Lean, Green, Indian Machine

I have a ton of recipes I need to catch up on. Too much cooking plus too little posting equals food picture overload on my camera. Thanksgiving dishes ended exceptionally well. I was in charge of the turkey this year (first time ever!) and I decided to brine it. Let me tell you, best idea ever. You will get the most juicy and moist turkey you could ever imagine. More on that later. I also made a pumpkin cheesecake and a pumpkin spice bundt, both turned out spectacular.

But now onto something completely not Thanksgiving related--Saag. I love Indian food. It has to be in my top 5 favorite ethnic food groups (Japanese and Chinese at the top for obvious reasons). The food is always so flavorful with so many complex spices. I usually never attempt these dishes in my own home mainly because I don't have an extensive Indian spice cabinet, so I know I could never do the dishes justice.

My all-time favorite dish is lamb saag. I think it's a mix of the creamy spinach and the gamey lamb that make an absolute perfect flavor combination, not to mention the dish is a beautiful, vibrant green. Saag is one of those dishes I could probably eat everyday for the rest of my life (along with tempura udon, my grandmother's chow mein, and a few other select dishes). It really does warm you up right to the core. Moreover, this is packed with those dark green leafy veggie (cruciferous veg) nutrients and the power packed super spice turmeric. Serve with some hot basmati rice and crispy garlic naan, and you're set.

This is my version of saag. I must admit it still does not live up to what you'd get at some of the good Indian places in town, but it's not terrible for an Asian girl cooking in a tiny kitchen. I used a mix of mustard greens and spinach, though you could make the dish completely out of just one. I like to use lamb, because let's face it, lamb is bomb-dot-com, but you could use any kind of meat or paneer that your heart desires. This dish doesn't require many oddball/hard-to-find spices, which makes it very simple for the everyday cook. Though I'm sure if you were able to track down some authentic Indian spices, it would make this dish even better. I ended up adding a couple teaspoons of Penzey's Spices Sate Seasoning which is a blend of coarse flake salt, brown sugar, garlic, white onion, coriander, purple shallots, ginger, turmeric, sweet paprika, Ancho pepper, galangal, cayenne red pepper, and lemon grass. I thought this mix added a nice touch to the flavor, but it's definitely not necessary. Really all you need is some cumin, turmeric, cayenne pepper, and ginger and it will taste just perfect. I'm not completely sure on the measurements of all of the spices, just add to taste and how you enjoy it.

Lamb Saag

• 1-2 bunches mustard greens
• 1 package frozen chopped spinach
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter or ghee
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small can diced green chiles
• Cumin
• Turmeric
• Cayenne pepper
• Ground ginger
• Salt and pepper
• 2-3 Tbsp heavy cream 
• 1 lb. lamb, cubed

Wash the mustard greens and place in a pot of boiling water. Add the frozen spinach and boil for a few minutes, until the greens are soft and vibrant green. In the meantime, heat the olive oil and butter in a pan. Add the onions, garlic, and green chiles and saute until the onion are soft and translucent. Strain the greens and squeeze out most of the water. Add to the onion pan and stir to combine. Place contents of pan into food processor. Run until smooth. Add spices to taste and add cream to desired creaminess. In a separate pan, heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil and add cubed lamb. Cook until done and then mix with the greens mixture. Serve with basmati rice and naan.

Perfect Pre-Feast Dinner

I have never thought about this before, but what should you eat the night before a huge feast? What is the most appropriate dinner before Thanksgiving? You don't want to have too many leftovers because your fridge will be overflowing tomorrow. Also, I need a meal that works well with throwing in lots of odds and ends to try and empty out the fridge. Lastly, I want something that is so completely not in the realm of thanksgiving and turkey, because you are bound to be completely turkey-ed out by 5 PM tomorrow. Solution: Wonton Soup.

This is a wonderful go to recipe for a chilly night in. It's surprisingly filling though quite light and flavorful. Find a buddy to help fold wontons, it's super fun to makeup new shapes and a great activity to do with someone/some friends. Overall, this is a really easy recipe, but can be a bit time consuming if you don't have help assembling the wontons.

You can virtually add whatever you like into the filling. Just go through your cabinets and see what you have that sounds delicious. I didn't in this recipe because I didn't have any on hand, but these are also great with some chopped shitake mushrooms and chopped shrimp. Also, I don't really measure when I'm making this recipe, just kind of throw things in until it looks good, so I'll do my best to estimate in the recipe.

