Squash

The end of our CSA subscription is marked each year by a large box of squash. I have done a pretty good job using it up or prepping it for future use.  We've roasted whole spaghetti squash in the oven and eaten it with a little butter, a drizzle of honey and salt and pepper.  I roasted pumpkins and made these muffins:

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/orange_date_pumpkin_muffins.html

which are incredible and probably the most delicious muffins I have ever tasted.  The only change I made was to incorporate the walnuts into the batter rather than sprinkling them on top and I replaced the honey with maple syrup.  Mine were finished after 15 to 16 minutes in the oven. 

I peeled and chopped up a giant butternut squash and made a huge batch of these enchiladas:

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/roasted-enchiladas-with-tomatillo-sauce/.  I had leftover red peppers in my fridge and a bag of tomatillos from my neighbor's garden.  I also cooked up a large pot of pinto beans and mixed them into the squash filling. 

I roasted a butternut and 4 acorn squashes to use in soup recipes from William Sonoma Soup of the Day (which you must purchase if you haven't already) but I got the squashes mixed up and used them in the wrong soups.  One soup was sweet and one was savory and to my surprise (because I do love sugar) I ended up liking the savory soup more.  The sweet one was delicious, but the savory one was better.  So here's the recipe:

Acorn Squash Soup with Toasted Walnut Butter

4 acorn squashes, about 1 lb each
1 T unsalted butter
2 slices bacon, finely chopped (I used 3, because you can't have too much bacon)
1 large yellow onion chopped
6 c chicken broth (ended up having too much, would reduce to 4 next time and add more as needed)

1/4 c heavy cream
Large pinch of grated nutmeg
1/4 c fresh orange juice

Walnut Butter
1/4 c walnuts
2 tsp walnut oil (used coconut oil instead, canola would be fine too)
Large pinch of sugar
salt and pepper
2 T unsalted butter at room temperature

***I roasted all of my squash one night and then kept it in the fridge until ready to use which cut down on my prep time at dinner.

Preheat oven to 375 and lightly oil baking sheet.  Cut each squash in half and place cut side down on the baking sheet.  Bake until easily pierced with a knife, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside until cool enough to handle.  Scoop out seeds and discard, scoop out flesh and set aside until ready to use.

Toss walnuts with oil, sugar, salt and pepper to taste and spread out on baking sheet.  Toast until golden, about 5 to 7 minutes, and then remove from oven and when cool chop finely by hand or in a blender or food processor.  In a small bowl mash the walnuts with the butter (I just did this with my fingers) and spoon into plastic wrap and shape into a log, place in the fridge until dinnertime.  (I just stuck mine in a small bowl.)

In a large heavy pot melt the butter over medium heat, add the onion and bacon and saute until onion is soft, about 10 minutes.  Raise the heat to high and add the squash and broth and bring to a gentle boil.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until the squash is very soft, about 30 minutes. 

Remove the soup from the heat and puree in a blender in smooth, working in batches. Return to pot over medium low heat and stir in the cream, nutmeg, orange juice and salt and pepper to taste.  Serve warm, garnished with slices of the walnut butter.

Apple and Blackberry Crisp

My brother complains there aren't enough photos on my blog.  There are two reasons for this, the first being that the light fixtures in my house tend to make everything photographed inside look yellow.  Not super appetizing.  The second reason is because we usually eat things as soon as they are made, and I don't think about photos until it is too late.  I'll try to work on this. 

This recipe is adapted from a recipe in the Mayo Clinic Cookbook for their summer fruit gratin.  I kind of made it up as I went a long so I'll do my best to estimate amounts.

This will make a 9x13 pan, which you can spray with cooking spray or butter if you'd like.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

4 to 6 apples, depending on the size, peeled and chopped
1 pkg frozen marionberries (I have tried many varieties of blackberries but the Stahlbush Farm Marionberries are by far my favorite)
1/2 to 1 tsp lemon zest
scant 1/4 c sugar (depends on the tartness of your apples and berries, taste and adjust to suit your preferences)
1 T all-purpose flour

Rub the zest into the sugar, mix with the flour, toss with the fruit and spread in an even layer in the pan.

