Crockpot Meatball Vegetable Soup

This was another recipe my family really enjoyed recently. I made it straight into the crockpot this time, since we had a happy baby window but not enough time to start prepping multiple meals for the freezer. Everything I have made ahead and frozen from The Family Freezer has turned out great. We had enough leftovers that it made sense to use our Souper Cubes to freeze a few portions, so we ate this twice in one week and had a couple cubes put up for later. Win! 

If you are making this non-dairy (like I did), be sure to check the meatballs carefully. There are many good options, but you have to check the labels. This would also be good vegetarian - use vegetable broth and meatless balls. ;) 

Crockpot Meatball Vegetable Soup

From: The Family Freezer
Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients

15oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
16oz bag of frozen peas and carrots

assorted other frozen vegetables if desired - I added some frozen spinach and green beans I wanted to use up
24oz jar marinara sauce
1 pound frozen meatballs
4 cups chicken broth (not needed until day of cooking)

To Freeze and Cook Later

1. Label your freezer bag.
2. Add all ingredients to your freezer bag (except chicken broth).
3. Seal and freeze for up to three months.

To Cook

1. Thaw overnight in fridge or in morning in water.
2. Add to crockpot with broth.
3. Cook on low setting for 4 hours in a 6-quart crockpot or 8 hours in a 4-quart crockpot.

Turkey Zucchini Alfredo Pasta

 I'm always looking for new ways to make non-dairy versions of classics. Today's research lead me to a vegan alfredo recipe. Some of the directions were a little suspect for how I know these ingredients to behave, so this is my take on it. I'm pairing my version with some ingredients that were bouncing around my brain (and my vegetable drawer.) 

Turkey Zucchini Alfredo Pasta

Ingredients: 

For the sauce

• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp plant based butter
• 1-2 cups chicken broth 
• 1/2 can coconut milk or cream
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional - makes it a little cheesy without the dairy or non cheese melting issues)
• 1 tsp liquid smoke (optional - gives the cheesiness a hint of smoked gouda) 

For the rest

• pasta (I used rigatoni) - about half the box, scale as needed
• drizzle of olive oil
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced 
• 1-4 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced
• 1 pound ground turkey
• dried or fresh thyme, to taste
• 2 zucchini, grated 
• salt to taste

Directions:

If you're really doing good, you can do all three of these at the same time and get them on the table faster. 

1. In a pot, boil water and cook pasta according to package directions. 
2. In a pan, make a roux using the flour or tapioca starch and the plant-based butter. Use coconut cream or milk and water or chicken broth to get a runnier pasta sauce consistency. Mix in the milk and broth alternatingly a little at a time so that it has a chance to smooth out and you can stop before it is too runny. When basically done, add nutritional yeast and liquid smoke and stir well. 
3. In another larger pan, heat a drizzle of olive oil. Add onions and garlic and cook on medium or medium low for a few minutes. Add the ground turkey and cook, breaking it up as you go.  Add thyme. Add zucchini. 
4. Finally, drain pasta and combine all three pans into one large serving bowl. You may want to spoon the turkey mix out of it's pan if the zucchini sweated and there is a lot of liquid in the pan. Toss to combine and serve! 

Crockpot Chicken Fajitas

 With a new baby at home, I am currently all about the crockpot meals. Lots are make ahead and freeze friendly. As I try them I want to share what worked well and what I plan to improve on next time. With any luck I'll remember to come back and share how those modifications went. ;) 

If you are new to freezer meals or batch prepping them I highly recommend the blog that this recipe came from, The Family Freezer. I learned so much from their site and they have some really great PDFs with lots of meals already grouped with shopping lists included. I will not step on their toes by trying to mimic - this is purely so I can remember what I liked to use it again. 

