Italian Stuffed Acorn Squash

I got a bounty of vegetables from my produce co-op last time, and there were two acorn squash in there. Like I've said before I'm still learning to embrace the squash, but my friend Jen had made a stuffed acorn squash recipe awhile back that looked really good. I was excited to have acorn squash so we could try it. I also had everything on hand for it which was a double bonus.

Jen originally found this recipe on RecipeZaar.com. She modified hers for the oven instead of the slow cooker like the recipe calls for, so if you want to know how to do it that way, check out her post on it.

Italian Stuffed Acorn Squash

1 large acorn squash, halved and seeded
olive oil
1 cup water
1/2 cup wild rice
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds or pine nuts (I have used sunflower seeds too)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese

Directions:
Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds. Brush squash halves with olive oil and place in slow cooker (slice off bottoms to level, if necessary). Pour 1 cup water into the cooker, around (not into) squash.

In a small bowl, combine wild rice blend, pumpkin seeds or pine nuts, minced garlic, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and spices; stir until well-mixed. Stuff rice mixture into each squash half.

Slowly pour about 1/2 cup vegetable broth into each squash cavity until full (don't let stuffing overflow). Pour any remaining broth around squash. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Just prior to serving, sprinkle with crumbled cheese.

*****

For some reason, I was really hesitant to make this. I don't know why, but the day we were going to have it I kept putting off adding everything to the slow cooker. i don't know why, Jen and her family had really liked it. Perhaps my squash aversion. I finally got around to it, although since I had two squash I doubled the recipe--only to find out that just three halves would fit in my crockpot. Jen had said her son, who is the same age as the boy, ate a quarter of one, so I figured the kids could split a half.

I was concerned the squash itself wasn't cooking, but I checked it at one point (I know, I know...never take the lid off a slow cooker) and stuck a fork in it to find it was already pretty tender. I think my total cooking time was about 3.5 hours on low. It maybe could have gone a little longer for the rice, but we had to eat at a certain time to get to our Bible study groups.

The husband and I really liked it. REALLY liked it. I loved the feta sprinkled on top, it added a great creamy flavor to the other ingredients. The husband and I found that 1/4 of a squash was really filling. I realized as I was cutting a half in half for the kids that the baby hasn't had nuts yet, and since there are some nut allergies in our family I was hesitant to give it to him because of the pine nuts, so he got chicken nuggets. The boy I don't think even took a bite. Whether he didn't like the look of it or he was jealous his brother was getting chicken nuggets I don't know. But, really one squash would have been enough for our whole family which makes this super economical.

I don't know if I'd make it again because of the kids, but I might do it when it's just the husband and I eating. I definitely recommend the recipe, though!!

Pioneer Woman's Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce: Jen B's Variation

The boy and I had a big day today, and I'm really not feeling very verbose, so I'll just get right to it. My friend Jen B. made this pasta dish when we went to San Diego back in May, and it was so yummy. I've been excited to make it and finally slated it for this week. Jen made some variations on the original recipe from the Pioneer Woman Cooking website, and I'm following her changes to make it a little more healthy.

PW's Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce (Jen's Version)

2 jars of roasted red peppers, drained and blotted dry on a towel
4 tablespoons pine nuts, divided
1 medium onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup fat free half and half
1/3 cup of evaporated non-fat powdered milk
Fresh basil, chopped
Fresh Parmesan, shaved or grated
1 package of bow tie pasta

Directions:
Drain liquid from jar of peppers. Remove peppers to a clean kitchen towel and blot dry. Place dry peppers in food processor. Lightly toast all the pine nuts in a dry skillet. Once nuts are toasted, place 2 Tablespoons of the toasted nuts in the food processor with the red peppers. Puree peppers with pine nuts. Set aside.

Cook pasta according to package directions.

In a skillet or pot over medium heat, drizzle in olive oil. Add diced onions and garlic and cook until soft. Pour in pepper puree and stir together. Add salt to taste. Let simmer on low for a few minutes, so mixture is thick.

In a separate small bowl, whisk together fat free half and half with evaporated non-fat milk, making sure there are no little lumps. Pour the half and half mixture into the red pepper mixture and stir to combine. Taste and add more salt, if necessary. Add cooked pasta, then stir together. Place pasta into a bowl, top with chopped basil and plenty of shaved Parmesan. Top with remaining 2 Tablespoons of toasted pine nuts sprinkled on top. Enjoy!!!

*****

The original recipe called for a half cup of heavy cream, but according to Jen's blog entry of this recipe, the half and half and powdered milk combination is a much healthier substitution. I'm pretty sure that's how she made it in San Diego, and that's how I'm doing it tonight. I'm super excited for dinner tonight, and I'd better get started on it soon. I couldn't find whole wheat farfalle, so I think it's fusilli I bought instead.

*****

This was good, but not as good as when Jen made it. Not sure if it was the different pasta or that I forgot to top with pine nuts or what, but her version was a lot better. I'll definitely make this again because I know how good it can be, I was just slightly disappointed with my version.

