepper, 2 Tbs Fresh Rosemary, 1 Tbs Fresh Sage, 1 tsp ground nutmeg and 1 tsp ground cinnamon. Rub the spices and olive oil onto all parts of the chicken breast. Peel the white onion and add to the chicken mixture. Add water to the slow cooker, completely submerging the chicken and onion. Turn the slow cooker on low and let the chicken cook for about 6 hours. Once the chicken is fully cooked, use a fork to shred the chicken. Take onion out of chicken and chop into smaller pieces, removing the top portion. Use tongs to pull chicken out of the liquid. Set the chicken and onion aside.
Acorn Squash:
Preheat oven to 350. Cut squash in half and scoop out center. pour 1 Tbs of olive oil over each half of the squash (2 Tbs total). Sprinkle 2 Tbs of kosher salt, 1 Tbs of fresh ground pepper, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp nutmeg over the squash halves. Rub salt, pepper, spices and olive oil evenly over squash. Bake squash halves in a 9″x13″ pan for 30 minutes.
Cinnamon Pecans:
Melt 1 Tbs of butter in a sauté pan. Add 1/4 cup pecans and 1 tsp cinnamon. mix cinnamon and pecans with melted butter and sauté until pecans are lightly toasted. Remove from heat.
Add chicken and onion to the center of each squash half. Sprinkle 1/8 cup of cinnamon pecans over each half. Drizzle agave syrup over each half and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!
The Vows of Friendship 