Bountiful Fall Harvest

Savory Stuffed Squash

It's turkey season, and the stuffed birds with all of the trimmings are upon us!  I LOVE Thanksgiving, I think it's one of my favorite holidays really.  To be able to sit at the table with loved ones and stuff your faces with lots of good food that you wait all year for; how can you not be thankful and love this holiday?  I'm looking forward to it as always.  With this season also come the wonderful bounty of fall harvest foods; squashes of all kinds, apples, oranges from the south, persimmons (one of my absolute favorite fruits), beautiful jeweled pomegranates, figs, sweet potatoes, I could go on but I will spare you. I know most of these are available year-round with the way we are able to import and ship foods now, but I really try to shop within season for my area and I love having the savory change of season and I look forward to all the time.

As I became more comfortable in the kitchen and I started to experiment more, I've come to love squash and the vast varieties as one of my staples for the fall & winter months.  I love making squash soups, apple crisps, sweet potato bakes and adding the pomegranates to champagne toasts or making a sweet sauce for dessert. It's a nice change of pace really, with that in mind;  Have you ever stuffed a squash for dinner? I remember stuffed squash when I was a kid. I wasn't a huge fan of it, but then again, I was a kid and my dad was not the best of cooks.  My grandma had given me some of her recipes many, many years ago but the older I get, the less meat I realize I need or want and her recipes are made with pork and ground beef and such. Not to say that I'm a vegetarian (I do still partake and love the carnivorous meal once in awhile) but I really don't eat it much or crave it much anymore.  So I started to think about what I could stuff my pretty white acorn squash with this evening, and it hit me.  I had some left over sprouted rice & quinoa blend by tru Roots in my fridge and I could make a type of rice stuffing for it.  My mind was set and I was ready to proceed. Now please note that I had de-seeded and pre-cooked my squash (350 degrees) yesterday night in the oven for at least an hour and had it in the fridge ready for tonight.

I had on-hand: 

• Spinach, about three handfuls
• Cooked Spouted Rice & Quinoa, about 3/4 cup
• Onion (Chopped), 
• Cherry Tomatoes, a handful or two
• Brussel Sprouts (sliced), at least 6
• Better than Bouillon (Chicken base, but regular broth or bouillon will do instead), 1 teaspoonful
• Parmesan Cheese Shred
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Garlic Powder, 1-1.5 teaspoons
• Thyme (dried), generous sprinkle

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees, took out my fry pan to saute the onions and brussel sprouts with the salt and pepper and garlic powder. Once they become more tender/translucent (for the onions), I added the spinach and the cherry tomatoes.  When the spinach starts to wilt and the tomatoes have warmed up, I crush them with the back of my spoon and add the thyme and Better than Bouillon with some warm water, at least 1/2 a cup to dilute the base. Then I add the rice and quinoa and simmer for a few minutes.  Have your acorn squash ready in a baking dish, once the flavors have mingled a touch, spoon the filling into the two acorn halves and top with parmesan cheese and put it into the oven for at least 35 minutes.  The cheese becomes a wonderful crunchy topping that adds a great nutty flavor. One half is enough to share with my son and have a completely satisfying meal. This would be a very good side dish as well.

Enjoy!

Lemon Basil Quinoa Salad

Lemon Basil Quinoa Salad

I found this recipe one day while trying to figure out what more I could do with one of the "super foods", Quinoa.  It sounded Amazing and I had to try it.  As usual, I substituted and made due with what I had on hand in the house.  I was also trying to utilize another "super food", Kale which I happen to have a massive amount of in my tiny fridge.  I ended up sautéing the kale with some garlic, salt, pepper, and a little bit of butter, it was pretty tasty and very simple to whip up.  Here's the recipe for the salad:

Lemon Basil Salad

Dressing:

2.5 Tbsp Lemon Juice

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar

1.5 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Basil

Salt

White Pepper

Garlic Powder

Salad:

