Roasted Butternut Squash Dinner

While visiting my parents, my mom and I got a little creative in the kitchen.  We found this recipe in a magazine, but weren't in the mood for soup.  So we tweaked the recipe and vegetables in their roasted form.  We served it over some buckwheat, with a large green salad and called it good.  Actually, we called it great.  When I make this for my little family, I will add some chickpeas and I will sprinkle some toasted coconut on top.

This is such a great way to eat butternut squash.  And I bet acorn squash would be just as good.  You could also use this as a unique vegetable side dish.

Anyway, here's what we did.

Roasted Butternut Squash Dinner
Serves 4-6

• 1 medium butternut squash - 3-4 lbs.  Peeled and cut into bite sized chunks
• 1 large yellow onion, cut into chunks
• 3 Macintosh apples.  Peeled and cored and chunked.
• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (please tell me how this turns out if you try it!)
• 3 T EVOO
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 t curry powder
• 1 cup coconut, lightly toasted
• 4 cups cooked brown rice, bulgar, quinoa, or any hearty whole grain

-- In a large bowl, combine the chunks of squash, onion, and apples with the oil.  Stir until well coated.
-- Spread evenly on coated (with parchment paper) jelly roll pans or large cookie sheets and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and curry powder.
-- Roast for 35-45 minutes at 425 until the vegetables are soft.  Stir in the middle and add in the chickpeas at this point (I discovered that roasting them the entire time made them crunchy, which I didn't like.)
-- Meanwhile, cook your grain so it's ready when you need it, and lightly toast your coconut in a large skillet.
-- When the roasting is finished, let cool for a few minutes before laying it on top the bed of whole grains.
-- Sprinkle the coconut on top and enjoy!

Moroccan Stew

Hello everyone!  I'm still on vacation, but my mom and I made this for dinner last night and it was so good I just had to share it with you!  It takes a little longer than most of the recipes on here, but it's mostly simmering time, so it's not too bad.  And you can do it all in the crock-pot of you want, so that's an added bonus if you have a busy day coming up and want a wonderfully filling and yummy meal awaiting you.

This is a tad on the spicy side for little ones.  Or maybe just my bigger little one.  The littlest guy didn't bat an eye at the spice (he has his daddy's taste buds apparently), but use your own judgement.  It was just enough kick for me, the spice-wimp I am.


We served this over bulgar, but you could do any whole grain: couscous, brown rice, or quinoa, even!

Moroccan Stew
Serves 6-8

• 2 T EVOO
• 1 large onion - chopped
• 3 cloves garlic - pressed
• 1 1/2 t turmeric
• 2 t cumin seed
• 2 t coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/4-1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
• 1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes - undrained
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (or one can, rinsed and drained)
• 4-6 cups sweet potatoes - peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 lb green beans - cut into 2 inch pieces
• 2 cups zucchini, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 lb eggplant, skin left on, coarsely chopped

--Heat EVOO in large pot, add onion and saute until transparent. About 5 minutes.
-- Add garlic and spices.  Saute another 5 minutes.
-- Add can of tomatoes and vegetable broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes.
-- Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about an hour until the vegetable are soft. (Nuke them a  little speed up the process if you need to)

-- Serve over cooked bulgar, couscous, rice, or quinoa. 

CROCKPOT:  Saute in pot, but then transfer to your crockpot and just dump everything in.  Cook on high for 3 hours, or low for 5 or 6.

Vacation

I know I haven't been posting as much as usual due to the holidays.  I'm sorry.  And I wish I were getting on to let you all know that I'll resume posting today.  But I'm not.

I'm going on vacation, so in another 3 weeks (or so), I'll be back to posting regularly.

Until then, have a wonderful January (I know I will!).  Peruse what I have on the blog already.  Utilize the recipe index. And most of all, don't forget me!

Easy Indian Stew Re-post

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas/Hannukah!

This recipe is on the blog already, but I thought I'd repost it and bring it to every one's attention.  I've made this quite a few times over the years and tweaked it just lightly.  I also took another picture of it instead of the dreadfully bright-beacuase-I-used-a-flash picture from before.

This is a meal that can be on the table in a flash if you have some brown rice left over from another meal.  I now like to slightly mash the chickpeas to give just a little nicer texture.  IE: so I don't feel like I'm just eating chickpeas in a sauce.

The boys love this meal, too, and it's incredibly tasty for the little amount of time and ingredients needed.  So if you haven't made it before, put it on your meal plan for sometime in the next couple weeks!

And have a wonderful New Year!

Pumpkin Pancakes

So over at Annie's Eats, there's this recipe for Pumpkin Spiced Pancakes that I've been meaning to try for over a year now.  I know, I know, how can such a simple recipe take so long for me to get around to?

I'm now super bummed that it took me this long.  Seriously bummed.  They are so incredibly good and easy and oh my my....just don't make the same mistake I did and take so long to make these.  Go to your pantry, locate that last can of pumpkin that you had no idea was there (or  what you were going to do with), pop it open and make these tomorrow morning for breakfast - or tonight, for dinner.

The only change I made to the recipe (which is why I'm not posting it here, was using Almond Milk instead of regular.  And I doubled the recipe, which made a dozen big pancakes.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!  Have a great weekend, everyone!

It's not too late

I went out this morning to get our healthy treats for our stockings in lieu of candy.  If you're confused by this statement, unconfuse yourself here!

So I ended up getting:

• huge, succulent, Medjool dates
• dried (sugar free) mango slices
• dried (sugar free) papaya spears
• dried pear sliced
• dried sweet cherries

I still need to get the Cuties (shopping trip on Thursday for that and other things for Christmas Eve and Christmas day -- not looking forward to the crowds of people who are thinking the same way I am, but hey -- you gotta do what you gotta do, right?) and Poms, but otherwise, all other stocking stuffers are accounted for and wrapped.

 Speaking of wrapping, I was quite pleased with the way these turned out.  I am SO. NOT. CRAFTY. so I know these could be wrapped so much cuter, but this is me we're talking about here, so I was actually fairly impressed that they don't look horrible.  At least they're not in sandwich bags, right?

You laugh, but sandwich bags were what I was planning on using, or plain Saran Wrap with ties, if I hadn't remembered I had these goody bags and ties laying around.

Chocolate Peppermint Bark

These little chunks of pepperminty goodness were so easy to make my three-year old helped me!  They are pretty and fairly inexpensive to make a big batch to break apart and give as gifts or put in stockings.  I made one batch and was able to fill an entire paper plate and six little goody bags for neighbors.  Gotta love that, right? 

The recipe I followed called for more candy canes than I think is necessary, so while I followed their directions, the amount on here is what I think would be better.  Less chunks falling off and wasted. :)

Chocolate Peppermint Bark

• 2 12 oz bags of chocolate chips - I used one milk and one dark and that was perfect
• 2 t peppermint extract
• 16 candy canes, unwrapped, put in a large ziplock bag, and smashed!  (so fun for a 3 year old!)

-- In a glass bowl, melt the chocolate chips in your microwave until smooth and creamy (4-5 minutes on medium)
-- Stir in the extract and about half of the crushed candy canes (I used a spoon to get the larger chunks into the chocolate, saving the smaller pieces and pretty dust for the top)
-- Spoon the chocolate mixture onto a wax paper-lined cookie sheet or jelly roll pan (preferred) and spread it as evenly as possible
-- Sprinkle the remaining candy canes on top and gently press them into the chocolate to prevent from falling off
-- Stick in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes until hardened and then break into chunks and enjoy the "crumbs"