Ingredients

• 1 large butternut squash, one small Long Island Cheese squash, or one small pie pumpkin, peeled, seeded, and cut into small chunks
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 9 cups chicken stock
• 1 large or 2 small onions, chopped
• 1 cup pearl barley or wild rice
• 1/2 pound sausage, such as chorizo, hot italian, or smoked polish, cut into slices
• 1/2 cup cream (optional, but awesome)
• 1 bunch arugula or one head baby bok choy, sliced into 1 inch strips

Directions

In a saucepan, saute the onions in the olive oil until translucent. Add the sausage and brown. Add the barley or rice and saute for one minute more. Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Add the squash. Cook until the squash and the barley or rice is tender. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove from the heat and skim off any fat that has risen to the surface. A few minutes before serving, while soup is hot, add the arugula or bok choy. Allow a minute for the greens to wilt, and then serve.

Ingredients

• 3 c. sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 cups pumpkin or sweet potatoes, cooked and pureed
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. ground ginger or 1 Tbsp. chopped candied ginger
• 1 cup chopped nuts, pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds (optional)

Directions

Cook the squash or sweet potatoes by peeling and steaming until tender. Whisk together the milk, eggs, and sugar. Add the squash or sweet potatoes and mix to blend. Mix all the remaining ingredients except the nuts in a separate bowl. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and add the nuts. Grease and flour a bread pan or muffin tin. Fill pan half full. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour (35 mins for muffins). The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Title: SquashFest
Location: At the Market
Description: Help us celebrate the season with pumpkin painting, games, stories, recipes, samples, and our Biggest Sweet Potato contest!
Date: 2009-10-17
Start Time: 8:00 am
End Time: Noon

Eno River Farmers Market Will Hold SquashFest on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009

Hillsborough, NC (October 3, 2009) – The Eno River Farmers Market at the Public Market House in historic downtown Hillsborough will celebrate SquashFest on Saturday, October 17 from 8 am – Noon.

The festival will feature more than a dozen varieties of squash, pumpkin, and sweet potato in every size, shape and color, all harvested by the market’s local farmers. Varieties include Blue Hubbard, Long Island Cheese, Acorn, Butternut and both orange and white sweet potatoes.

Recipes will be provided for soup, main dishes, side dishes and baked goods. Vendors will offer samples of recipes they have prepared.

There will also be activities for children, including pumpkin painting, and a reading of seasonal stories.

In addition, the market vendors will have their usual abundance of fresh, local vegetables.

The Eno River Farmers Market offers farm-fresh, organic produce, cheese, meat, eggs, baked goods, prepared foods, and crafts from local growers and producers. It is open to vendors who reside and produce the items they sell within a 60-mile radius of Hillsborough, NC. Vendors must be the original producer of their items.