One other super important tip: make sure you get good quality wonton skins. Do not get those crap skins you can buy at your normal grocery store, I guarantee they will fall apart in your soup. Then you'll end up with a noodle meatball soup rather than wontons. You need to go to your Asian grocery store (my favorite is LeeLee up on orange grove) and get some real wonton wrappers. We went with Peking Brand wonton wrappers and they came out just perfect (only a couple broke that were already very poorly folded by me). Another thing is to make sure you know the difference between wonton and gyoza wrappers. Wonton wrappers are thinner and used for boiling dumplings for soup or frying. Gyoza wrappers are slightly thicker and used for dumplings you want to pan fry. In general, I usually like to use gyoza wrappers because I love nice chewy dumplings. But if you prefer dumplings with a thin skin, you need good quality wonton wrappers.

There are lots of ways you can fold wontons. Here is a great site with all of the different varieties. We do the Taiwan style (Style 5). It doesn't really matter which way you decide to fold them, they'll still taste delicious no matter what you do. Have fun with this recipe, these little dumplings are delicious.

Wonton Soup

For the wontons:

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp dry sherry
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper
• 1 package GOOD wonton skins plus 1 egg for sealing
• Optional: chopped shrimp, chopped shitake mushrooms, chopped bamboo shoots

For the soup:

• 6 c. chicken broth
• A few handfuls of finely chopped chinese cabbage
• 3 cloves whole garlic
• 3 slices of fresh ginger
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 1/2 tsp. fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp oyster sauce
• salt and pepper

Mix all of the ingredients together for the filling. Assemble wontons and seal with beaten egg. Set aside. Heat a pot of boiling water. Drop the dumpling into the water and cook until cooked through. In a separate pot, mix everything for the soup. Once the dumplings are done cooking in the boiling water, transfer to the soup using a slotted spoon.

Spas and Sausage

I have been avoiding cooking this entire week. The sink was full of dishes and I didn't have the energy to clean them all. So instead, I have been enjoying a week of ZinBurger, B-Line, sushi, and Miss Saigon. Unfortunately, this means my precious CSA veggies have been sitting very patiently in the fridge waiting for me to use them. Sundays are my favorite night of the week to cook dinner. You can enjoy a relaxing day (or un-relaxing day of studying) and then have a nice, leisurely dinner. Best part is, you have leftovers to take for lunch on Monday.

I bought a Groupon a couple of weeks ago because it was advertised as "Unlimited Spa Services for 1-week for $20." How could I pass that up? I snatched up the deal and then started to look into the company a little more. It is for a spa called Planet Beach located in the Total Wine and More parking lot on Oracle. Upon further online searching, I came to realize the deal was really too good to be true. What makes this spa different is that none of the services are done by real people, everything is a machine. No real massages done by trained individuals--rather, they provide aqua massages and some sort of state-of-the-art robotic massage chair. No facials--rather, you slop a package of jelly on your face and sit under an infared light for 20 minutes. To say the least, I was a bit dissappointed. Regardless, I bought the Groupon, so I started my week last Wednesday. I went into the spa and made a promise to myself that I would get my moneys worth. I decided to try every single service--except for the "UV Therapy" aka tanning beds. They have a bed that you lie on and a heated "jade roller" moves up and down your back. They also have a bed where warm water shoots up and provides a massage. They also have a little sauna box and also this other thing called the Hydration Station. It's basically a capsule you lie in and it fills with hot steam to make you sweat. I'm down with that, open your pores, super. But then you can add these different colored light that are supposed to stimulate certain aspects of your body--red is for cellulite reduction, yellow is to stimulate lymphatics, blue is to target acne, purple is to prolong your tan. That seemed a bit hokey to me. Either way, I went back for my third visit today (like I said, I am going to get my moneys worth). I spent the afternoon getting an aqua massage and sitting in the sauna. To be honest, I don't know how I feel about Planet Beach. Getting a massage by a robotic chair is very different from getting a massage from a real person.

On to the food. After my "spa" day, I came home and wanted to make a nice hearty meal that would warm me up (it's freezing outside!). I decided to experiment with the rapini we received this week. I've never had the veggie before, but wikipedia told me it is similar to Chinese gailan. Normally the branches have flowers on them, but I think ours were harvested early in the season, so I just had a bunch of leaves. I did a little searching on tastespotting and saw there were a lot of recipes for rapini and sausage pasta. That was just what I was in the mood for and it seemed so simple.

