Tag Archive for 'cooking'

Oh, The Things You Can Do With Butternut Squash

Published on October 11, 2008 in food and recipes. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

Ok, get your mind out of the gutter! Puhleaze…. I’m talking about cooking here, nothing else… seriously…

It is squash season, and I don’t think I’ve ever met a squash I haven’t fallen head-over-heals in love with. I’ve got a bunch in the kitchen, some acorn, some delicata, a spaghetti squash and a few butternut. I love them all for different reasons.

We are trying a bit of gluten-free and dairy-free at our house these days, I really wanted to make a gluten-free zucchini bread, but the zucchini didn’t look so good at the grocery store, and I couldn’t make it to the farmers market, so I decided to use the butternut squash. I like that it’s sweet, and I thought the kids would just love it.

Butternut Squash Bread

And they did, the above picture is of the last bite.  It went so fast and is so delicious I can’t even begin to tell you how good that makes me feel!  I don’t consider my self and “expert” baker/cook.  It’s something I love to do, but I feel that I just don’t know enough about the science of cooking to really, fully experiment successfully.  HA!  I did it.  I totally came up with the recipe, and it worked!

You should make it too.  If you don’t want to do gluten-free, you could totally use wheat flour, it would be yummy!

Butternut Squash Bread (Gluten-Free)

  • 1-1/2 cups Butternut Squash shredded (I cut my squash in half, put face down in a casserole dish, fill with about a 1/4″ of water and put in the oven at 450ºF for about 20 minutes.  This softens it so you can peel it then run it through the shredder easily)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1-1/2 cup gluten-free baking mix*
  • 1-1/2 tsp xantham gum*
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • Zest from 1 lemon

In one bowl, combine squash, vegetable oil, sugar and egg, mix until blended.

In another bowl sift together, flour, xantham gum, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and lemon zest.  Mix well.

Pour flour mixture into squash mixture, and stir together until well mixed and moist.

Pour mixture into greased loaf pan.

Cook at 325ºF for about 45-50 minutes until golden brown and fork comes out clean. (Make sure you check your time based on your pan.  This is not my forté, so stay close to the oven if you are not sure, burnt squash bread would be such a bummer! – in fact if anyone has a guide for cooking times based on pan sizes, i.e. – how to cook muffins instead of a loaf, please share!)

* You could totally use whole wheat flour for this as well, just eliminate the xantham gum.

I think what makes this bread is the lemon.  I’ll be making it with other veggies, but the lemon will always remain.

I had a bunch of shredded butternut squash left over, I made Elana’s Butternut Squash Latkes.

Butternut Squash Latkes

OH MY GOODNESS!  These were so delicious!  Another fabulous gluten-free recipe where you could sub in so many different veggies and get incredible results.  These absolutely melted in our mouths, went so quickly I couldn’t even get a shot on the plate!  We were eating them as they came off the stove.  This dish is so perfect for fall (any season actually), and we could eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  The mix of onion and squash was ideal, and we liked the cispier ones with burnt edges.  We ate them with apple sauce.  I’m thinking that this is the dish I’ll be making for the holiday family gatherings coming up, 1 little squash makes a lot of food.

Cooking Wish List

Published on September 30, 2008 in favorites, food and recipes. 3 Comments Tags: , , , .

So I haven’t had the time to sew.  I did buy some embroidery tools, but my ideas are still brewing about where to dive in (and I’m still filling my sketchbook).  But I have been cooking.  Experimenting.  Reading tons of food blogs.

I bought a fabulous bunch of kale from the farmers market and made kale crisps from The Cleaner Plate Club.  It was absolutely wonderful, what we didn’t eat that afternoon, I put into a gluten free quiche.  It was not my most successful quiche. I made a rice flour crust and cooked the heck out of it.  Plus I added sugar and probably shouldn’t have for a quiche.  So more experimenting.  If anyone has a fabulous gluten free pastry shell recipe, please send it my way.

I have been bookmarking food recipes like mad.  Here are a few that I am dying to make:

Warm and Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa from 101 Cookbooks (Her cookbooks are on my wishlist in case anybody is interested in that sort of thing.)

Bourbon Peach Handpies from SmittenKitchen.  I made something similar with the kids, using some apples and they were great, but this recipe sounds YUMMY!  PS – this is totally fun to make with kids.  They make the cutest pies!  I didn’t take pics, I was too involved with the little hands and pie fixins, but they are a HUGE hit and a great way to involve kiddies in the kitchen.

Crispy Roasted Chickpeas from Kalyn’s Kitchen.  I don’t see these lasting too long at our house.

Grandma’s Grain Recipe from 101 Cookbooks.  When I introduced food to Iz I started with the Cereal recipe from Super Baby Food, and it was such a great cereal, I might try it again as well, but the book is in a box in storage!!!.  This recipe is perfect, just the way I like to cook, a handful of this, a handful of that.  It looks so yummy.

Herbed Summer Squash and Tomato Torte from SmittenKitchen.  I made something like this a few weeks ago, and I wasn’t as careful as I should have been preparing everything, so it didn’t turn out how I thought it would, but it was still delish.  I want to try again after another visit to the farmers market.

Summer Vegetable Pancakes with Basil Chive Cream from Eggs on Sunday.  I love veggie pancakes.  Comfort food, and perfect after a trip to, you know, the farmers market.

Quinoa and MushroomStuffed Zucchini from The Kitchn.  I love to try new things, and I have not yet toasted quinoa, I think Iz would love to eat this.