Crockpot Chicken Fajitas

from: The Family Freezer

• 1 pound of chicken breast
• 16oz bag of frozen fajita veggies (bell pepper and onions usually, I could only find ~14oz bags)
• fajita seasoning packet (I used this recipe and only did a tbsp - I will increase the amount next time)

Combine all ingredients either directly in your crockpot or in a freezer bag to store for later. Cook on low for 4-7 hours (4 is plenty, but I was cooking from frozen and started it when I had a calm and happy baby so it spent longer in the crockpot. 😂) 

If freezing: label the bag with what it is, how long to cook it, and what day you store it. Use it within three months for best results (not freezer-burned!)

I served this with tortillas, sour cream, and a side of beans. 

Next time I will double the seasoning and the veggies. We usually hold back on "whole packet of seasoning" directions but it really would have been more appropriate at this scale. Oops! 

Overnight Oats

 I've been making overnight oats a lot lately. With a baby at home, I need easy ways to make sure I'm feeding myself. Anyone who has breastfed will tell you that the constant refrain we hear is "EAT MORE OATS." The good news is this doesn't have to be boring, and these overnight oats recipes from Lemons + Zest have been amazing. 

So why am I sharing them here if they are so great? Well... a few reasons. 1) I want to list the ingredients in the order I find it makes sense to add them (based on what measuring spoons you have active). 2) I find a few of these need a little extra liquid, so I want to record my preferences. 3) I've had a few beloved recipes disappear when blogs get abandoned, so I don't want to risk losing these recipes I've been making multiple times a week. 😅

My method; I set out four mason jars and line up the ingredients. Add all ingredients to each jar, stir well, seal (I got plastic lids that are so convenient), stick in the fridge for at least 8 hours (but up to 5 days depending on ingredients... any fruit or veggie inclusions shorten this time), and enjoy hot or cold! I find that a 1/4 cup works best for me with the size of my mason jars... so I just do two of those to make the 1/2 cup of oats and milk. Recipes like the blueberry muffin oats call for a 1/4 cup of berries so that's a bonus one less thing to wash.

Below are my favorites, from best (I make this every week) to yeah ok (I rotate these through between the cold brew one 😜). 

Vanilla Cold Brew Overnight Oats

5 stars, I make this every week. Hands down my favorite and the recipe that made my husband go "oh wow, these are like REALLY good" - he eats oats 4-6 times a week now too. 

• 1/2 cup rolled oats (regular or gluten-free)
• 1/2 cup milk of choice (I use oat milk)
• 2 Tbsp cold brewed coffee (I use Bizzy, but making a shot of espresso works great too)
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• 1-2 tsp peanut butter (I scoop using the tsp and don't worry if it's mounded. Whatever goes in the jar goes in.) (The original calls for vanilla almond butter but I'm not buying any more variations.😜)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp maple syrup or honey (I go maple.)
• dash of sea salt

Cinnamon Roll Overnight Oats

4.75 stars, I love these but they are heavy on the sugar so I don't do as often. 

• 1/2 cup rolled oats (regular or gluten-free)
• 1/2 cup milk of choice (I use oat milk)
• 3 Tbsp vanilla greek yogurt (I use nondairy vanilla yogurt.. I've done both the 3 tbsp as written and just used two cartons for the four jars, splitting one carton between two jars. Both turned out great.)
• 1 tsp chia seeds 
• 1/2 to 1 tsp cinnamon (I do 1 tsp, since that measuring spoon is already out 😜)
• 2-3 tsp brown sugar (or maple syrup, but brown sugar is really more authentically cinnamon roll flavor)
• dash of sea salt

I never noticed the cinnamon drizzle and icing drizzle options she includes... those sound really decadent and I might try the icing next time. 😂

    Cinnamon drizzle: Whisk together 1 Tbsp maple syrup and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Drizzle over top of oats.

    Icing drizzle: whisk 3 tbsp powdered sugar, 1 tsp melted butter, a drop of vanilla, and milk (add 1 tsp at a time until desired thickness). Drizzle over top of oats. 

Blueberry Muffin Overnight Oats

4.75 stars, rounding out my top 3. 

