family dining

Here are a few menus from last week:

Menu One:
*Savory butternut soup (I'm on a quest for a less sweet soup--I'll post my recipe when I've perfected it)
*Grandma Wendy's rolls ( I had a tray of frozen dough, bun-shaped, in the freezer still from Thanksgiving)
*Greens with pomegranate seeds and vinaigrette
*Baked apples stuffed with pecans and raisins drizzled with pouring cream (Allred's apples, local, very good, wish they were organic)

Menu Two:
*Grilled petite sirloin strips from the Creamery (their beef is local too, but not organic or grass-fed) atop baby spinach with pomegranate seeds and grapefruit sections, apple cider vinaigrette
*apple pie with Alice Waters' crumb topping (this too was frozen from Thanksgiving, and was not as delicious as the first time, but still good, and the Jonathan apples from Allred's have great flavor)

Menu Three:
*Savory Butternut Soup part deux (the kids love this soup)
*Sharp Cheddar grilled cheese sandwiches on Grandma Sycamore's bread (local, decadently white and soft)

Menu Four:
*Orrechiette with crispy bits of pancetta, spinach ricotta pesto, artichoke hearts and steamed broccoli (the pesto was inspired by a cooking show I had watched that day--I wasn't crazy about the ricotta flavor, and probably won't make it that way again.)
*Lindt chocolate (on sale for one dollar at Smith's)--this was our movie night meal and treat

I had planned to make sweet potato pancakes, but that didn't happen, and a recipe I've been creating in my head with spaghetti squash, but my squash were all mushy when I took them out to preapare them. Next week.

But do help me out with my recipe: I want to cook the spaghetti squash, remove the spaghettis and toss them in a marinara and then rebake the spaghetti and sauce in the sqash shells with cheese and bread crumbs on top. I'm trying to come up with one more ingredient to give it a little more oomph. Thoughts? Don't you think these will be adorable, all browned and crispy on top, and self-contained in cute little boats, called Twice Baked Spaghetti Squash.