I basically made up this recipe by throwing in whatever I had available at home. I bought turkey sausage and every time I do that I regret it. I always feel guilty getting the grease loaded pork sausage, so I give in a get turkey. I just can't do it anymore. The drippings from the pork sausage make a dish so much better! After cooking the turkey sausage, there was slim to no oil drippings at all so you don't get that yummy sausage flavor coating the pasta and rapini. I'm over my pork guilt trip. Sorry turkey, I'm going with the pork.

I decided to use orecchiette pasta because I thought it looked really cute with the sausage and rapini. The little cups are perfect to scoop up a little bit of meat and a little bit of veg. It doesn't really matter what kind of pasta you use, but I would suggest either a penne or shell. Really, whatever you have in your cabinet will be a-ok.

Enjoy this dish on a busy weeknight, it literally take 20 minutes to make. It's so easy and you don't need many ingredients. The dish has the bitter flavor of the rapini which is mellowed out by the savory fatty sausage.

Rapini and Sausage Orecchiette

• 1 lb orecchiette pasta, cooked
• 1 lb spicy Italian PORK sausage
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Splash of chicken broth
• Splash of white wine
• 1 bunch rapini, coarsely chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
• Fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt to taste

Cook the pasta in a pot of boiling salted water.

While the pasta is cooking, brown the sausage in a pan. After the sausage is done cooking, toss it with the cooked pasta and leave the drippings in the pan. Add the olive oil, onion, and garlic to the pan and saute until the onions are soft. Add the chicken broth and white wine and cook for a few minutes. Add the rapini and cook until wilted.

Add the veggie mixture to the pasta and sausage mix. Toss in the butter and cheese and stir until completely mixed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Top with a sprinkle of cheese and eat piping hot.

Slightly Sweet

The weather is getting chilly (except today, it was about 82 outside), but earlier this week was perfect winter soup weather. We have been getting some beautiful squashes from CSA like acorn, spaghetti, and butternut. I have been experimenting with the butternut squash doing a few different kinds of lasagna. I finally decided to do a butternut squash soup. Butternut squash soup is very hit or miss. It has to have the perfect flavor where it's not too sweet, but just a hint so you still get that squash flavor. You also need to get the consistency spot on so you are just right in between baby food mush and watery liquefied yuck. It's sort of like Goldilocks, not too mushy not too liquidy and not too sweet and not too yuck.

I found a recipe by Ina Garten that used butternut squash and apples. The recipe seemed so simple that it would be a great dish for a cold night. My favorite part of this dish is the curry powder. Curry powder is one of the most versatile spice mixes you can have in your cupboard. It is a blend of turmeric, coriander, fenugreek, ginger, nutmeg, etc. It is great on meats, veggies, and soups. It's wonderful if you don't want to buy lots of odd ball spices but still want a complex flavored dish. It adds the perfect flavor to this soup that complements the squash and apples perfectly.

The original recipe called for McIntosh apples, but they didn't have any at Trader Joe's, so I just bought a bag of Honeycrips. Any kind of sweet apple would work just great. The recipe also called for apple juice or apple cider. I made the mistake of buying Trader Joe's Spiced Apple Cider. Plain and simple, it was just too spicy. Stick to something with just apples so you get that tiny bit of tart flavor. This dish is wonderful for a chilly night in with a movie and some good company.

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
adapted from Butternut Squash and Apple Soup by Ina Garten

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 butternut squash
• 1 sweet apples
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 c. chicken broth (plus extra if the soup is too thick)
• 1/2 cups good apple cider or juice
• Heavy cream to drizzle on top

Warm the butter, olive oil, onions, and curry powder in a large stockpot uncovered over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until the onions are tender. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pot.

Peel the squash, cut in half, and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into chunks. Peel, quarter, and core the apples. Cut into chunks.

Add the squash, apples, salt, pepper, and 2 cups of chicken broth to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook over low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, until the squash and apples are very soft. Puree the soup  in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

Pour the soup back into the pot. Add the apple cider or juice and enough chicken broth to make the soup the consistency you like; it should be slightly sweet and quite thick. Check the salt and pepper and serve hot drizzled with some cream.