1/2 Cucumber, diced

8 oz Black Olives, sliced

1/2 Red and Yellow Pepper, diced

16 oz (1/2 Clam Shell) Baby Kale, sautéed

4 green onions sliced

1 cup uncooked quinoa

Mix dressing together and set aside

To cook the quinoa; rinse in a pot and drain excess water, add 1 cup water or broth for every 1/2 cup of  quinoa.  Boil until all the water is absorbed the remove from heat and cover for 15 minutes.  Once it is cooked you can add it to the veggies and add the dressing and mix.  I like to refrigerate it for at least a few hours before serving, so that the flavors can mix and meld.  You don't have to though. I can't wait sometimes because it smells so good.

There are so many variation you can make with this recipe, mix and match to figure out what you like best.  Here is a list of variations you can use it the recipe.  Enjoy experimenting with different ingredients! 

Variations:

For the dressing:
Use Cilantro or Parsley instead of Basil

Add Fresh Lemon Zest

For the salad:
Omit the Kale and add sautéed Spinach instead

Add Chopped Avocado
1 Can Garbanzo Beans, rinsed
1 Can Corn, rinsed
1 Stalk Celery, diced
1/2 Red Onion, diced
Add Crumbled Bacon
Add Feta or Blue Cheese

*The original recipe I found was posted on: The Garden Grazer

Let them eat cake!

"Let them eat cake!"

Last month I was given the opportunity to bake a chocolate cake for my mother-in-law & sister-in-law's birthdays.  I have to say that I was very excited about this.  Outside of experimenting with substitutes and trying to "reinvent the wheel" I have not baked a "regular" dessert in a really long time and this was long over-due for me.  This chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream frosting was delicious!  Aside from being a tad too dry (I believe I over cooked it just a touch), it was delectable. I found the recipe on my iPad app: How to cook Everything: by Mark Bittman.  *The website link does not have this recipe in it (and for fear of copyright issues I'm not going to post it here).

I have found this to be the best app I have on my iPad for recipes.  If there are any other really good ones that people are recommending, I would love to know about them.

However, The one thing I am incredibly proud of, is my "mad" frosting skills!  It turned out so pretty, and the frosting was probably my favorite part of the whole cake.  I'm not a huge frosting fan by nature, but this was really good.   I had a few ounces left over so I put it into the fridge and I shamelessly ate spoonfuls of it over the next few days, no I didn't share with my family I hid it away.  Yup, it was that good.

It's my son's birthday is this week and he's having a sleepover party to celebrate.  He's requested this cake.  I suppose I will "have" to bake this again for him <insert sarcastic groan here>. Seriously though, I am looking forward to making this again.

My recent chocolate cake experience has brought a new light onto my long-time love of baking.  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed doing it.  I guess I became caught up in trying to substitute different types of fats and sugars and flours and I have had so many disappointments that I just didn't want to bake anymore.  It makes me sad to realize that.  I remember finding my step-mother's "Better Homes & Garden" cookbook and thumbing through it and landing on Peanut Butter Cookies.  Those were the only types of cookies I made when I was younger (mostly because those were the only ingredients I had on hand in the house to make). Regardless of the reason for making them (all the time), I loved them nonetheless.  I have a lot of fond memories baking.  It was nice to be reminded of how much I enjoyed it.  I'm definitely looking forward to making it again this weekend, just for the joy of baking.  

Refreshing Cucumber Watermelon Salad

This morning I found a recipe to use up some of the watermelon that my family doesn't seem to want to eat.  Why I'm not quite sure, but I bought the watermelon this past weekend and it's sat in my fridge, with only me eating it.  Now I'm sure we can all agree that this can get a bit drab after awhile, regardless of the fact that I love watermelon.  My only issue with this is that it's fully seeded, now this isn't as big of an issue when you slice it up and a whole bunch of people are eating it during say a BBQ and you can have a seed spitting contest but this was not one of those times.  I'm getting off track, so I made a salad similar to this last year and I cannot find where I had this recipe at, so I had to seek out a new one and this one is pretty similar.

