Perfect for Potluck

So far this week, we've had lots of desserts and family. Today, I'm bringing you something that's a little the same and a little different.

My daughter was having a pot luck luncheon at her job last week. She knew that one of the ladies is gluten-free, so she wanted to make something this woman could enjoy.

She spent a week running recipes by me, but when I saw this one, I knew she had a winner.  I'm posting a link to the original recipe, but here is her final result.

Butternut Squash, Fennel & Apple Galette

The recipe is from a site called NutritionStripped.
Her description:

"This Butternut Squash Fennel & Apple Galette is not only incredibly beautiful but a crowd pleaser. It’s made with slightly sweet and creamy butternut squash, tart apples, and fragrant fennel- a winning trio of fall flavors wrapped into a rustic gluten free and vegan galette, then sprinkled with fresh herb and a drizzle of olive oil."

Doesn't that sound like an intriguing combination?

All I can tell you is that not only did it garner raves at the luncheon, but apparently it was the only dish that had no leftovers. And people were emailing my daughter for the recipe.

I was not happy about the no leftovers part, and I told me daughter we'd be making this again soon!


In other things...



Mindy posted a picture of her snow yesterday, so I thought I'd show you this one. This is what happens when the weather people predict NO snow for you and then the storm tracks much more to the north than they expected.

I know you're all used to seeing pictures of Fenway, but the cat demanded equal time today. My daughter is away, so Bart wanted snuggles from dad.

Fenway and Dad enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Bart wants to join in.

SUCCESS!

 

 

Someone is not happy to have his daddy time interrupted. 

My boys.

Not much else going on here. It's winter. It's cold. I'm ready for spring.  Or more snow. We might get that this weekend. So probably not since they're predicting it.

I love snow when it's falling and when it's fresh, but here in the city, it doesn't take more than a few hours for it to look pretty nasty.

So how go things in your neck of the woods?

Butternut, Greens and… Bacon!

Missy Tippens, here. I know we've been talking a lot about pumpkin this month. (See, I've even got pumpkin all over my house in our hand soap!) But today I thought I'd share something else fallish: butternut squash.

I had a nice squash and decided I wanted to combine it with pasta. So, after digging, I found bacon (good with just about anything!). And I had greens. I decided that would be great all together!

I'm doing this the easy way. I don't cube raw butternut. Too difficult! I roast it, then cube it.

Cut it in half. Scoop out seeds. Put several pats of butter in the scooped out part. I also buttered the neck of the squash.

I wanted to use half for dinner. And to save the other half for lunch tomorrow. So for the savory side to go with pasta, I added salt and pepper. For the leftovers, I sprinkled on brown sugar.

Roast at 400 degrees until done. It took about 45 minutes for this large squash.

While it's roasting--

Wait, what's that on the counter?? How did that get there (she asks while chewing sweet baked goodness)?

Okay, back to the healthy squash. :) While it's roasting, get the pasta noodles boiling.

Also, cook the bacon.

** Tip: Chop raw bacon with kitchen scissors. It's much easier to cook. This was the first time I've tried bacon that's nitrate/nitrite free. It looked more like ham but cooked up DELISH, just like regular bacon. And I think it tasted even better!

When it was browned, I was going to drain it, but realized this type bacon made less grease. Since I needed some oil anyway to cook my greens, I left the bacon in the pan and tossed in some chopped garlic. Then added the greens.

I used the Power Greens (a mix of baby spinach, kale and swiss chard).

I sautéed until greens wilted.

When the squash is fork tender, remove from oven and let cool a bit. Then sliced criss-cross patterns through one half.

Once it's all sliced, you can scoop the cubes out. Add to the greens and bacon.

Serve on top of pasta. I also topped with fresh parmesan. This was so good! And nice and colorful.

Enjoy for a nice fall meal!

Welcome September with Butternut Squash Soup

I love fall. I especially love fixing those warm, comforting fall soups and casseroles after a summer of salads and wraps!

This soup is so easy - and all because of one simple ingredient.

Did you spot my shortcut ingredient? That bag of squash cubes! Peeled, cubed squash. All set for your favorite recipe.

Does life get any better than this?

