Bean and Butternut Tacos

I would dub this recipe the squash recipe for somebody who doesn't like squash. It is yet another crazy-sounding recipe that I went out on a limb and tried and then LOVED. EatingWell, you rock my world. I am so sorry for ever doubting you. For the original recipe, visit www.eatingwell.com.

Basically, you cut up a butternut squash into 1/2 inch dice, toss it with olive oil and some chili/taco type seasonings. Then bake at 400 degrees until tender and starting to brown up a bit 20-25 min. Meanwhile, take 2 cups of cooked pinto beans, drained, toss in some other chili/taco type seasoning and heat it up on a stove for about 10 minutes. Heat up some flour tortillas and throw in the beans, squash, cheese, shredded cabbage and green salsa. But I had neither cabbage nor green salsa, so I just use the picante-style salsa I had in the fridge. I thought about throwing in some thinly sliced raw bell peppers, but I knew I'd probably be the only one eating them, so I decided against it.

They were soft and delicious. They didn't taste at all "squashy". But the recipe made them very flavorful. It also gave me a chance to use the dried red chilies my husband brought back from New Mexico during a work trip.

And, as if I needed to sell this any more, even my 1-year-old seemed to like it. (Of course, he munched on a piece of raw butternut squash and didn't seem to mind that either...go figure.)

how to cook pumpkin seeds

Don't let Cayenne be in charge of the time!!!!! She burns them!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Since the days have turned nice and chilly I've decided to start cooking again. This soup is easy, fast and delicious!

Chicken Noodle Soup

3 medium carrots, diced
1 small/medium onion, chopped up
½ to 1 ½ cups celery, diced (I had let some celery languish in my fridge so I had chopped off the top 1/3 and bottom, and whatever was good I used)
1 chicken breast, cut up (this was from a…um…well endowed chicken so you might need 2 but that depends on your preference)
Noodles (see below)
Oil
1 tbsp butter
Salt
Pepper
Water
Parsley (opt)
Sage (opt)

Heat the oil in the pot. Throw the veggies into the pot with a little bit of salt. Cook until soft. Throw in the butter and the chicken. Cook for 2 or so minutes. Add water until it reaches the desired level. Then add more salt, pepper and other seasonings. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes then add noodles and cook for another 5 or so minutes. Enjoy!

Noodles
(recipe from Better Homes and Gardens “New Cookbook”)

2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp dried basil, marjoram, or sage (I chose sage)
½ tsp salt
2 beaten eggs
1/3 cup water
1 tsp oil (I used olive oil)

Mix the flour, herb of choice, salt. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture. Combine egg, water and oil. Add to dry mixture, mix well.
Knead the mixture until dough is smooth and elastic (8 to 10 minutes). Roll out the dough to the desired thickness and cut into noodles.
This made more than enough dough for the soup. I have over half of the dough leftover.

Nutmeg

Butternut Squash Pasta

I saw this recipe posted at work, and, per my usual, did it slightly differently (although I did follow it pretty darn closely - but then, it's a simple recipe, so there wasn't much I could have changed anyway).

Butternut Squash Pasta

1 butternut squash - roasted
1/2 of a medium onion - diced
about 1 clove garlic - diced
1 cup broth
1 cup light cream (half and half)
olive oil
salt and pepper
nutmeg
parmesan cheese

Roast the squash (I did this by cutting it in half and baking in the oven for a while until it was soft), scoop out the flesh and mash it. Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent and soft. You can then puree the squash and onion/garlic together if you want (which is what the original recipe had you doing, actually it also had you roast the onion with the squash first and then puree it together), or just mash it up until it has a consistency you're okay with. Add the broth, light cream, and salt and pepper and let it simmer together for a bit (depends on how thick you want it), but mostly just until it's warm and the flavors have blended. Serve it over pasta (we did fettucine and spaghetti), grate or sprinkle a bit of nutmeg

and parmesan cheese and dig in.



We only used about half the sauce the first night and so I re-purposed it the next night by mixing it with spinach, cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, and elbow macaroni, putting some bread crumbs on top and baking it at around 375 degrees for 30 minutes or so - nice little pasta bake, though not nearly as rich and yummy as the first night.

-Thyme

Cream O'Somethin' Soup Mix

Just wanted to steer you all towards this recipe for cream o'whatever-you-like soup mix. You can use it in place of a can of cream of mushroom, chicken, etc. soup in casseroles, soups, or whatever else you can think of. It's cheaper, more nutritious, lower in sodium, and to me it tastes a lot better. The recipe I've tried and liked is found at http://southernfood.about.com/od/ingredientsubstitutions/r/bl90911a3.htm . Hopefully they don't take it down any time soon.

My changes to it were omitting the marjoram (I don't have it currently) and adding about 1 tbsp of rubbed sage. The sage was an accident because I thought it called for it but it didn't really. I thought it tasted good, although you could probably get away with less than 1 tbsp. I also almost always forget the butter, but it still tastes great.