• 1/2 cup rolled oats (regular or gluten-free)
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup milk of choice (I do just under 3/4 cup oat milk)
• 1 tbsp nut butter (The original calls for cashew butter but I'm not buying any more variations... I have been loving honey-roasted peanut butter in this.) (I scoop a rounded tbsp and don't worry about it being perfect.) 
• 1 tsp chia seeds (original calls for 1 tbsp ground flax - optional)
• 2 tsp maple syrup or honey (I do maple)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup blueberries (I use frozen - it takes a little longer to heat in the morning, but otherwise no issues with this substitution. Cheaper, easier to have on hand!)
• dash of sea salt

Peach Pie Overnight Oats

4.75 stars, tied with Blueberry, so still in my top 3? XD After discovering this one I hardly make the cinnamon roll ones anymore. 

• 1/2 c rolled oats, regular or gluten free
• 1/2 cup almond milk, or milk of choice (I do oat milk)
• 2-3 Tbsp vanilla or peach yogurt (I do nondairy vanilla)
• 1 tsp chia seeds (optional if not on hand)
• 1-2 tsp maple syrup or honey
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup diced peaches, fresh or frozen (I do frozen, same reasons as blueberries above. Sometimes the frozen are a little crunchy, fresh would undoubtedly be superior, but I never seem to have access. ;P)
• dash of sea salt

Chocolate Peanut Butter Overnight Oats

4 stars. Good alternate, not my top 3, but solid option

• 1/2 cup rolled oats (regular or gluten-free)
• 1/2 cup milk of choice (I use oat milk)
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• 2-3 tsp peanut butter (I scoop using the tsp and don't worry if it's mounded. Whatever goes in the jar goes in.)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp maple syrup or honey (I use maple.) 
• dash of sea salt

Coconut Cream Pie Overnight Oats

3.5 stars. Good, but I would have preferred only having one of these prepped. Multiple in a row was too much. If I make it again, I will just do two jars. Also, my husband doesn't like the texture of coconut so I leave that out of his. 

• 1/2 cup rolled oats (regular or gluten-free) 
• 2/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk or milk of choice (I had almost enough in the can to do four jars - I put 1/3 cup in each jar, then filled the 1/3 cup measuring spoon halfway with coconut milk and topped it with oat milk. Anything to not open a second can. 😜)
• 2 Tbsp coconut flavored yogurt (I used two cartons of coconut milk coconut flavored yogurt.) 
• 2 Tbsp shredded coconut
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds (I might just use 1 tsp next time, like all the other recipes do.) 
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• dash of sea salt

Carrot Cake Overnight Oats

3.5 stars. Doesn't last as long in the fridge as some of the others. I would probably only make two if I make it again. Again, I leave the coconut out of my husband's jars. 

• ½ cup rolled oats (regular or gluten-free)
• ⅔ cup milk of choice
• ½ large carrot, shredded (I used about 1/4 cup preshredded)
• 1 ½ Tbsp coconut shredded or flaked
• 1 Tbsp chopped pecans or walnuts
• 1 Tbsp raisins
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 1-2 tsp maple
• dash of sea salt

Pina Colada

3 stars. I didn't plan to make these again so I closed the tab and now I can't find this recipe. (It was from a different blogger.) 

My husband's ranking; cold brew, blueberry muffin, cinnamon roll, peach pie, chocolate peanut butter, carrot cake, pina colada, coconut cream pie. 

Chicken Lettuce Wraps - made migraine friendly!

Now that I'm testing histamine, I'm remembering some ground meat recipes I used to love. This one will not taste like a restaurant appetizer, since we don't have all of the prepared umami-filled sauces. But the crunch is there, and it has a satisfying amount of protein. 

Be aware that the water chestnuts have salicylates, so if you haven't cleared that chemical yet on your Good Days testing journey, or if you know you are sensitive to it, consider subbing in bamboo shoots. Just be sure you are checking that your can doesn't have anything added either way. 

Additionally, you can grind your meat at home if you are not testing histamines yet or are sensitive to them. We've used the food processor here since we don't even currently have access to our full kitchen arsenal. 

