Stuffed Carnival Sqaush Recipe

I am very excited to share this recipe with you today. I haven't enjoyed anything ad much as I enjoyed this in quite some time. At the pumpkin patch last weekend, I picked up a lovely carnival squash. They're similar to the acorn squash in size, with a slightly sweeter flesh.

They also look lovely!

I didn't know what to do with it at first. I looked around for recipes, but ultimately decided I had to make it stuffed. Many of the recipes were stuffed with sausage, which I just don't care for. Then I remembered a Lean Cuisine I had for lunch recently. They make a very tasty, very fall dish called Apple Cranberry Chicken. I like it a lot, and knew something similar would be the perfect mate for this squash.

I looked it up on their website, to see what they put in it, and sort of extrapolated from there. The only part I really had to guess on was the sauce, and it was simple enough to make with just a little guessing. The wheat berries are delicious, but I had a hard time finding them. I didn't even know the existed before I bought that lunch. I got mine at Whole Foods. You could definitely skip them if you can't find any, but I would recommend you try them if you can.

This is a little complicated to do all at once, so it'll definitely give your kitchen a work out. I would recommend cooking the wheat berries and pasta beforehand, but it's perfectly do-able all at once. You'll just be a little bit busy.

Stuffed Carnival Squash

Makes 4 servings

What You'll Need:
4 carnival squash (acorn squash works, too)
1 apple, any variety
2 carrots
2 cups green beans
1 cup dried cranberries
2 cups apple cider
1 cup dry orzo pasta
1 cup dry wheat berries
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tbs lemon juice

The Process:
     Put on a pot to boil 3 cups of water, add the wheat berries, cover, and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 1 hour, until tender.
     Carefully slice each squash in half, lengthwise, and remove the seeds and pulp. Place face down in a baking sheet with 1/4 of water and bake at 375° for 45-60 minutes, until tender.
     Bring a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Cook as directed, then drain. Simmer cider, lemon, and spices together and let reduce. Meanwhile, slice vegetables and apple in to bite sized pieces. 

     20 minutes before the squash is finished, add vegetables, apple, and cranberries to sauce pot. Let cook on low heat until squash is ready.
     Toss pasta, wheat berries, and vegetable mixture together. Spoon into hot squash halves and serve immediately.

I want to make this every day.

Guinness Pot Roast

 Nothing says St. Patrick's Day quite like putting beer in all your food. I just opted to add it to my main dish, as I wanted to reserve some of my Guinness for drinking. I decided on a pot roast, since Costco had a good deal on a pair of them recently, I had one handy.

 
It's a fun St. Patty's Day twist on the usual slow cooker roast. Instead of just beef broth, you add a bottle of Guinness to the cooking liquid. If you don't have any Guinness on hand, you could certainly substitute any beer you like, but I would stick with dark beers like stouts and porters for their strong flavor.

For some crazy reason, it's still winter here around DC, despite being March. I intended to make this pot roast for St. Patrick's Day, regardless of what silliness the weather had in store. However, the clouds spent the better part of the morning dropping snow on us, so now the leftovers will make a nice hot lunch on this snowy afternoon.

Guinness Pot Roast
makes 4-6 servings, depending on roast size

What You'll Need:
2-3lb pot roast
small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, sliced
1 lb of small red potatoes, halved
12oz Guinness beer
2 cups beef broth, low sodium if possible
1 package onion soup mix
2 tsp thyme
2 Tbs coarse salt
2 Tbs cracked pepper
2 bay leaves

The Process:
   Heat up a skillet on medium heat with some olive oil and let it get nice and hot. Combine the coarse salt and pepper in a bowl and then rub the mixture over the surface of the roast. Sear each side of the roast for 3-4 minutes per side. Place into the crock.

   In the same skillet, cook your onions for 5-6 minutes until soft and then add the garlic. Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes. Make sure to scrape the bottom for the burned bits from the roast. Add to the crock along with the carrots and potatoes.

   Put the onion soup mix, thyme, and bay leaves into the crock. Add the Guinness and beef broth over top and mix it up to combine the onion soup mix. The roast and vegetables should be almost completely covered. If not, add a little more broth or water. Cover the crock and cook on low for 6-7 hours, until the roast is fork tender and the potatoes are soft. Remove roast from the crock and let it rest, tented with foil, for 10-15 minutes before carving.