For the topping:

1 c rolled oats
1/2 c sliced almonds (optional)
6 T all-purpose flour
1/4 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
4 T melted butter, canola oil, walnut oil or coconut oil
2 T honey

Combine all of the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients, mix with hands until well blended and then crumble on top of the fruit.  Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until fruit is bubbling and topping is lightly browned. 

I served this with homemade caramel sauce, but it would be lovely with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Lazy Ratatouille

I've never eaten or made ratatouille from a recipe, but this is my lazy version and it is delicious.  Our CSA pickup included tomatoes, garlic, eggplant and squash so it seemed like the easiest thing to throw together for dinner tonight.  I intended to serve it with something, but instead just piled it in a bowl and devoured two servings with a single slice of toasted baguette.  I think the quality of this dish is completely dependent upon the quality of your veggies.  My veggie growers are awesome, hence my veggies are awesome.

1 (ish) Tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 yellow squash, halved and sliced
1 eggplant, peeled, quartered and sliced
4 to 6 tomatoes, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Heave your olive oil in a large cast iron pot with a lid.  Add garlic and saute until just barely golden, add eggplant and squash and season with salt and saute until tender.  Add tomatoes, season again, and cover with lid and simmer for 10 to 20 minutes.  Remove lid, increase heat and boil off some of the liquid.  That's it.  Dinnertime.

The recipes that I have read included fresh basil or marjoram but I didn't have any on hand.  I thought about adding dried herbs but the taste was so good that I just served it with salt and pepper.

Layers of vegetable goodness.

I have been seriously considering closing this blog simply because it is getting increasingly more difficult to find time to type of my recipes.  But tonight's dinner creation deserves to be recorded for posterity.  It was delicious.  But be forewarned - you will dirty a lot of pots and pans.  There are several steps, but the entire meal took me about 45 minutes to prepare, and probably another 45 minutes to cleanup.  You can double the recipe easily.

Polenta Layer 

4 c milk (I used water mixed with powdered milk)
2 T butter (I used unsalted, so if you use salted you may need to decrease the amount of salt)
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
scant 1 c polenta (because this is all I had, but if you double the recipe use 1 3/4 cups)

Bring milk, butter, salt and pepper to a boil.  Slowly add polenta while stirring constantly until it thickens.  Reduce heat and simmer until quite thick, stirring occasionally.  Pour into a greased baking dish and stick in the freezer for the next 10 to 15 minutes s that it firms up.

Marinara Sauce
***This is Jamie Oliver's recipe, using tomato sauce instead of canned tomatoes because that is all I had

1 T olive oil
2 to 3 cloves garlic
2 14 oz cans tomato sauce
1 large bunch fresh basil, about 1 1/2 to 2 cups packed basil leaves, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Gently heat olive oil, add minced garlic and saute until lightly golden.  Add tomato sauce, basil, salt and pepper.  Stir to combine and then reduce heat and simmer at least 20 minutes.  Adjust seasoning.

Roasted Zucchini
1 T olive oil
1 large zucchini
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut off ends of zucchini, halve, and then slice 1/4" thick lengthwise.  You should have enough slices to fill a cookie sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast at 375 until tender and beginning to brown.

Swiss Chard layer
1 bunch Swiss chard, stems removed, leaves chopped
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 T olive oil
large pinch of salt
1/3 c heavy cream

Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.  Add onion and a bit of salt and saute until tender.  Add chard and continue to saute and when the chard just begins to lose the raw appearance add the cream, stir, cover pot with a lid, reduce heat and simmer until tender.  ***Creamed chard is the only way to go.  A minimal amount of cream, just 1 Tbs even, brings out a delicious sweetness.