Kuma's Kookies

Today is Kuma's first birthday. I can't believe that my little dog is already one year old. It seems like just yesterday we brought him home and he was just a little furball. He has grown up into a very handsome dog with such a great personality. This afternoon, I took him to the dog park and he outran every single dog there. When we came home, I started to bake up some homemade doggie treats. I've never made dog biscuits before, but  I thought this would be the perfect time to start.

In looking up recipes, I noticed a lot of them included garlic powder/salt, onion powder, and/or raisins--all of which I thought were toxic to dogs. I finally managed to find a recipe that did not include any of these and still seemed wholesome and tasty. It's a peanut butter biscuit recipe and I thought it would be a nice touch to dip them in carob chips. If you're not familiar with carob, it is similar to chocolate with the same texture and color, though it has a (in my opinion) very different flavor. It is like a dark chocolate, but more bitter and not sweet at all. I am not a huge fan, but then again, I'm not really a huge fan of chocolate either (gasp!). I bought my carob chips from the bulk section at Whole Foods.

It's really important to get quality ingredients for your dog treats. We keep Kuma on a grain free food. Sometimes I think he eats better than we do. He rotates between chicken, duck/turkey, rabbit, and salmon flavors. I made sure to use whole wheat flour and plain peanut butter--no Jiffy or Skippy, look for just peanuts in the ingredients list and make sure there isn't added sugars or extra unreadable things. I wanted to get the fresh made peanut butter from Whole Foods (they have it at Sunflower as well), but the machine wasn't working so I bought the Whole Foods brand crunchy peanut butter instead.

These dog treats are really simple to make and create a nice golden brown treat. Kuma taste tested them and has been gobbling them up all night (A-Let me know if your doggies like them too!). I used a small dog bone shaped cutter and got at least 50 biscuits out of this recipe. You can use any shape you like, I think little hearts or animal shapes would be cute too.

I hope your four-legged furry friend enjoys these as much as the birthday boy did!

Kuma's Peanut Butter Kookies
adapted from bullwrinkle.com

• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 c. vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tbsp peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. cornmeal
• 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 1/2 c. carob chips (more or less depending on how many cookies you want to have carob dipped)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
 
In a large bowl, blend together water, oil, eggs, peanut butter, and honey with an electric mixer. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, and oats. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and blend until well mixed.

Remove dough from bowl and roll out to 1/4-1/2 inch thick on a well-floured surface. I like to separate the dough into quarters and roll out each quarter one at a time so you don't have a huge piece of dough to work with.

Cut out shapes in dough and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cookies are a golden brown.

Turn off the oven. Once all biscuits are cooked, place all of the biscuits on one cookie tray and place back in the turned off oven. Let the cookies sit in there until the oven cools down. This process will help to crisp up the cookies.

For the carob dipping, place chips in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds on 50% power in the microwave. (It is ESSENTIAL that you do not microwave on full power because this will ruin your carob chips and make them unusable. Same goes for using the stove, do not melt carob chips on the stove. The heat is too intense and will ruin your carob chips.) Remove the bowl from the microwave and stir until most pieces are broken down. Microwave again for 30 seconds at 50% power. Continue microwaving and stirring until the carob chips are the desired consistency

Dip or drizzle carob chips over the biscuits. Sprinkle immediately after you have added the carob, before it gets cold and hardens up. 

Cocktail Cake

This is one of my absolute favorite recipes. I'm not sure exactly when I was introduced to this. It must have been at a family party since it is from one of my great aunts. This is an incredibly simple recipe and makes a perfect cake. I recently bought a bundt pan, and this is the perfect cake for that. It is just a tad sweet with a subtle flavor of chocolate and coffee. It is called a Black Russian cake because it has a bit of Kahlua and vodka baked in. This cake is pure yum and it is sure to disappear really quickly.

Black Russian Cake

Cake:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 small box instant chocolate pudding
• 1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/4 c. Kahlua
• 1/4 c. vodka

Icing

• 3/4 c. powdered sugar
• 3 Tbsp Kahlua

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a bundt pan. Combine all cake ingredients and beat with a mixer. Bake 1 hour or until done. Cool for 15 minutes in pan, then remove to serving platter. Wait 10 minutes and pour icing on.

Study Break Pie

I have spent the past week non-stop in bacteria mode. My head is spinning. I decided to take a break and make a sweet potato pie with some of the veggies from CSA. This is one of my favorite desserts (not to mention it's super easy) and it really gives me the feeling of Fall and cool weather. I had some extra filling that didn't fit in the pie crust, so I decided to fill a couple ramekins and they turned out really cute. I don't have time to write something long on this, so I'll just say that this is delicious and you should make it. Happy studying MSIIs!