Enchilada Lasagne from Happy Herbivore.  I’ve been looking at a bunch of recipes for this and like this because of the no cheese factor (although I love cheese, I really want to cut back on the dairy at our house).  I love the ideas of layering food for cooking, especially when we have leftovers for lunch!

Cheddar Corn Spoon Bread from Cafe Johnsonia.  I love corn bread and this looks so warm and yummy.

What are you making?  If you have a fave dish or recipe, I’d love to try it!

Quiche Makes Me Happy

Published on September 10, 2008 in Creating, blogs I read, food and recipes. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

Spinach Quiche

There is something wonderfully satisfying about quiches for me.  I find it hard to believe that before a year ago (or so) I had never made a quiche before.  Daunting task I suppose, until I tried it.  They are so freakin’ easy and quick and pretty much always delicious.  This one was fresh garlic, Walla Walla Sweet Onions, fresh spinach, cheddar cheese, eggs and some half and half.  I was a little worried that it wouldn’t work so well after pouring in the egg/half and half mixture and it disappeared.  But I wasn’t about to add another egg.  Oh, and I coat my pastry shells (yes, this one was from the store…I know I know), with egg white.  I bake them at 350F for about 40 minutes, but always check after 25mins and decide how much longer it needs to stay in the oven.

I am not a fan of leftovers, they are almost always hard for me to eat (except the foods that get better the next day…pizza, lasagne, quiche….), so sometimes, I toss my leftovers into a quiche and you’ll never know that they were leftovers.  I’ve done it with salsa and beans YUM!  lasagne filling, Indian food, almost anything.  And they are always a treat!

Chick Pea Salad

I think you might remember that I’m a big fan of Mark Bittman and his NYT blog Bitten.  Well he posted this lovely recipe for Chickpea Salad with Ginger.  It made my mouth water!  I learned something new: toasting cumin seeds to bring out the flavor. WOWZA that’s all I have to say.  After toasting the cumin seeds, I crushed them with a rolling pin as I am sans spice grinder.  I didn’t have any ginger and I can see how it would totally add to the dish, but it was absolutely yummy without it.  And the best part.  For those of you counting – 0 points on Weight Watchers.  I think it has just a bit too much flavor for Iz, the cumin is perhaps a bit to “sweet” for her.  But I can’t get enough of it.  The recipe makes a big batch, so we’ve been eating it for 3 days so far and I’m not tired of eating it.

I think the one thing that I’ve really learned over the past 6 months is to enjoy food. Enjoy finding it, whether it be growing it myself, picking it up at the local farm, the farmer’s market or even the produce section.  Taking the time to make things from scratch as much as possible.  Sometimes it’s just not possible (although I’m learning everyday…so it could be possible).  I take my time preparing and cooking the way needed, then once it’s on the plate, really, really enjoying each and every bite.  The other big thing I’ve learned is that if it doesn’t taste good, don’t eat it.  I’m off to make lunches…

Cleaning The Plate

Published on May 31, 2008 in My Road To Fitness, food and recipes. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I have something to tell you. I’m on the road to fitness. To better health. To losing weight and exercising so I can feel better and fit into some of my fabulous clothes. To run and play with Iz and not get out of breath. I’ve lost 18 lbs so far (that’s 18 sticks of butter! – ew).

I’ve been learning a lot about food and working on changing what I eat and how I eat it. So, I’ve been cooking a lot of new foods. Wtih summer here, I’ll probably be posting more about food and garden than sewing (although – you can bet I’ll still be sewing).

I’ve started making these super yummy Polenta Pizzas. Here’s a recent favorite:

Zucchini Tomato Feta Polenta Pizza

Zucchini Feta Tomato Polenta Pizza
1 cup coarse corn meal
3 cups stock (chicken or veggie)
1 cup red onion finely chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic finely chopped (more or less depending on your taste)
1 medium zucchini sliced
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes sliced
1 cup feta cheese (I used non-fat)
2 tsp canola or olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
pinch or two of Italian Seasoning
1. Heat 1 tsp oil in pan, add 1/2 garlic and onions, saute until onions and garlic are soft, add pinch of Italian Seasoning, saute for 1 minute. Remove from heat.
2. Make the polenta. I use my rice cooker which works well every time. Pour garlic/onion saute into rice cooker. Add the corn meal and stock. Turn on rice cooker. (If you aren’t using a rice cooker, I pour 1 cup of cold stock onto the corn meal and stir with a fork to eliminate all the lumps. Meanwhile I’;m bringing the other 2 cups of stock to a boil, then adding the polenta/stock/garlic-onion saute mix and whisking lightly (to make sure no lumps), bring it back to a boil, then remove from heat, leaving it covered.
3. While the polenta is cooking, heat up the rest of the onion-garlic saute and add the zucchini. Brown the zucchini slightly, season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
4 Once the polenta is done pour it into a 9 inch pie plate smoothing it around and making the sides higher. If you don’t add the onion-garlic saute to the polenta, you will need to lightly grease the pie plate. Pre-heat the oven to 350º.
5. Pour the zucchini mixture over the center of the pie, keeping the edges clear. Cover with cherry tomatoes and sprinkle with feta cheese.
6. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes.

I think this tastes best after a few hours of letting the flavors mix together. It’s wonderful hot or cold, and even better the next day. It’s perfect for potlucks! Enjoy!