Migraine friendly Chicken Lettuce Wraps 

Inspired by and adapted from Damndelicious 

Ingredients: 

1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 pound ground chicken
2 shallots, diced
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 (8-ounce) can of whole water chestnuts, drained and diced**
2 tablespoons chives, thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 head butter lettuce

Directions: 

1) Heat coconut oil and add ground chicken. Cook until browned through,  stirring to break up meat as it cooks. 

2) Add the chopped shallots and grated ginger and cook for a few minutes until the shallots are translucent. 

3) Stir in water chestnuts and chives, cooking a few more minutes until tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

4) Serve with a small mound of the mixture in the middle of lettuce leaves, taco style. How much mix you add will vary depending on leaf size, but you want to be able to pick it up comfortably. 

Baked Salmon with Butternut Squash and Kale - made migraine friendly!

 As with my last post, it has been a few years! Again, lots of life changes, including another move. But most significantly for my food blogger ways is that I have embarked on a journey using the Good Days Program to find my migraine food triggers and eliminate them from my life! If you are also a migraine sufferer or have one in your life, I strongly recommend checking out the program. Their partnership with Migraine Buddy has been life-altering for me. I have been on this journey for about two months now and safely reintroduced two food chemicals that I have deemed low-risk for me personally. 

Good Days has a youtube channel that shares great recipes from the completely safe for everyone "Isa's shopping list" (included in their plan). As I am adding new safe foods to my personal shopping list, however, I am finding I need to get a little creative with adapting other recipes and I realized I wanted to come back here to have a record of the recipes that were successes. Hopefully, it will help someone out there too. ❤️

Full disclosure - I am NOT being sponsored by Good Days or Migraine Buddy! These opinions are purely my own based on the fabulous success I am having so far. They do caution that not everyone has food as a sensitivity for them, so it is possible to do the diet changes and not have results. If that is the case, you just go back to eating whatever. But many migraine sufferers have 4-5 food chemical sensitivities, and the list they have developed is based on a LOT of scientific studies and articles, and I love me some solid data. 

(If you are working the elimination diet yourself or already know your trigger chemicals, please see notes at the end regarding optional alterations.) 

So, without further babbling/proselytizing... 

Baked Salmon with Butternut Squash and Kale - made migraine friendly! 

Inspired by CookingLight and Back to the Book Nutrition, heavily modified

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups chopped butternut squash 

2-3 large sliced shallots 

1/4 cup melted ghee or coconut oil (spray is very convenient here) 

salt and black pepper

1 tablespoon ghee, coconut oil, or olive oil (in a pinch, though some people react to it) 

2 (6-oz.) skin-on salmon fillets 

2 teaspoons pure maple syrup 

3-4 cups torn curly kale 

Linseed oil for finishing, if desired

Directions 

1. Whisk melted ghee with a sprinkling of salt and pepper and an herb if desired (see food chemical notes at the end). Toss butternut squash and shallots with this and spread in a flat layer on a baking sheet. Roast at 400°F for 20 minutes or until tender. 

2. Heat 1 tablespoon of ghee, coconut oil, or olive oil in a nonstick skillet. Brush the salmon with maple syrup and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Cook the salmon skin side down 3-4 minutes. Flip, and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, adding the kale to the pan to wilt.  

3. Toss the butternut, shallots, and kale together, adding a drizzle of linseed oil if desired. Top with salmon.    

Food chemicals to note: 

Unless your fish is EXTREMELY FRESH, like caught, gutted, and frozen within 30 minutes on the boat FRESH (which I can never find indicated anywhere...) then it has histamine. As this is the third chemical I am testing, this works out great for me. If you are not there yet or have a sensitivity to histamine as a migraine risk factor, consider cooking up some fresh chicken breast instead. 

Spices: If you have cleared the first chemical and are not actively testing a new one, then feel free to include rosemary and/or sage in the roasting your butternut step.  Friendly full time: basil, ginger, chives, or parsley. I recommend picking just one here. 