   If you prefer a thick broth, as I do, remove 2 cups of liquid from the crock and thicken it in your preferred method. I use arrowroot starch, but cornstarch or flour work just fine. Stir the thickened liquid back in with the rest of the liquid and vegetables while the roast is resting. Carve the roast, spoon vegetables and broth onto your plate, and serve.

   Don't forget to have some bread on hand to sop up the broth on your plate!

Onion Roasted Chicken & Veggies

I hope you are weathering the storm well. Near DC, we are experiencing high winds and a steady rain, with it getting stronger all the time, but fortunately we've not been severely impacted yet. We still have power (obviously) and I was able to bake roasted chicken and vegetables for dinner tonight, instead of my power-outage backup plan (peanut butter and banana sandwiches).

This is incredibly easy to throw together and if you line your pan with foil, cleanup is super simple, too.

Onion Roasted Chicken and Vegetables
makes 4 servings

What You'll Need:
4 small chicken breasts
3 large potatoes, cubed
4 carrots, diced
2 Tbs olive oil
1 packet of onion soup mix

The Process:
   Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a 13 x 9 pan with foil and spray with cooking spray to prevent sticking. Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix until onion soup mix is well distributed.
   Remove the chicken breasts from the bowl and place them into the pan. Distribute the vegetables evenly around the chicken. Bake uncovered for 40-45 minutes, checking potatoes for doneness.


This is also excellent for beef, either cubed or a roast. If you're going to use a roast, instead of just tossing all the ingredients together, I reserve half of the onion mix packet to use as a rub on the roast. Either way, it's simple and satisfying.

Please be careful if you're in the path of the storm. It's dangerous out there, and it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Shepherd's Pumpkin Pie

I heard about this delightful autumnal recipe through a friend's recommendation. It combines the warm, comfort food aspect of the traditional Shepherd's Pie with my favorite fall food, pumpkin. What's not to love? The recipe passed to me came from My Recipes, but I changed quite a few things about it.

First, I decided not to roast the pumpkin. It seemed needlessly time consuming when I had a perfectly good can of pumpkin puree on hand. I thought that adding cream to the pumpkin was an unnecessary addition of calories (as well as a trip to the store). I also halved the recipe, since I'm cooking for two and don't want a ton of leftovers. Honestly, I made a lot of changes.

Shepherd's Pumpkin Pie
makes 4 servings

What You'll Need:
1 lb lean ground beef
2 carrots, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup red wine (or one of those handy mini187ml bottles)
1 cup beef stock
1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp sage 1 Tbs corn starch

The Process:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook the ground beef over medium heat, breaking it up as it cooks. Drain. Add the Worcestershire sauce, wine, half of the beef stock, carrots, onions, garlic, cumin, thyme, pepper, and 1/2 tsp salt to the pan. Cook over medium heat for ten minutes.

While the beef mixture cooks, combine the pumpkin puree with a pinch of salt, sage, and cinnamon. Set aside. Then, whisk the cornstarch into the remaining beef stock and add to pan with the beef. Cook for another minute or two until thickened.

Pour beef mixture into a greased 8x8 pan. Evenly spread the pumpkin puree over the beef mixture. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes. Leftovers can be refrigerated.

Slow Cooked Chicken Pot Pie

My neck of the woods has thoroughly fallen into autumn. For over a week, we've had 75 degree days and 50 degree evenings, just absolutely wonderful weather that makes you yearn for a hearty dish. Tonight I just had to make something in the spirit of this weather. I have quite a bit of chicken on hand, so a chicken pot pie was an easy choice.

But I didn't really want to heat up my whole place by turning on the oven to bake one. Where do I always turn in times of temperature crisis like this? To my trusty crock pot, of course. This is a really easy way to make that savory pot pie dish without using your oven, or having to worry about over baking a crust (as I am known to do).

My vegetables were carrots, peas, lima beans, and potatoes.

