Winter Squash (or Pumpkin) Puree
November 20, 2011 - Written by Diana
Oh No Bad Spots!
I buy a good amount of fresh winter squash and small pumpkins in the fall and put it on shelves in the basement. The basement is unheated and offers a great winter storage most years. This year however, the temperatures keep rising and so my cold storage hasn’t been great. Every year though, we lose some of the squash because it gets soft or develops bad spots. If you see a small bad spot developing, then you need to do something with the squash right now!
Getting Ready For The Holidays.
The holiday season is another time you might want to make a puree from your winter squash. You can use this puree in your pies, cakes, cookies, etc just as you would your canned puree that you get from the store. If you have time after work, you can do the puree in the evening, and put it into containers in the fridge to use a couple of days later, shortening your cooking time when you are feeling overwhelmed with preparations.
The squash I used for this post had little spots I had to remove. …
Chicken & Fall Vegetable Soup
November 2, 2011 - Written by Diana
Staying with my mom while she recovers from her surgery, I made Chicken & Fall Vegetable soup for dinner. Soup makes you feel good when you are sluggish and don’t want something heavy, especially if your throat is a little sore too. My mom is a fan of almost all vegetables, and since the fall vegetables are in season, this is the perfect time to make this soup. It is easy to prepare but will take longer than 30 minutes because it takes a while for the carrots and butternut squash to soften. The soup was served in a bowl over warmed wild rice. The rice would absorb the stock from the soup so we precooked the rice separately and then put a couple of tablespoons in the bowl and ladle the soup over top. The leftovers were stored as single servings in the freezer for meals on busy evenings after I left to go back to my family and home.
Mom can’t eat onions or tomatoes; acidic vegetables and fruit upset her tummy. If you feel it could use a few more vegetables, feel free …
Fast and Delicious – Grilled Veggies & Bulgur
September 25, 2011 - Written by Diana
Grilled Summer Vegetables & Bulgur
Tonight’s dinner – had a side of grilled veggies and bulgur. This side dish is a really fast and easy side that packs in a good deal of nutrients. This side can also be served as a vegetarian main and can be eaten cold or hot. So double up and bring it to lunch the next day or a repeat dinner. It’s a little scorched on the edges, but still very tasty. A quick grill with olive oil and then after you combine the veggies and bulgur, give it a quick toss with some chopped fresh basil and a little bit of olive oil.
I have a grill grate that I place over the grill top because I worry that the vegetables will fall through. I sprayed the grate with a little oil first to make sure the veggies wouldn’t stick and I used a sweet onion along with some summer squash, and red peppers.
Ingredients:
- 1 red pepper
- 1 sweet onion
- 1 small to med zucchini
- 1 similar sized yellow squash
- 1 cup dried bulgur cooked according to directions
- 2 tbs olive oil
- olive oil …
Farm Market Veggies and Leftover Spaghetti
August 4, 2011 - Written by Diana
My son’s specialty is now making spaghetti with sauce. The most difficult part was NOT overcooking the pasta, believe it or not. He’s not too keen on figuring out portions, which is why he just makes a whole box (pound) of pasta every time. While this could cause some problems with waste, I’ve found a way to take the leftover pasta and make another meal with it using farm market and garden veggies. Saute a few veggies, add in the pasta, a little more oil and white whine, toss until heated along with some herbs from the garden and voila you have a great dish. We served this topped with a luna burger. I had the garden thyme, my husband had a barbecue . My daughter said she wanted real meat, but my son crumbled the burger up and mixed it in with the pasta. My husband and I just broke off pieces with the fork then grabbed up some pasta and veggies on the same fork and ate it that way. Let me tell you, it …
Butternut Squash under a Swiss Cheese Crust
April 21, 2011 - Written by Diana
I still have butternut squash in my basement, but as the basement warms up, the squash will be in peril. I’m glad they lasted as long as they did, since this is the first year we tried basement storage. Last year we kept the winter squash upstairs, and they didn’t last as long. I’m going to make this dish for our family Easter gathering. I made it for dinner one night and my husband was really impressed, so impressed he wants me to make it for our Easter dinner.I used curry in the dish to keep it from being too sweet, but also added nutmeg and cinnamon because I love the taste with butternut squash and I also added nutmeg to the cheese sauce. The swiss cheese was hand delivered from Wisconsin. A friend of my husband’s brought us back cheese from a recent trip. Isn’t it cool to have a friend like that?