Chicken Wraps

 Hello out there! It's been a few... years! A lot has changed with me. I've moved again - this time to Florida. We're all obviously dealing with the major life changes the Coronavirus pandemic has brought to our lives, no exception here. For me, that has meant that I have been out of the classroom for almost a year now. It still hardly feels real as I type that - almost a year. I have dreams of teaching almost every night. It had been an extremely stressful few years, however, with very inadequate work-life balance, and it just wasn't sustainable. I was taking no time for hobbies, for family, for myself... the only me time was my drive home, which I would drag out playing Pokemon Go and make my husband worry since I lost track of time and he was trying to have dinner ready for us. So for us, quarantine has actually had some nice benefits. It's forced me to take the time I needed to really face myself and make some hard decisions, instead of just racing into the next job. We are so blessed that we have savings, so privileged that our support network set us up with opportunities to be prepared for this, and that I've been able to take this time. I am so so grateful. 

My shopping habits have changed significantly. For one, I've been so stressed the last few years, I fell out of the habit of menu planning, which had kept us strong for so long. As a result, when we got to Florida and had a little more income, we started doing a liiittle bit more "pick this up for dinner" style eating. In February, with rumors of Covid-19, and knowledge of how bad the restaurant industry is at letting employees take time off for illness, we stopped all fast food, take out, eating out... everything. It wasn't until May 2nd, for Brian's birthday, that we decided to risk getting a pizza from our favorite place, but we put it in the oven when we got it home. We're still about this "paranoid". I think we've added some made at the grocery deli items back and that one pizza place that we trust, but that's it. Our neighborhood has been doing a ton of food trucks, but almost no one is wearing masks to attend, so we pretty much don't attend. Unfortunately. 

For most groceries, we do curbside pickup, but I've been shocked to learn that for a lot of things it's cheaper to get them from Whole Foods and have them delivered since I'm a Prime member. So I now shop both the Publix app and the Amazon/Whole Foods app. Mostly I've based it on if there are any name brand things I particularly need from Publix right now or specialty things I want from Whole Foods, or if anything, in particular, is crazily overpriced at one or the other or out of stock... but this week I've started my crawl back towards menu planning and I've actually got orders going for both at the same time to complete this weekend. *shrug* I'm saving $3 on eggs, $0.75 on fries, about $0.25 on each of several kinds of produce, $8 on shitake mushrooms, and on and on and on. It's always surprising which goes which ways. 

One of my main motivators to start menu planning again was that I'm often unmotivated to get something good put together for myself for lunch. Breakfast is generally ok... for one, Brian often offers to help, and makes good suggestions. For two, I love breakfast foods. But lunch I'm always kinda... meh. And if I don't eat something decent at a proper time, I tend to get weird blood sugar levels and develop a migraine. Unpleasant. I figure, if I already did the hard work of planning it, all I have to do is look at the plan and go "oh yeah, that sounded good" and make it. Easy peasy. 

Enter, this chicken wrap. It was inspired by this wrap I've had pinned forever, but with some modified ingredients to a) make it quicker and easier and b) require less Covid shopping/use what we have and c) match my tastes better. 

Chicken Wraps

Ingredients

• multigrain flatbread
• 3 oz chicken breast
• 1 Tbsp sundried tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp cherry cranberry pecan mix (or similar)
• 1 Tbsp plain nonfat Greek yogurt or mayo
• lettuce blend
• kosher salt and black pepper to taste
• flavored vinegar (original used tarragon, I have pear, a bunch of flavored balsamic, etc, pick what you like. It needs an acid. lemon juice works too.) 

Instructions

1. Sous Vide (or otherwise cook) your chicken breast ahead of time. You can cook several on the weekend to make lunches easy. For this wrap, cut 3oz into strips. 
2. Dice up the sundried tomatoes and toss with the cherry, cranberry, pecan mix, and the mayo or yogurt and chicken.
3. Sprinkle with a couple shakes vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste, and stir well to incorporate. 
4. Roll up the wraps with a flatbread, lettuce, and chicken. 