Here's the recipe:

Easy Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon oil - olive or coconut
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash (or any other winter squash)
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
dash of chili powder for garnish (optional)

Buying the prepared squash saves so much time. The only other prep you need to do is to chop the carrots and onion, and mince the garlic.

Mini-lesson: Mincing the garlic is easy if you have a garlic press. But if yours is in the dishwasher because your son used it to make one of his delicious concoctions, you can mince your clove of garlic this way:

Lay the flat side of your knife on top of a peeled garlic clove.

Smash the knife against the garlic clove with a
sharp rap, then mince.

The veggies look fabulous, don't they?

Saute the veggies in the butter and oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the onion is translucent.

Stir in the squash, broth, salt, pepper and sage. Cook until the squash is tender - about 20 minutes or so.

Remove your saucepan from the heat and let cool for a few minutes.

Run the soup through your blender, half the recipe at a time.

Or use your hand-held blender. Go ahead. I'm not jealous.

Not at all.

Pour into a bowl, garnish with chili powder if desired.

This recipe makes two servings, or one if it's the main course of your meal.

Enjoy!

Tex is Back (With a Cover Reveal!)

Boy, does it feel good to be back in the cafe. Even though I still can't eat most of what we're fixin' (I'm up to a wonderful soft-foods diet), I'll sneak what I can.

First, I have something I can't wait to share with you.

My September release!!!!!

I can't tell you how in love I am with this cover. 

The way Love Inspired's artists did the lights in the town add almost a Kincaid-esque feel.

As someone said, makes you want to curl up with a blanket.

Which can mean only one thing. We need soup!

Now y'all know that I've had more soup in the last month than I had all last winter. Cream soup, to be exact. And after a while, that canned stuff just got old. So as soon as I was feeling well enough to cook, I determined to make my own soup. Something creamy, with no chunks.

Then I remembered having this amazing butternut squash soup at an ACFW Conference. Thus began my quest for a recipe, ending with a lovely Roasted Butternut Squash recipe. I mean, if there's one thing we've learned here at the cafe, it's how yummy those roasted vegetables are.

Here's what you're going to need:

• 4 lbs (about 2 medium) butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeds removed
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 medium Granny Smith apple
• 1/2 medium yellow onion
• 8 fresh sage leaves (or 1/2 tsp rubbed sage)
• 2 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth (yes, Kav, this is a recipe for you!)
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
• 1/3 heavy cream

Heat oven to 425 degrees and arrange rack in middle of oven.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the squash halves cut side up. 

Brush with one tablespoon melted butter and season generously with salt and pepper.

Roast until tender, about 50-60 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel, core and cut the apple into a medium dice. Dice the onion. Melt remaining butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the apple, onion, sage, and season with salt and pepper.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 7 minutes.

Remove pan from heat and set aside.

When the squash is ready...

Set baking sheet on a wire rack until the squash in cool enough to handle. 

Using a large spoon, scoop the flesh into the Dutch oven with the sauteed apples and onions. Discard skins.

Add the broth, water and measured salt and pepper. Stir to combine and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, breaking up any large pieces of squash.

Remove pan from heat and stir in the cream.

Using a blender, puree the soup in batches until smooth.

You can also use an immersion blender.

Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Y'all, this was the most flavorful meal I'd had in weeks. And because of the fiber in the squash, the most filling. Which mean I was able to eat about a half a cup.

But think of how yummy this would be on a cold autumn night. Which is why I froze half of what I made. 

I'm avoiding soup for a while now. Opting instead for things like oatmeal, scrambled eggs, yogurt and, of course, my Trim Healthy Mama smoothies. I've even been able to have some dark meat chicken, so long as it's chopped very fine. That'll carry me to the end of June, but I'm just grateful to be able to chew again. It really is those little things in life that make us happy. :)

But every cloud has a silver lining, right?

My silver lining is that I've lost 15 pounds. However, I don't recommend the liquid diet plan.

Roasted Veggie Quinoa

Is it Friday?!! The Belle, here. And I almost forgot to post! I'm sorry I'm late.