Sweet Potato Pie
adapted from Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie by Paula Deen

• 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, boiled, and mashed
• 1 cups sugar
• 1/2 stick melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup milk
• 9-inch unbaked pie crust

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine everything together and mix thoroughly. Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a knife/toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place the pie on a rack and cool to room temperature. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.



And some (very late) Halloween photos:

My wildcat pumpkin

Cowboy Kuma

Fritters and Furry Friends

Happy Thursday! The weather has been spectacular recently. Blue skies, gusty winds, and warm sunny temperature. I came home after spending the afternoon talking about organ and bone marrow transplants. I was in the mood for a refreshing snack and found a great recipe for zucchini fritters. This seemed so simple and I had all of the ingredients on hand. They are actually very healthy too, just a little bit of cheese and lots of yummy zucchini.  They reminded me a lot of potato latkas but with a yummy green zucchini.

I think zucchini is probably my favorite vegetable and I'm always excited to see new ways to use it. These turned out just great and I was able to make them in under 10 minutes. The original recipe called for mint/parsley. I substituted Penzeys Mural of Flavor spice mix that has a mix of shallots, onion, garlic, thyme, rosemary, basil, coriander, lemon peel, citric acid, black pepper, chives, green peppercorns, dill weed, and orange peel.I think this gave the fritters a great flavor. I also used Japanese panko breadcrumbs. I really do prefer these over regular breadcrumbs. They provide a great crunch and are really light. I served the fritters will a little dollop of tzatzki sauce which was perfect. It provided a cool, refreshing touch to the fritters. 

The recipe cautioned to squeeze the liquid out of the zucchini or else the fritters wouldn't hold together. I completely forgot that step, but the fritters still turned out fine. They were a little difficult to hold together at first, but once you get a nice brown on one side, it's not too terrible. 

While we were making these, Kuma was whining at the front door. I took a peak outside and realized there was a lost dog sitting on our patio. I managed to wrestle her down long enough to get the phone number on her collar. I found out her name was Affinity and her owner was right down the street. She was super excited and kept trying to wiggle her way into the house to play with Kuma. Her owner came and took her home after a few minutes. I've actually never found a lost dog, so this was my first experience with a owner-doggie reunion. I was so happy that we got her back to her owner and I can only hope someone would do the same if Kuma ever managed to break free. 

An exciting afternoon full of delicious food and happy reunions.

Zucchini Fritters

adapted from Giusto Gusto

• 2-3 small Zucchini, grated
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c. panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 Tbsp spice blend
• 1/4 c. cheese (I used a a mix of pecorino romano and parmigiano reggiano)
• Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil for frying

Combine all of the ingredients and form into small patties about 1/2″ thick. Fry in a hot pan with 1/4″ of olive oil until golden brown on both sides. Once fried to golden perfection, allow the fritters to drain onto paper towel, this will insure they stay extra crispy and not at all soggy.Serve with a dollop of tzatzki sauce.

Coo Coo for Coconuts

I love coconut. It has to be one of my absolute favorite flavors. Coconut dessert is tops in my book. I'm not sure what about coconut I love so much. It's tropical, sweet, and the aroma is so yummy. I have come to realize you either love or hate coconut, nothing in between. I'm definitely on the LOVE side of the spectrum. I am also in love with coconut water, but only the Taste Nirvana brand. I've tried other brands like VitaCoco and Zico, but they all have a bizarre sour flavor. Taste Nirvana is just a tad sweet and oh so refreshing and crisp.

Every so often they have some cooking demos at CSA. This week, Rachel Yaseen from The Organic Kitchen had some samples of sweet potato patties, braising greens, and a butternut squash crisp. She is a fellow coconut lover and the crisp had a great coconut flavor. It was subtle, but definitely there. I got a butternut squash this week and though it would be great to try out this recipe. Butternut squash has such a distinct flavor that can be translated into both sweet and savory dishes. Surprisingly, this dish does not taste anything like butternut squash. It almost reminds me of peaches or mangoes. You're expecting butternut squash flavor, but you get something very different.

