Raspberry-Glazed Acorn Squash

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If you’ve never cooked an acorn squash, you don’t know what you’re missing. They’re super easy to cook! The hardest part of the process is cutting them in half (which I’ll admit isn’t easy). But once that part’s done and you scoop out the weeds, you can stick them in the oven at 375 degrees with a pat of butter and a tablespoon of brown sugar, and forget about it for an hour. I like to wrap mine in foil so that it gets nice and soft.



Here’s a slightly more involved recipe with a delicious tart twist. The glaze cooks along with the squash, resting in the bowl created after you scoop out the seeds. As you eat the squash, you can dip each forkful into the glaze just before biting into it. Heavenly! One squash is substantial enough to make a healthy main dish meal for two people.

Recipe: Raspberry-Glazed Acorn Squash

1 acorn squash, cut in half and seeds removed

2 T olive oil

¼ c minced onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ C raspberry jam

½ t cinnamon

½ t cayenne

2 t red wine vinegar


On a jelly roll pan, place each half of the squash on a piece of aluminum foil large enough to wrap it completely. You might want to slice off a narrow piece at the bottom so that it will rest without rocking on a jelly roll pan. Mix together the remaining ingredients and pour half into each squash half. With a spoon or basting brush, drizzle some of the glaze over the rest of the exposed flesh of the squash.
Wrap the squash in foil. Bake at 375 degrees for one hour. (You can also place the foil-wrapped squash on the grill over indirect heat for an hour.) Serve in a bowl.

Black Bean and Corn Salad

I’m in a summer frame of mind, and it’s not hard to figure out why. My next Fool’s Gold romance novella, ALMOST SUMMER, will be released on May 1 wherever ebooks are sold. Then on May 29, SUMMER DAYS will be released in mass market paperback, ebook, and audio, followed by SUMMER NIGHTS and ALL SUMMER LONG.

To me, summertime equals salad time, especially salads that don’t require turning on the oven. I looked through my pantry. A can of corn was right next to a can of black beans, both staples in California-Mexican cuisine I grew up with. I’ve had some great Black Bean and Corn Salad at restaurants, and I remembered them tasting sweet-tart and fresh.

I looked up several recipes online. I had thought the tang in the recipe would come from vinegar, but I was surprised to discover that every recipe started with lime juice. I didn’t have any lime juice on hand. However, I did have some frozen limeade concentrate, because I had recently made a batch of Fool’s Gold Frozen Margaritas. (You know, the ones that Jo serves at Jo’s Bar in downtown Fool’s Gold… YUM! I’ll share that recipe one of these days) The limeade was sweet enough on its own that I didn’t need to add any sugar to the dressing. My salad turned out to be just as good as any of the restaurant salads I remembered.

Recipe: Black Bean and Corn Salad

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans sweet corn, drained
1 can minced green chilies (desired spiciness)
4 oz Monterrey Jack cheese, cut into ¼-inch chunks
1 small onion, chopped
¼ C fresh cilantro, minced
2 T frozen limeade concentrate, mixed with ¼ C water
1/3 C olive oil
1 T ground cumin
1 clove garlic
1/8 t Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce
¼ t salt

Place the drained beans and corn in a bowl with the chilies, cheese, onions, and cilantro. Combine the remaining ingredients and pour over the vegetable mixture. Stir to coat.

Cheesy Cilantro Rice

My latest book, ONLY HIS, is at #11 on the New York Times bestsellers list for mass market paperbacks and at #34 on the USA Today bestsellers list tracking all books! This is my best third-week showing ever, and came on the heels of my best debut ever (#3) and my best second week ever (#8). And in the same month that Cosmopolitan Magazine published an excerpt of the first book of the trilogy, ONLY MINE. Such a thrill! Thank you to everyone who rushed out to read the romances of the Hendrix triplets of Fool’s Gold! If you haven’t picked up ONLY HIS yet, click here to read an excerpt: ONLY HIS.

And now… back to the kitchen! I haven’t done many rice recipes on this blog, so I decided now was as good a time as any. I wanted to come up with a different spin on rice. My first thought was cheesy rice. Almost everyone loves cheese! The Cheesy Cilantro Rice is a delicious side dish, especially good when accompanying a Mexican dish.

Recipe: Cheesy Cilantro Rice

2 C uncooked rice
4 C water
1 C fresh cilantro, minced
1C sour cream
4 oz Monterrey jack cheese, cut into ¼-inch chunks
1 small can diced green chilis
½ t salt

Put the rice, water, and cilantro in a heavy-bottomed pan and heat to boiling. For sticky rice, stir a couple of times as it’s heating to release the starches. Once the rice boils, cover the pan and lower the heat. Simmer over low heat for 20-25 minutes, until the rice is done. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Mix the cooked rice and remaining ingredients and put in a casserole dish. Cover and bake at 325 for 30 minutes, until heated through.