Here's another fantastic recipe I've found from eMeals (altered to fit my taste and pantry). :)

Quinoa, Butternut and Kale Salad

2 c quinoa, cooked (called for red, but I used a packet of flavored regular quinoa)

6 shallots, quartered

1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (see my note below about roasting halves)

5 T olive oil, divided

2 t kosher salt

1 t pepper

4 oz goat cheese

2 c kale, cleaned and torn into bite size pieces

1 t cumin

2 T balsamic vinegar

Salt

Heat oven to 375° F.

Place shallots (quartered) and butternut squash on baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 T olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 45 minutes.

You can see that I went ahead and roasted the other half of the butternut to use later. But I tell you what, cubing a butternut is HARD WORK! When I started, I got one knife stuck in the silly thing. Had to try to dig it out with another. So I'd suggest roasting it cut in half or quarters. Then slice off the peel and cube it.

While vegetables are roasting, cook quinoa according to package directions. I used two packets of the roasted garlic flavor white quinoa.

Crumble the cheese into the kale and then add the roasted veggies. The hot-from-the-oven veggies will melt the cheese.

Toss cooked quinoa with roasted vegetables, goat cheese and kale mix.

I forgot to take any more photos because I was busy tasting and serving! :)

The recipe called for an additional dressing. I tasted a bite with dressing and didn't like it as well, so I served it on the side...

Whisk together 3 T olive oil, cumin, balsamic vinegar and salt. Dress quinoa salad lightly with dressing--or serve on the side as I did.

Hope you like it! The whole family loved it (well, except for my son who picked all orange and green out of his). :)

Butternut squash cake with maple whipped topping

Hello everybody!! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a sweet little something for your Thanksgiving week.

For once, an actual picture of the food I will be cooking and cyber serving. (See, I'm so smart I always post the first pic of something really pretty because that shows up on the link. Crazy like a fox, I am. If I posted a picture of the actual food no one would ever click.)

 So, first you need 4 cups of butternut squash, cooked and blended. (I'll pause while you get that done... *taps toes impatiently* Wait, you can buy them in little packages that go in the mircowave?? Huh.)

 Preheat the oven to 325F. Rub tummy and say , "This is going to be delicious!" Positive thinking matters.

Blend one cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of butter, 3 eggs, 3 tbs lemon juice and the 4 c of cooked squash together with ONE CUP of flour. Edna went to town with this. Squash was flying everywhere! But she was happy so I let her go...

 

 (Mmmmm. Edna says that butternut squash is VERY GOOD FOR US! Lots of Vitamin A and C and fiber. Of course, I think she meant it's really good before we put all that butter and sugar in, but we'll just pretend it's still going to make us super healthy!)

Next add in a small bowl ONE MORE CUP of flour plus :

2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ginger
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 allspice

Mix well and add into the main mixture. Pour into small ramekins (I love those things!) or a shallow baking dish.

 

Place the ramekins in one inch of water and bake for about 30 minutes. They seemed to take a long time to cook. Maybe I was hungry. Maybe it was all the small people clinging to my legs and pleading with their big, googly baby eyes for SQUASH CAKES.

So, finally they're done (the tops are cracked, which is what one recipe said, but even then they were coming out goopy when poked, so I gave them more time).

 

So, the original recipe said the topping was sabayon flavored with Jack Daniels, which had been left alone for three weeks with two vanilla beans 'infusing the flavor'.


Got all that???
So, I went to my local supermarket, paid $15 for two whole beans, bought some whiskey, plopped in the beans, and left it in the laundry room for three weeks...

 

 

(Stephen Colbert giving me the skeptical face.)

 

 Fine, I did no such thing. Honestly, I think that part of the recipe was a test to see who was paying attention.

So, heavy cream whipped by a strong man, while the bowl is held by a small boy. (How's that for specific??)

Add 2TBS sugar, 1TSP vanilla and 2 TPS maple flavoring.  One dash of cinnamon for pretty.

 

Here's Edna all cleaned up and enjoying her serving of squash cake. She asked for just a few bites because she's watching the sugar.

 

I think this was one of the best things to ever have emerged from my oven. The smell was amazing and the taste was perfectly light, not too gooey or heavy, and definitely not just pumpkin flavor. Even without the Jack Daniels-vanilla bean pod- sabayon, it was delicious.

 

 

 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!