Cheese Ravioli with Pesto Sauce

I needed another easy dinner tonight since I'm not going grocery shopping until after my kids are in bed tonight. I much prefer going by myself because if I take both kids, the boy insists on getting one of those obnoxious car carts. Have you tried to push one of those around the store? Pain in the ass...especially since you really have to work at not running into things. Or at least I do. So, I try to avoid grocery shopping with both kids at all costs. It was pretty slim pickings around our house, so I had to be a little creative. I was looking for something in the garage freezer and saw a bag of frozen raviolis. Then in my pantry I noticed a packet of an organic pesto sauce I bought recently. Voila! Dinner for tonight was planned. I'm looking forward to trying the pesto mix. Dinner should be super easy to put together...boil water, add raviolis, mix up sauce, stir in some pine nuts (as recommended on the pesto packet), shave some parmesan on top, and then eat. I think I'll heat up some bread to have with it and either some peas or broccoli.

I'll be back tomorrow with a real dinner again!

Veggie Pesto Pizza

I'm still full from lunch, but the husband and I have decided to have a late dinner and a mini date night at home. I've had a great day. This morning while the boy watched his morning shows I cleaned house, then my mom came over to stay with the kids while I went and got a much needed haircut. The last time I went was while I was pregnant...and the baby is five months old now. Yikes. It was BAD. Then when I got home we went out to lunch then to a Crocs warehouse sale. Now we've had a nice relaxing afternoon with the boy watching "Cars" and me doing not much of anything.

When I told the husband I wasn't hungry and didn't know what to do for dinner he said he was going to run to Walmart later and could pick up a pizza while he was there for us to have. I said I had pesto pizza on the menu for Tuesday dinner, but then I was sick and didn't make it. So we're going to have that after the boy goes to bed. Jen B. made this recently and really liked it, so I got the idea from her blog. I split the pesto sauce I made earlier this week into two bags and froze them, so I'll just pull one of those out to use for the sauce. I'll make my standard pizza crust, Jen A's Quick Homemade Pizza Crust. Now hopefully I'll be hungry by dinner time!

Veggie Pesto Pizza
1/2 of a red onion, sliced
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 jar roasted red peppers, sliced; drained and dried with paper towels
2-3 sliced Roma tomatoes
1 bag of pre-shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced finely
olive oil to taste
balsamic vinegar to taste
salt to taste
pine nuts
Pecorino Romano cheese, grated finely

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

After dough has rested, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan dusted with corn meal. Spread evenly with sauce. Cover with cheese and toppings, in an even layer. Drizzle a little more olive oil, salt, and balsamic vinegar on top of pizza toppings. Scatter pine nuts and minced garlic. Bake 15-20 min. Let cool 5 minutes. Grate Pecorino Romano cheese on pizza. Cut and serve!

*****

Mmmmm...this pizza was awesome!! I ended up changing a bit of stuff from above. I didn't use roasted red peppers, instead I sliced up a red pepper and a yellow pepper into rings and used those instead. And I forgot to drizzle the balsamic vinegar on it. Regardless, this was incredibly good--definitely one of my most favorite pizzas. I LOVED the pesto sauce on it, and all the veggies made it super filling. Yum!

Pesto

Don't you just love the smell of fresh basil? Oh man...I sure do. And don't you love the texture of parmesan cheese you've grated from a big block of the stuff? I do...it's so soft, I want to make a pillow out of it. If the pillow wouldn't get really smelly and stinky after awhile. And don't you love smashing garlic with the back of a knife? Talk about a good way to get out your aggression! These were the things I was thinking about today when I whipped up a batch of basil. I had planned on actually using the basil for something tonight, but since I still can't really taste anything, I hate to waste another yummy-sounding new recipe when I can't even tell what I'm eating. I didn't want my basil to go bad, so I made the pesto I'll need for the recipe when I can finally make it. This way I can just stick it in the freezer and have it when I need it. Jen B. made pesto last week I think it was, and I was going to use her recipe, but I wanted to find one with a little less oil so it would be a little lower in fat...even though olive oil is a good fat. So, I went to my trusty "need to find a recipe" website, RecipeZaar.com, and found one that sounded easy and had great reviews.

Pesto
Recipe #49909

2 cups packed basil leaves
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts, cooled
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 cloves crushed garlic
1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil, depending on how creamy you want it

Put first four ingredients into food processor. Pulse to blend. Slowly add oil through feed tube to make a nice paste.

*****

I've decided I need a bigger food processor. I think mine is a seven cup, and it was just barely the right size for this. I'd like one I could do dough in, although I don't have a need for that very often. So probably in reality I'm fine with the food processor I have. I just had to stop every now and then and push everything down towards the blades so all the basil leaves would get chopped up. I'm not sure how much oil I ended up adding, I just streamed it in without measuring. I really don't like to measure things I've decided--so I guess it's good I like cooking more than baking.