Stuffed Acorn Squash

Some nights it's like scraping the bottom of the mental barrel trying to figure out what to make for dinner.

Who am I kidding? That's most nights.

As I've mentioned before, my husband has his routine meals, but I don't eat most of the things he eats (hello hamburger three times a week!).


Sometimes I see something in the store that makes me think, that might work.

That happened in Whole Foods last week. I saw a bag of mixed quinoa (red and white), buckwheat and millet. 

I wasn't really sure what to do with it, but last night I remembered I had an acorn squash that had been sitting around since the last time I went to Whole Foods (or maybe the time before that).

So I baked the squash, made the grain mix, cooked up some green lentils, chopped up an apple, drizzled some maple syrup, sprinkled some nutmeg, and VOILA! Dinner.

I wish I could say I loved it to death, but honestly, I don't love quinoa. The apple and squash were delicious.


The lentils had a really weird reaction in the water. They formed these little bubbles and looked like hundreds of eyes staring up at me. I felt like I was lost in Greek mythology.

Should I call them my Argus lentils?

I forgot to take a photo, so this is the dish squeezed into a container for lunch.

So what do you make when you're feeling uninspired?

Risotto--Is it for the Everyday Cook?

Missy Tippens, here. Being The Belle around the Cafe, you know how much I love grits. I think I've even shared a recipe. But I also love rice. And one of my favorite dishes is risotto.

That's a pain to make, you say! You have to stand around and stir for forever!

Well, when I've made it, I only did the bare necessities, and it turned out fine. Then lo and behold, I happened to find this video from Martha Stewart's channel, Everyday Food with Sarah Carey (she has fantastic videos!). (click here)

Sarah shares a way to make risotto without having to chain yourself to the stove.

Here are her listed ingredients:

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 large shallot, diced small
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine, such as pinot grigiot
• 4 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan (1/4 ounce)

Note: I sometimes like to add chopped asparagus and maybe some mushrooms. This day, I used chopped fresh spinach, about a cup of leaves finely chopped--to hide it from the kids! I think they assumed it was parsley. :)

In a large skillet, melt half the butter and cook shallots until translucent. Add the rice and cook, stirring, until all the grains are well coated and getting clear around the edges. Add spinach and wilt. 

Stir in the wine and cook until it's mostly cooked away.

Add 4 cups of broth (reserving the extra 1/4 cup) and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to low, cover and simmer until liquid is almost absorbed, about 25 minutes, according to Sarah. (I set my timer and stirred every 10 minutes so I could check to make sure it wasn't dried out.)

Midway through

At 20 minutes, before stirring for 5 minutes

Uncover and cook, stirring constantly (about 5 minutes), until rice is creamy and tender. If it's too thick, stir in some of the remaining broth to loosen it.

Nice and creamy and ready to eat!

Remove from heat and stir in the parmesan and the rest of the butter. (note: 2 tablespoons of parmesan???? I added at least a quarter of a cup!) :)

Season with pepper. Serve and enjoy! You, too, can make this delicious dish.

Missy
www.missytippens.com

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). :)