Slow Cooked Chicken Pot Pie
makes 6 servings

What You'll Need:
 4 boneless chicken breasts, thawed
 2 cans cream of chicken soup
 1 cup sliced celery (I'm not a fan, so I traded it for a diced potato instead)
 1 medium onion, diced
 2 cloves garlic, mince
 1 bay leaf
 1/2 tsp marjoram
 1/4 tsp sage
 1/2 tsp thyme
 1/2 tsp rosemary
 1/2 tsp black pepper
 salt to taste (I added 1/2 tsp)
 2 cups of cut fresh veggies- carrots, peas, corn, etc OR a 1lb frozen bag mixed veggies
 6 biscuits, either prepackaged or homemade (I'm posting a recipe for some soon)

Brining and Roasting A Cornish Game Hen

I did a fun/crazy thing this year and volunteered to host Thanksgiving for my parents. Now you're probably thinking, "well, so what? It's August". The thing is- I have this just one teeny, tiny detail: I've never cooked a turkey before. I should have thought of that perhaps before offering, but here we are.

So, in the hopes that I won't ruin Thanksgiving, I've decided to start learning how to cook a whole bird that doesn't turn out dry and leathery. The overwhelming consensus is that to achieve such perfection, I should brine the bird. I decided to start small, and opted to begin with a whole Cornish Game Hen rather than going straight to the turkey. My mom used to make fantastic hens when I was growing up, and they're cheaper so if I screwed up too badly, it would be alright.

There are a couple things you should know before diving into brines. The first is make sure you get an all natural bird, one that hasn't already been prepared with sodium. You'd get salt overload if you brined one of them. Secondly, and this is more a matter of preference, don't use iodized salt (like table salt). Apparently, in such high quantities, it gives a slightly metallic taste to the meat. I used kosher salt.

Rosemary and Sage Cornish Game Hens
makes 2 whole hens, 4 servings

What You'll Need:
2 Cornish Game Hens, thawed
1 gallon water
3/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup white wine, I used a Chardonnay
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 Tbs cracked pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup rosemary
15-20 sage leaves
3 green onions, diced

Slow Cooker Three Bean Taco Salad

There's been some really crazy weather around here lately. If you live anywhere in the Mideast, you probably also experienced the totally nuts derecho (the technical term for the giant windstorm of doom) that blew by on Friday/Saturday. Between the power outages that's caused and the record heat, it has not been a great time to try and cook.

I hate turning on the oven or cooking on the stove when it's nasty out. It makes the apartment so hot and I try not to work the A/C harder than it has to. That means crock pot season is in full swing. Even though it's running all day, it creates so much less heat and doesn't warm up my kitchen and living room at all.

This week, I adapted my Three Bean Tacos for a taco salad. I simplified it after a little experimentation, so this recipe doesn't require the beans to be pre-soaked. You just throw them into the pot and go.

Three Bean Taco Salad
makes 8 servings

What You'll Need:
1 cup dried black beans
1 cup dried kidney beans
1 cup dried pinto beans
2 cups frozen corn kernels
6 cups water
1 small can tomato paste
5 Tbs taco seasoning

For serving:
shredded cheese
lettuce
sour cream
lime tortilla chips

The Process:
   Put all beans, corn, and seasoning into the slow cooker. Spoon in tomato paste and pour the water over it. Mix to incorporate the tomato paste. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours until the beans are tender.

Plate beans and add your favorite toppings. Serve with lime tortilla chips. I definitely encourage you to use the lime chips because it really adds a nice flavor to each bite.

Balsamic Worcestershire Beef Marinade

This is a quick marinade that you can use on steaks or roasts, or if you're feeling adventurous, you can mix it into ground beef for a meatloaf or hamburgers. Don't let its simpleness fool you, it packs a good punch of flavor.

Balsamic Worcestershire Beef Marinade
makes enough marinade for 2 lbs of meat

What You'll Need:
     1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
     1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
     2 Tbs soy sauce
     1 tsp dry mustard (or 2 tsp wet mustard)
     2 cloves garlic, minced
     1 shallot, minced
     2 tsp pepper

The Process:
     Mix all ingredients together. Pour over meat. Let marinate, refrigerated, for at least two hours. Turn occasionally to ensure even coating. Cook meat as desired.

