Butternut squash and potato gratin

We got these adorable fingerling potatoes from the Costco. The purple ones that are hidden among the plain ones are the real gems!

Mr. S and I turned them into this delicious dinner from the Times recipes for Health section. It is amazing how sweet the butternut squash was after cooking for an hour and half. I put a generous amount of pepper on it before I cooked it and the taste reminded me of the sweet potato hash browns we made a few weeks ago.

And on the plate ready to eat.

This meal combined with the brisk Phoenix day we had made it feel like Fall is finally here - even though the rest of the country is starting to feel winter is here. It is hard to believe that next week is Thanksgiving! The holidays really do sneak up on you when you don't experience the rudeness of winter. In first grade, we have been doing many fall/Thanksgiving poems. Last year I did a poem called Turkey in the Barnyard. It went like this-

Turkey in the barnyard, what does he say?

"Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble all day."

Turkey on the table, what do I say?

"Yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy all day."

Turkey in my tummy, what do I say?

"I ate to much on Thanksgiving Day!"

So this year I was thinking, I don't want to read that stupid poem about eating turkey all week. So I changed it to-

Turkey in the barnyard, what does he say?

"Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, all day."

Turkey in the field, what does he say?

"Yippee, yippee, yippee, yippee, yippee all day."

Turkey on Thanksgiving what does he say?

"Please don't eat me on Thanksgiving Day!"

Yes, every year I try to convert my kids to vegetarianism. Alas, it never works. They are way too irrational to understand that the beautiful pictures of turkeys that I show them have anything to do with the turkey they are eating at Thanksgiving.