Autumn Roasted Vegetables and Wild Rice Dressing

Smoke hangs like haze over harvested fields,
The gold of stubble, the brown of turned earth
And you walk under the red light of fall
The scent of fallen apples, the dust of threshed grain
The sharp, gentle chill of fall.
Here as we move into the shadows of autumn
The night that brings the morning of spring
Come to us, Lord of Harvest
Teach us to be thankful for the gifts you bring us ...
Autumn Equinox Ritual

The Autumn Roasted Vegetable recipe can be found here.
I made some adjustments, using a large butternut squash in place of the sweet potato, also increased the amount of chicken broth (2 cups) and thyme (1 1/2 tsp). I had large mushrooms that I cut in half and did not use nuts. The vegetables and apples are locally grown.

Wild Rice Dressing

Ingredients:

1# package Lundberg Wild and Whole Grain Brown Rice
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks of celery with leaves, chopped
1 roasted red bell pepper
4 cups of water
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
3/4 tsp. dried sage
2 large tart apples
1 cup raisins
Salt and Pepper, to taste

In a cast iron pot sautee celery, onion and roasted pepper in olive oil for about 2 minutes. Add rice and cook another 4 minutes or until rice is lightly toasted.

Add water and seasonings and bring to boil. Cover and simmer for about 40 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Add apples and raisins to rice mixture, mix well. Spoon into greased baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 15 minutes, remove foil and continue baking for 15 more minutes.