It's October! Which means it's finally appropriate to use the Jack-o-Lantern emoji in everything. And it means I can legitimately eat apple pie for breakfast with potentially less scorn than the rest of the year. I mean it's not like apple pie season lasts forever. I look out of my kitchen window in the morning while I'm grinding my coffee and watch orange leaves float down from the tall trees in our backyard. It's still pretty green here, despite the slowly collecting pile of yellowing leaves and black walnuts at the edges of the streets. The ducks are still producing eggs late into their normal season. I can still buy tomatoes and eggplant at the farmers market. So I find myself lugging home a load of heavy winter squash while balancing cherry tomatoes on top --  carefully so that I don't end up with a stew of tomato guts at the bottom of the bag.

Roasting tomatoes gives them a whole new life. I love raw heirlooms in a sandwich or on their own with a bit of balsamic and salt, but roasting brings out their sweetness and adds a luscious, savory smokiness. Heirloom varieties taste amazing in this, but a good roma or new girl tomato prepared in this way can make a pretty stunning side dish as well. They're naturally less watery and so instead of melting as heirlooms tend to do under heat, they soften but retain a firmness that's a pleasure to cut into.

Cashew cream is probably the closest thing to cheese you can put in grains or potatoes. I mix it into my grits often enough -- with a spoonful of nooch it has a whole cheesy southern grits thing going on that I dig hard. Cashew cream beefs up quinoa and takes it from "staple side grain" to "creamy comfort food." It's really what makes this meal filling and well-rounded.

And kabocha? Well, it doesn't need much. Just some paprika, a good rub of oil, and a sprinkling of salt. Dinner = done.

Roasted Kabocha Over Cashew Quinoa with Smokey Heirloom Tomatoes

Ingredients

Roasted Kabocha

• 1 medium kabocha squash, top removed, seeded, and sliced into half moons
• 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil or ghee
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt

Cashew Quinoa

• 2 cups unsalted vegetable stock
• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil or ghee
• ½ cup onion, diced
• ¾ cup cashew cream
• coarse sea salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste

Smokey Tomatoes

• 3 large heirloom tomatoes, cored and cut into wedges
• 3 large cloves garlic, smashed
• 3 tablespoons best quality olive oil
• 1 tablespoon dried chipotle flakes
• fresh rosemary
• salt, to taste

Instructions

Roasted Kabocha

1. Preheat oven to 400'F. In a medium-large bowl, toss the half-moons of kabocha with oil and paprika and salt until evenly coated in the mix. Spread the squash out on a medium-large baking pan and roast for 25 minutes, until tender when tested with a fork and beginning to brown just slightly. Remove and let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Cashew Quinoa

1. Place a medium pot filled with vegetable stock over high heat. Once simmering, add quinoa and oil. Lower the heat to medium high and cover. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until the water has cooked off and the quinoa is tender -- stirring every so often. While the quinoa is cooking, dry sautee the onion stirring constantly for 15 minutes, until the onion has caramelized. It will be tender and beginning to brown. Once the quinoa has finished cooking, stir in the onion, cashew cream, salt and pepper.

Smokey Tomatoes

1. Add your garlic to the bottom of a high walled baking dish. Top with tomatoes and olive oil and stir in the chipotle flakes. Roast on 400F -- while the squash is roasting -- for 40 minutes. The tomatoes are done when they're meltingly soft and blackening at the edges. Remove from the oven and stir in a handful of fresh rosemary. Let cool 20 minutes before serving -- garnish with a sprig of rosemary if you're serving it as a tapas.
2. Serve as individual tapas or all together!