Rosemary

I decided to go ahead and show the text here for ease of finding it and in case they do take it down. But check out the link for more ideas.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dry milk
• 3/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup chicken bouillon granules
• 2 tablespoons dried onion flakes, optional
• 1 teaspoon dried leaf thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried leaf basil, optional
• 1/2 teaspoon dried leaf oregano, optional
• 1/2 teaspoon ground marjoram, optional
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 to 3 teaspoons butter
  

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients except butter together and store in airtight container. To use, mix 1/2 cup dry soup mix with 1 1/4 cups water and cook until thick; add butter. This is equal to one can cream soup. The mix makes enough to equal 9 to 10 cans. For cream of mushroom or celery soup, add chopped sauteé mushrooms or celery along with the butter while cooking.

Borscht

I am a bad food blogger. I admit this. I never, ever, remember to pull out my camera when I'm cooking. If I'm good, I might remember to take a picture of the finished product, but any of the steps - no pictures. Which leads me to this morning. We'd gotten beets in our CSA a week or two ago, and I picked up a small head of cabbage at the store this week, and with the weather finally cooling off, I decided it was time to try borscht. So I just finished almost an hour of cutting and frying and stirring and now there's a big pot of red veggies on my stove and I came to the living room to type down what I just did so I could remember it and my husband goes - "so...you're not taking any pictures, then?" D'oh!

Borscht

3 or so medium beets (grated)
1 small head cabbage (sliced thinly)
4 medium potatoes (cut into chunks)
2 carrots (grated)
1 onion (chopped)
1 can tomato sauce (or tomato paste)
beef broth
garlic
parsley
lemon juice
salt
sour cream

I grated the beets and carrots, and chopped the onion, then sauteed them in a little bit of olive oil (and a bit of sausage grease I had left over from breakfast). One of the recipes I saw said to add about a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to preserve color, so I did. Then I put the potatoes in the broth (four cups worth of it, about, made from bouillon cubes) and brought it to a boil. Tossed in the sliced cabbage after a few minutes, let it cook down just a touch, then added the beet mixture, as well as the garlic and parsley and tomato sauce. I tossed in a little bit extra water, pretty much just enough to kind of swish out the saute pan and can of tomato sauce. Another recipe said to let it come to a boil, then let it sit and cook in its own heat for a few hours. We'll try that and update you later with the results...

Update: The verdict is - this was good! I ended up letting it simmer for a bit, then just sitting most of the day until we got home from church, and then heating it back up for dinner. It made a lot. A lot. We had three friends over, set aside leftovers for our lunches and still had some to send home with them. Served it with sour cream. And yes, I forgot to take a picture. Even after reminding myself to take a picture, I still forgot. Oh, and let me know if there are any steps I forgot to write down - it seems to me I left something out.

Thyme

Chicken Stir-Fry with Coconut Peanut Sauce

This recipe may sound a bit crazy at first glance. Basically what happened is I started with the Tempeh Stir-Fry with Yogurt Peanut Sauce recipe in the Betty Crocker Cookbook and substituted about half of the ingredients with something else, as is my want. Like Thyme, I rarely follow a recipe. So here is what I came up with. The only problem with it was that it made inadequate leftovers. Better luck next time!

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I used the kind you have to stir)

1/4 cup or so canned coconut milk (I had some leftover from my latest attempt at Maharage. Thymne, I seriously want you to post that recipe.)

1 tbsp honey

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken (I used tenderloins), marinaded and cut into thin strips.

teriyaki marinade to cover chicken, reserve 3 tbsp for sauce (I made the one that is in the same cookbook and actually followed that recipe. You should be proud.)

1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges

8 oz green beans (whatever was actually left in my bag of frozen whole green beans)

1 cup cooked spaghetti squash

crushed red pepper, to taste

Marinade the chicken for at least an hour in the refrigerator, but no more than 24 hours. Or, if you're like me and never think that far in advance, I learned a cool trick. Just put the frozen chicken and the marinade in a bag together in the microwave and defrost them together. Then you don't have to do extra marinading time.

Whisk together the 3 tbsp marinade, peanut butter, coconut milk, and honey and set aside. I actually forgot to set the marinade aside, so I did this at the last minute using stuff that had been on the chicken, but it was cooked later, so we're all salmonella free here.

Perforate a spaghetti squash thoroughly and microwave 10-20 minutes, depending on the size.

While you're waiting, you can continue cooking. Once it's done, open it up, scoop out the seeds, and fluff with a fork. (You'll notice I only used about 1 cup. That's because I didn't perforate thoroughly enough. The sad results you can see for yourself. 1 cup is about what I salvaged, but it ended up being the perfect amount. Next time I'll probably double or triple the recipe anyway so I can use the whole thing and have lots of leftovers.)

If using a wok, get it as hot as you can. Add oil followed immediately by the onions and green beans. Toss as you cook. Remove when mostly cooked. Allow the pan to reheat, which won't take long. Add 1 tbsp more oil and throw in the chicken (make sure the marinade is drained off). Stir it a bit as it cooks, leaving it alone long enough to get a little bit of browning. Once the chicken is cooked, throw the onions and green beans back in as well as the spaghetti squash, the peanut sauce, and the crushed red pepper. Stir in until everything is hot again. Serve and enjoy.

If you're not using a wok, just stir-fry/saute as normal in your saute pan and follow the same order.

Rosemary