To Assemble:
Spread the creamed chard/onion mixture over the polenta, add half of the tomato sauce and spread to cover.  Lay the roasted zucchini in a single layer and spread the remaining tomato sauce.  If you are making this all at once you can serve it immediately because the heat from all of the other components will warm the polenta.  I thought I would miss having cheese in this fake version of lasagna but the creaminess from the chard and polenta made me glad I hadn't added any cheese at all.  The flavor of this dish is seriously amazing.  And it was brought to you by what was left in my fridge and pantry today.  Enjoy.

Braised radishes. A lick the bottom of your bowl kind of dish.

Go buy radishes.  And then make this:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/braised-radishes-recipe/index.html.  We always get radishes as part of our CSA pick up and they always go to waste because try as I might, I just don't like them raw.  And I never thought of cooking them until I came across this recipe.  It is amazing.  We only had one bunch so I just halved the recipe.  They are amazing.

Farfalle with Beets and Parsley Pesto

I don't think I would have ever made this recipe if I hadn't first watched someone else make it.  Strangely enough my television program of choice while at the gym is the Food Network. We don't have cable so it seems like quite the treat (no pun intended, I just can't think of another phrase) to watch people create amazing food.  And it reminds me why I work out.  So that I can eat more.

We had this for dinner and everyone loved it.  I am posting the link to her recipe.  The only changes I made included reducing the amount of olive oil in the pesto to 1/4 cup, and using flat leaf instead of curly parsley.  You can make this in steps too, so you could make the beets and vinaigrette in the morning and keep in your fridge and just reheat it before adding it to the pasta and parsley pesto.

I didn't add my beet greens because they looked sad and smelled like a wet dog.  I'm going to add arugula tomorrow when we have this for lunch, but it is good with just the pasta, beets and pesto.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alexandra-guarnaschelli/farfalle-pasta-with-beet-vinaigrette-and-parsley-pesto-recipe/index.html

Black Bean & Orange Hummus

This is awesome.  Even better served warm with some grated cheese on top.  We ate it for lunch with pita chips and sliced turnips and radishes.  The recipe is from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan.

2 1/2 c cooked black beans
1/3 c freshly squeezed orange juice
2 1/2 tsp almond butter
1 large clove garlic, sliced
1 T olive oil
3 T red wine vinegar
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 c fresh parsley
1 tsp orange zest
fresh ground pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.  That's it.

Go buy this book.

I am usually not a fan of Williams-Sonoma Cookbooks, and not for any good reason, I'm just not drawn to them.  But this book may have converted me.  Go buy it now.  It just might change your life.

Soup of the Day:  365 recipes for every day of the year

I have made about 6 soups so far and each has been an astounding success.  They are easy to adapt to suit what you have on hand or your personal tastes and preferences.  I can open my fridge and cupboard at any given time and find ingredients to make at least one of the recipes in this book.  It is divided by months and the recipes are seasonally driven which makes it even better.  I'm not going to post the recipes because you really just need to go buy the book.  Now.

Coconut Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

This is a work in progress.  But the first attempt was delicious, and Connor asked tonight if we were going to have more of that 'ummy cake'.  I'll write down the recipe as I made it, but I do plan on making some changes.  I baked my cake in a 9 or 10-inch (I didn't measure it yet) fluted tart pan that was about 2-inches deep.

Topping:
3 stalks rhubarb, sliced in half lengthwise and then thinly chopped
4 T butter, sliced thinly
3/4 c brown sugar, packed (I think this can be reduced to 1/2 cup)

Cake:
1 c sugar (I think this can be reduced to 3/4 cup)
4 T butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract (might cut down to 1 tsp, maybe add coconut extract?)
1 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice (I used this just because I had it, and it was really good, but you could just as easily use cardamom, or a combination of cinnamon and nutmeg)
1/2 c coconut (I used sweetened because it was all I had on hand)
1/2 c coconut milk

Spray your pan with cooking spray. Place the sliced butter around the pan and then cover with brown sugar.  Top with the sliced rhubarb. 

***The next time I make this I want to add coconut to the topping.  I also might try caramelizing the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan and then pouring into the cake pan.

