Solar Cooked Acorn Sqash

I had a very busy day today. Well, a busy afternoon and evening. I had enough time in the morning to roast some acorn squash and get a start on a pot of pasta fagioli. We had some of the solar cooked squash for lunch, but the pasta fagioli will have to wait until tomorrow. I only had an hour between the time I got home from work and the time we had to go out again to attend a volunteer orientation at the Arizona Humane Society. There just wasn't enough time to finish making the soup, so we grabbed a quick bite out. The animals are worth it.
I brushed the sliced acorn squash with a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, and red chili pepper and roasted it in the Sun Oven for about forty minutes. I don't like overly sweet squash, but the chili pepper gives it a nice kick.

Beet Soup in Roasted Acorn Squash

I was really excited about trying this recipe for a few reasons. First, it's vegetarian, therefore perfect for meatless Monday. Second, we rarely eat beets, the main ingredient and I'm always looking for ways to add variety to our diet. Third, it's very pretty. And last, it put us in the autumn spirit even if it is still 102º outside.
Once again the recipe is adapted from epicurious.com. Both the soup and the squash were cooked in the Sun Oven. I did cut the recipe in half. I like trying new things, but didn't want to eat beet soup all week. While it was a lot of fun to make, the flavor wasn't very exciting. I'm not quite sure what could be done to spruce it up. I don't think it's going to be a regular at our dinner table.