The crisp/crumble topping has a wonderful coconut flavor and it's way healthy too! I had no idea coconut could come in so many different forms, but almost every kind is in this crisp. I got to experiment with coconut flour, coconut palm sugar, coconut oil, and shredded coconut. You'd think this would be coconut overload, but it's actually pretty subtle. Mixed in with the sweet butternut squash, it's a great combo.

The original recipe on the website uses almond flour. Since JC is allergic too all things almond, I substituted coconut flour. I had no idea how this would turn out, I've never worked with the stuff before. I found it while wandering the bulk foods section at Whole Foods trying to find something to substitute for almond flour. I think it turned out pretty well, and it smells so amazing. The recipe also called for agave nectar. I am not a huge fan of the flavor, so I used honey instead. The only spice is cinnamon, but I think it would be great with a bit of nutmeg and cloves to create more of that rich allspice flavor that goes so well with butternut squash.

This dish ended up being nearly all organic and it utilizes some really great low glycemic index foods. It's a great dessert and goes perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Butternut Squash Crisp
adapted from The Organic Kitchen

For the butternut squash:

• 1 butternut squash, peeled, cored, diced into small pieces
• 2 Tbsp honey or agave nectar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp coconut flour

For the crisp topping:

• 3/4 cup coconut flour
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2  tsp salt
• 8 T butter and/ or coconut oil (use less for a less decadent dessert)
• 1 cup coconut palm sugar
• 1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

For butternut squash mixture, just mix all the ingredients together. Place on a cookie sheet (that has a lip) or in a baking pan, greased. Then mix the topping ingredients together (use cold butter cut into pieces and use your fingers to mix it into the rest of the ingredients). Then sprinkle over the butternut squash. Bake on 375 for 30-40 minutes or until top is slightly brown and crisp. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I'm Inspired

I have been pretty lazy about cooking the past couple weeks so I have had a bit of an overload of veggies sitting in the fridge. We have been getting lots of great produce from CSA recently like eggplant, onions, potatoes, turnips, radishes, butternut squash, spaghetti squash and the winter green are starting to trickle in. I am a huge fan of squash, all types, any shape or form. Yellow squash, zucchini, butternut, spaghetti squash, pumpkin, japanese kabocha... everything.

Spaghetti squash is a super versatile veggie. You can substitute it for pasta and toss it with your favorite sauce or make a great casserole dish. A couple weeks ago, I made a Kale and Spaghetti Squash Gratin. It turned out just alright, it could have gone for a bit more cheese and more oomph. I was inspired by a Societies Dinner we had a couple weekends ago. My mentor is also a CSA member and made many CSA veggie dishes. In particular, she made a really great spaghetti squash and green chile dish. It was delish and I knew I had to try to re-create it.

I admit that I am not the best at coming up with my own recipes. I cook by following recipes provided by others and I get really nervous when I have to create something on my own. This dish was all me and it turned out surprisingly well. It has a nice crunch from the squash and onions and also kick from the green chiles. I also used queso fresco which was absolutely perfect. I always want to call this cheese squeaky teeth cheese because when you eat it, it sort of squeaks when you chew on it. It's very mild but so yum.

I'm so proud of this dish, it turned out way better than I had expected--especially since I was not working from a recipe. This dish is super versatile and you could easy throw in any veggies you have on hand. Next time, I might use a different kind of cheese (maybe a gruyere or pecorino romano) and throw in some winter greens. The dish doesn't look that appetizing in the photo, but it's really super good, I promise! I need to work on my food photography skills.

How I cook spaghetti squash: Cut the raw squash in half (this can be difficult, so be careful!!). Put a few tablespoons on water on a plate and place the squash face down on the plate. Cover with saran wrap to create a nice steamy bubble. Place in the microwave for ~10 minutes. Remove saran wrap, be careful because the steam is very hot. Let sit for a few minutes and then scrape out the yummy goodness with a fork. 

Spaghetti Squash and Green Chiles

• 1 spaghetti squash, cooked (see above)
• 5-6 roasted green chiles (more or less to your taste), seeded and chopped
• 10 oz. queso fresco, crumbled
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 c. milk
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix prepared spaghetti squash, green chiles, and queso fresco in a large bowl. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the garlic and onions. Saute until the onion are soft and the garlic is fragrant. Add onion and garlic mixture to the spaghetti squash mix. Mix in the beaten egg, milk, and season with salt and pepper.

Spray an 8x8 baking dish and pour prepared mixture into dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is bubbly.