Combine the melted butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.  Add the flour, baking powder, salt and spice and stir to combine.  Scrape down sides of the bowl and stir in coconut milk.  Fold in shredded coconut.  Spread over rhubarb

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 55 minutes, until cake is set and a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs.  Let cool and then invert onto a serving platter.  Good warm, but even better once it has cooled completely and chilled in the fridge.  It would be great warm with vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream.

Revised recipe to come.

Lemon Pudding Cakes

The recipe can be found here:  http://www.marthastewart.com/873677/lemon-pudding-cakes

The recipe is simple and delicious.  I even messed up and added all of the sugar to the yolks instead of reserving 1/4 c to whip with the egg whites, so I just whipped the egg whites on their own, folded them in and hoped for the best.  They turned out perfect.  The lemon sauce that forms at the bottom is heavenly.  And they aren't even that bad for you.  I made a batch and ate one the first night and kept them in my fridge and have eaten one per day all week long.  Go buy some lemons.

Banana Cream Heaven

My mom's favorite pie is banana cream, and I hated it for the majority of my life.  As an adult I realized that if I just lightened the pastry cream with whipped cream, and did layers of cream with the bananas (even better yet with coconut cream) it became a pie that I loved. 

Last week Chelsea and Jordan had us over for dessert and they changed my idea forever about banana cream pie with this recipe:  http://curtisstone.com/Recipes/Desserts/Banoffee-Pie.aspx

At a whopping 600+ calories per slice it is quite the indulgence.  And worth every single calorie.

Chocolate Cardamom Creme Caramel

I adore cardamom.  Adore.  We had this for dessert tonight and it was truly delicious.  I cut the recipe in half and used 3.5 oz ramekins (and baked them for half the time) and quickly fell in love.  Find the recipe here:

http://www.sevenspoons.net/blog/2012/2/6/a-fine-introduction.html

Honeyed Goat Cheese and Poached Pears

I love Pinterest, and know that I could easily get carried away with pinning every delightful (or delicious) idea that passes my way, but I try really hard to only pin those things I have every intention of doing, buying, or as in this case, eating.  I've wanted to make this recipe (found here) for a week or so and finally decided to forgo the crust and use the filling in poached pears instead.  And it was amazing.

You have to be a lover of goat cheese to like this.  Which I am.  Both of my kids are also infatuated with this soft white cheese so it was a huge hit at breakfast.  I cut the recipe in fourths and used 0% fat greek yogurt instead of 2% because that was what I had in my fridge.  I peeled and poached the pears in apple juice (again, because that was what was in my fridge) with 2 crushed pods of cardamom.  I used a lemon instead of a lime, and next time want to try it with an orange to play off of the orange blossom honey that I used.

Filling for Four Poached Pears

2.75 oz soft goat cheese
1/2 c greek yogurt
1 1/2 t lemon (or lime or orange) juice
1/2 t lemon (or lime or orange) zest
2 T powdered sugar
Honey to drizzle

Beat the goat cheese, yogurt, juice and zest until combined.  Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.  Spoon into the centers of poached pears (we did 1 pear per person, split lengthwise and cored) and then drizzle with honey.  Prepare to lick your plate clean.

PS

Butter is better than beans.  Not necessarily better for your health, but better tasting and therefore better for your soul.  A friend told me about a flourless chocolate cake made with garbanzo beans instead of butter and so I made it tonight.  And it was fine, but not amazing.  And the bean cupcakes I wrote about earlier tasted so much better the day they were made, and not that great the next day.  I think I'll just stick to unhealthy dessert recipes in the future because I'd rather eat less of something truly amazing instead of more of something that is simply okay. 

Cupcakes with beans. Beans!

I randomly picked up a copy of the Martha Stewart Food magazine and decided I had to try the recipe for cupcakes with beans.  It seemed crazy.  And they turned out to be crazy good.  I changed the recipe just a bit, and baked them about 5 minutes longer.