My favorite prep method for butternut squash is to slice it down the middle, scooping the seeds and pulp out, but leaving the meat behind. Then …
Chicken, Chard, Bean and Butternut Squash Soup
February 10, 2011 - Written by DianaI told you I was going healthy for the Superbowl. We brought this soup, plus some berries and greek yogurt with honey – plus vegan chocolate avocado cupcakes. We did splurge though because my sister in law made some awesome queso with sausage that was great with chips and they also had some Buffalo Wild Wings. It was a small gathering, but there was plenty of food and even though our favorite team disappointed, we had a good time (well most of us).
I bought my butternut squash last fall at the farmer’s market. We put them into baskets and stored them on shelves in the unheated basement. The food doesn’t freeze down there, but it does get rather nippy downstairs. Last year I tried storing them in a warmer spot, but some of my squash went bad. This year, they are in perfect condition and not even drying out. I’m thrilled that we put up a nice shelving unit to use for winter storage.
Anyway, I also have been trying to work with beans more, but not canned beans, dry beans, and so that was the start of this soup. I …
Butternut Squash with a Maple Bourbon Glaze
September 11, 2010 - Written by Diana
It’s just the two of us now, and some nights it’s difficult to want to cook. All summer I could call my kids and tell them to start dinner. Now they’re both gone, we are tired , the pets need to be fed, and we don’t want to think about preparing a meal. I think sometimes it’s more difficult to cook for two; it’s easier to think about just skipping it and going for the ice cream. On the night my husband wasn’t home, I made myself an egg sandwich, but the next night I was determined to provide us with something delicious and nutritious and I wasn’t popping it into the microwave. I had butternut squash and I was going to use it, even if it was too big for two people, yay, we had leftovers too. I think maple and bourbon are very friendly flavors, and on the butternut with a little melted butter they were perfect.Ingredients:
- Butternut squash
- 2 tbs wild turkey bourbon
- 1 tbs maple syrup
- 1 tbs melted butter
Slice the butternut squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Whisk together the butter, the …
Grill Once, Dine Twice
July 16, 2010 - Written by Diana
We like grilled food, and grilling, but cooking a full meal every night can be time consuming and we are an easy prep/cook family. Most days I assign a person, and then that person tries to figure out a meal that won’t take up a lot of their time. Of course with my son it means Mac n cheese and hot dogs, plus something that’s not baked beans – because he doesn’t like them. If I can during the week I try to figure out something quick too. Grilling is great because not only does it taste good, but if you do it right, you get two meals out of one grilling.We had a meal or I should say meals lately that were fantastically good, simple and yet clean tasting all at once. We grilled some salmon, and veggies, just brushed with olive oil, salt and pepper. Really simple. Then for dinner the next night, I chopped up the salmon and the veggies, added a cucumber, some dressing and then spooned it on top of a bed of bulgur. My son both nights, waved his hand over the food, and …
Crockpot Barbecued Chicken Dinner – Excellent Rating From My Son
January 15, 2010 - Written by DianaYep, that’s it, I cooked a dinner that my son gave me a huge thumbs up on. I used the Crockpot to thoroughly cook the chicken in a sauce, then pulled out the bones, gristle and other desirable parts, shredded the chicken left and let it simmer for a little bit. This would make a great Superbowl or family gathering crockpot dish. I peeled all the skin off the chicken and cut off any fat I found. It’s not a heavy barbecue sauce. I used a rub on the chicken (Denny Mike’s Pixie Dust) and then made my own sauce. My assistant peeled potatoes, sprinkled on some olive oil and herbs and baked it in the oven. I also diced up some peeled hubbard squash threw on a pat of butter and sprinkled on dried sage and microwaved it.
When you prepare the chicken in advance (like the night before?), the rest of the meal will come together in a half hour or so without too much work. The squash can also be prepped in advance. I peel and cut apart my squash, then dice it up and put it into vacuum seal bags (vacuum sealed of course) so that I …
Butternut Squash, Sausage and Campanelle Pasta
December 13, 2009 - Written by DianaI had some great butternut squash just waiting for me to find the time to do something great with it. I put off using squash because it takes a while to seed and peel, but it’s such a terrific ingredient. I found some soup recipes, but it wasn’t what I wanted. So I came up with a pasta dish that was really tasty good, and hopefully good for you. The only change I’d make is to cook the butternut squash a little bit less. I used about a 1/2 of a butternut squash, and probably I should have used only a half a pound of sweet italian turkey sausage. There were three of us at dinner, plus enough leftovers for two people, so cutting down the sausage makes sense. There isn’t a lot of fat in this dish, but I can’t tell you how many calories or fat since I don’t know.