It's a very easy recipe, i found it on Pinterest here and then the original link is from The Healthy Foodie.  I have taken the liberty of adding and removing a few ingredients from the original recipe on her site, but I think the beauty of cooking is making things more "your own".  I'm very happy with the outcome and will gladly be noshing on this throughout my day today.

Refreshing Cucumber Watermelon Salad:

1 Cucumber (seeded or not, your choice) sliced into quarters

3 Cups of Watermelon, diced (save yourself some time and get the seedless watermelon, unlike me)

3 Tbsp chopped fresh Basil

2 Tbsp chopped fresh Mint

1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper (I used course ground)

1/4 tsp salt (I prefer Kosher)

3 Tbsp White Balsamic Vinegar

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 of a Lime squeezed

1/4 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

In a large bowl add everything but the Cucumber and Watermelon, mix and let sit until you've chopped up your Cucumber and Watermelon, once you do, add them to the dressing and mix well.  You can serve it immediately or cover and refrigerate until you are ready to dig in!  I love it, and you could even add some cooked diced pancetta or bacon to the salad too, for a little extra crunch.  Enjoy! 

Booties!

I have a few friends that are now expecting, this is wonderful news!  I would like to make them a gift, a keepsake, if you will.  Now, in general my overall opinion on baby booties are more geared towards cuteness and not really "usable" gifts.  I mean, I never used booties on my son when he was a baby, he wore little socks and they were oh-so-adorable!  Booties never stayed on his feet.  So the question is, why would I give my friends booties for their new bundle of joy?  Well traditionally, I wouldn't but in this case, I might have to because I found a few really cute patterns on ravelry.com and I just had to try them.  Number one, for the simple fact that I have yet to accomplish a good looking 3-dimentional, functional piece of clothing.  Functional is the key word here.  Number two is because, simply put they are freaking ADORABLE! I have high hopes that they will in fact stay on a tiny baby's foot or feet I guess.

Here is a picture of my first attempt at these ADORABLE booties.

They really are cute, I think the button completes them.  Now to make a few more and maybe adjust the pattern a bit to see what else I can come up with to make them that much more adorable.

The Scarf is Complete!

I finished the scarf before Christmas, which was intended for my husband.  It's beautiful, soft and exactly what he wanted.  Unfortunately, it's too short for him.  I did not have enough skeins to make a suitable length for a man.  I know, get another skein, right?  Well I tried, I exhausted my resources.  This dye lot was not being produced any longer.  I mean, it had been over a year since I purchased the current skein.  I searched Amazon, called other yarn shops, even in other states, and nothing. I finally gave up and blinded off the scarf.  It was complete, but fit for a child or woman, definitely not a man. Needless to say, my husbands disappointed that the scarf won't work for him.

I was speaking with a friend about my conundrum, and she had two skeins of the same yarn, weight and everything, in a different color.  She offered to give them to me.  Well, I was SO excited!  I mean, I could actually make a new scarf for my husband and he could have it before the winter was over!  Well, I was very grateful and very appreciative to have this wonderful gift of free yarn.  So I accepted them, naturally.  It was a completely different color from what we had before, but beautiful none the less.  I showed my husband, I was very excited to say the least and he popped my bubble.  He told me that it was indeed a beautiful color, but he didn't want that color, and it would make a beautiful scarf for a girl.  Really?  I told him to wait until it's been knitted a bit, and he can see the full potential of this beautiful color.  It went with most everything he owned and wore regularly, he would surely see it's potential.  So, I began working on it and produced a good swatch for him to look at, and again with the "It is a good color, and it will be a wonderful scarf for a woman.".  I was defeated, I accept this now.  Now my quest is to find a few new skeins to make my husband a scarf that will actually work for him in a color that he will love. It will happen before Christmas 2013.  It's just a scarf, it shouldn't take that long, right? This is my goal, we'll see how well i fare with this before, lets say August.