Because of the soy sauce, I don't add any extra salt, but add a little salt if you feel inclined. Next time I make hamburgers, I am definitely going to use this marinade in it instead of my usual spice combination.

Recipe for those side dish potatoes is coming soon!

Easy Homemade Pizza

Woo what a weekend! I headed over to the Reason Rally that was held in DC. It was quite an experience, and the turn out was fantastic despite the downpour. I had a great time, made some new friends, and I even got a schooled in my cutting techniques.

I will have to go further in depth about it at some point, but when I cut stuff up, it isn't pretty. I just sort of slap the knife around until the poor vegetable is butchered to approximate size I wanted. It's sad. But this weekend, I learned to mince up a garlic clove the way cooking professionals intended.

So, now that I'm feeling pretty guilty about my cutting skills... so here's some pizza! No cutting involved. Pizza is a wonderful thing that way.

This pizza really doesn't need a recipe, because it's the lazy-man's homemade pizza. The crust is store-bought flatbread. I used lavash for this one, which is a popular Middle Eastern flatbread. Trader Joe's kindly stocks it. You could make your own sauce, but it wouldn't be easy pizza if you did. I used a sauce from, you guessed it, Trader Joe's. I can't help it, it's a 4 minute walk from my apartment so I shop there often.

Just make sure you go easy on the sauce, a little goes a long way and too much will make it soggy. Top with whatever cheese strikes your fancy. Preheat your oven and baking stone to 425, and bake for about 6 minutes until the crust is crisp. Dig in!

Maple Balsamic Salmon

For my valentine, I made a little something special tonight. I had some rice left over from the other night, so I decided to incorporate that into this one. It was Spanish rice already, so I just fried it up in a hot pan again.

Funny thing is, it was supposed to be "honey balsamic salmon" but when the time came, I realized that I actually do not have honey in the house right now. Oops! It was far too late to procure any, so I had to make a quick substitution.

Maple Balsamic Salmon
Serves 2
What You'll Need:

1 salmon filet
2 cups day-old rice
2 cups brussel sprouts
2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
3 Tbs maple syrup
1/2 garlic clove, minced
2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt

Slow Cooked Boeuf Bourguignon

As much as hubby likes French onion soup and liver and onions, I have another trick up my chef's sleeve for a meal that makes him smile. That trick is Boeuf Bourguignon. But some days, you just don't have time to spend making it the traditional way. That's when the slow cooker comes in handy.

Now, it should have mushrooms but I am not a fan of mushrooms (hate them, in fact). I leave them out. Feel free to add them in, if that's your thing.You'll want to add them in the cooker when there's about an hour of cooking left.

Slow Cooked Boeuf Bourguignon
Adapted from Julia Child
Makes 6 servings, 13 Points+ per serving (including pasta to serve)

What You'll Need:
    1 1/2 lbs beef, cubed
    3 slices bacon
    3 carrots, sliced
    1 medium onion, diced
    1 1/2 cups red wine
    1 quart beef stock
    2 Tbsp. tomato paste
    2 cloves minced garlic
    1/2 tsp. thyme
    1/2 tsp marjoram
    2 bay leaves
    1 tsp. pepper
    salt to taste
    2 Tbs flour or preferred thickener

Additionally, you'll want 6 boiled potatoes or a box of cooked pasta, for serving

Fish and Vegetable Stew

Hubby and I are trying to eat healthier these days, so I've been trying to think of better ways for us to enjoy vegetables without simply serving them as a side (although I could eat steamed Brussel Sprouts that way for all time).

This simple and quick to whip up stew was a solid choice on a chilly day. I heard there were still places in the mid-Atlantic that have cold winters, but until yesterday I had forgotten what they were like. We even got snow (just a little, though).

Fish and Vegetable Stew
Makes 4 servings, 5 Points+ per serving

What You'll Need:

2 filets of firm, white fish cut into bite-sized pieces
2-3 potatoes, cubed
2 1/2 cups water
2 Tbs olive oil
1 small can of tomato paste
1 onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup sliced carrots
2/3 cup peas
2/3 cup corn
2 chicken bullion cubes (or your preferred equivalent)
1 bay leaf
2 tsp thyme
1 tsp sage
1 tsp pepper
salt to taste