Vanilla Cupcakes (with cannellini beans)
3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 can (15.5 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, plus 2 large egg whites
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in middle and lower thirds. Line 24 standard muffin cups with paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a food processor, combine beans, butter and granulated sugar; process until smooth. With machine running, add eggs and egg whites and process until incorporated. Stir into flour mixture until well combined. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla.

2. Divide batter among muffin cups and bake until puffed and set, about 17 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Transfer cupcakes to wire racks and let cool completely.

Filling:
1 pkg frozen raspberries
freshly squeezed orange juice (use some for the frosting, the rest for the filling)

Defrost raspberries a bit and mix with orange juice.  Yep.  That's it.

Frosting:
2 oz neufchatel cheese
1/2 c powdered sugar
1/2 t vanilla extract
zest of 1 orange
some freshly squeezed orange juice

Cream cheese and zest and a bit of juice.  Add sugar and blend until smooth.  Add vanilla and enough orange juice to reach desired consistency.  (I didn't know how this would turn out so I just made a small batch. You will need to double or triple this to frost all cupcakes.)

I recommend slicing your cupcake into thirds.  Spoon some of the raspberry mixture over the bottom and middle layers and then spread the top layer with some frosting.

Tomato Soup with Canned Tomatoes

I grew up thinking I hated tomato soup, when what I really hated was Campbell's tomato soup.  I have a hard time justifying making tomato soup when tomatoes are in season because they are so lovely I can't bring myself to do much more than slice them and sprinkle salt and pepper over the slices.  Deborah Madison has a recipe for Cream of Tomato Soup in her cookbook Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.  I made it today for lunch and tweaked it just a bit.  It is delicious.

1 T olive oil
1 T butter
1 small onion, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 1/2 t dried basil
pinch of ground cloves (I added more because I loved the flavor)
2 T flour
2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes in puree (only had tomatoes in juice so I added about 1/2 T of tomato paste to compensate)
pinch of baking soda
2 1/2 c vegetable stock (I used chicken stock)
1 to 1 1/2 c milk
salt and freshly ground pepper

Combine olive oil and butter in soup pot over medium heat.  When butter has melted add onion, celery, basil and cloves and cook until onion is limp, about 5 minutes.  Stir in flour and add tomatoes, tomato paste, baking soda and stock.  Bring to a boil, then partially cover and lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.  (She recommends pureeing it at this point but I left it as is) add milk and season with salt and pepper.

I cut up some leftover bread into cubes and toasted it in the oven at 350 degrees until crisp and topped my bowl of soup with some of the croutons.  A lovely lunch for winter.

Quite possibly the best ice cream. Ever.

I was completely floored by the amazingness of this ice cream the first time I conjured it up. Bryant was impressed, but not to the same degree. Jonathan and Amy came up this weekend and I made it again and was happy to see that they were also floored and dubbed it the best ice cream. It is simple, but oh so good.

2 c buttermilk
1 c sugar (taste as you add so that you get the sweetness that tastes best to you)
1 c cream (I've used whole milk in a pinch)
zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla

Combine buttermilk and sugar and whisk until sugar dissolves. Add remaining ingredients and freeze in an ice cream maker. Eat it all in one sitting. Repeat.

What we are eating.

Bryant and I decided to do this 21 day eating challenge (shortened into 15 days because that is the longest amount of time we are both in town this month) and we started yesterday.  I'm posting the link because everything we have eaten so far has been surprisingly delicious.  There were some recipes I was dreading (like the kale and cabbage slaw) but have ended up loving.  The first week your meals consist of fruit, veggies, nuts and seeds and lots of water.  I thought we were going to starve.  But I'm not.  And I am interested to see as we reintroduce foods (sea food and legumes, then eggs and non gluten grains, and eventually dairy and gluten and sugar) how each item makes me feel.  21 days (or 15 in our case) doesn't feel like forever and it has been a great way to try some new veggie based recipes and to learn how to incorporate more nuts and seeds into our meals.  So no fun dessert recipes from me until February.

Do you want to know what I miss the most?  Cheese.  I love cheese.