                       

Cowboy Caviar

I first tasted this delicious dip when a friend brought it over for a game day. It was just the right thing... perfectly scoopable, enough colorful veggies to be slightly virtuous, and tons of flavor and creaminess from the avocado to make it seem sinful. I begged her for the recipe. Turns out it's pretty easy! I'm posting it here to a) share it with all of you, and b) save it for posterity since I've recently had the heartbreak of losing some recipes I had on pinterest to websites that disappeared. :(

Cowboy Caviar

from Creme de la Crumb

1 can black beans, drained
1 can pinto beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 avocado, diced
2 roma tomatoes, diced
½ red onion, diced
optional: 1 jalapeño, finely diced
juice of 1 lime
¼ cup cilantro, roughly chopped
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon chili powder

Add all ingredients to a large bowl. Stir to combine. Serve immediately with corn chips/tortilla chips, or cover and chill until ready to serve.

Note: This doesn't taste bad at room temperature, it's quite good in fact. This is a good bet for a party where you need things that can be made ahead a bit and that are tolerant of sitting out. If you're concerned about leaving it out at room temp, refill a smaller bowl from the large one in the fridge. (Just don't use too small of a bowl... this one is a crowd pleaser!)

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Bacon

This mac and cheese recipe is So Much Better than anything you can find in a box. It takes about the same amount of time, if you rush the onions. Better than quick, you know what all of the stuff is in this macaroni, no preservatives or artificial junk. You can use just about any cheese you've got - I used extra sharp cheddar and gruyere, and any squash you've got - acorn, butternut, even something like pumpkin works. If you've got leftover fresh mashed squash from another recipe use that, otherwise canned is great and quick.



Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Bacon
inspired by abby langer nutrition and pinch of yum

Ingredients

1 pound elbow macaroni or rotini
1/4 cup and 1 tbsp butter
2.5 tablespoons flour (I use King Arthur white whole wheat)
2 cups milk
4 cups grated cheese
1 cup mashed butternut squash
2 small onions, thinly sliced
3 slices of bacon, cooked crisp

Directions

1. Melt 1 tbsp butter in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, turn heat down, and cook for at least 30 minutes or until caramelized, tender, and brown.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions.

3. Melt remaining butter in a sauce pan. Add flour and whisk until well combined. Add milk, whisking as you go. Let simmer until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and add squash and cheese. (You can add it back to the heat briefly if it isn't melting, but it is more likely to get grainy if you keep it on the heat here.)

4. Drain pasta, return the the pot. Pour cheese sauce over the pasta, stir to combine. Add onions, stir to combine. Serve hot with bacon crumbled over top.

That's it! Easy peasy. Oh, this would be good with peas too... ;)

I know this one is more of a fall food... but man am I craving some right now. What is your favorite comfort food, fall or spring?

Potato-Horseradish Gratin with Caramelized Onions

I first made this recipe on February 25, 2012. I know this because the menu for that dinner party is still the bookmark on page 862 of Southern Living's 1001 Ways to Cook Southern, a gift I received from my now mother in law when Brian and I moved to North Carolina from Massachusetts the summer of 2011. That February dinner party night I served a Rosemary-Thyme Rib Roast. Potato gratin has since made its way to my Easter table. Last year there wasn't time for this more involved version of the dish, and I went a more classic route. This year I am trying it as a make ahead dish - I'll let you know how that works out when I edit to add pictures in a couple days!

Potato-Horseradish Gratin with Caramelized Onions

from Southern Living's 1001 Ways to Cook Southern
makes 8 servings   ||   prep: 1 hr, 25 min. cook: 1 hr., 10 min. stand: 10 min.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lb medium-size baking potatoes

1 tsp salt, divided

2 cups half-and-half

1/2 cup cream-style horseradish

1/4 cup butter

2 large onions, thinly sliced

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 cup (4 oz) shredded swiss cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Cook potatoes in boiling water to cover 20 minutes or until almost tender. Drain and cool slightly. Peel potatoes, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange potato slices in a lightly greased 13-x 9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. 

2. Stir together half-and-half and horseradish, and pour over potato.

3. Bake, covered, at 400°F for 40 minutes. 

4. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, remaining 1/2 tsp salt, and remaining 1/2 tsp pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes. Add sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, 5-8 minutes or until onion is caramel colored. 

5. Stir in vinegar, and cook 2 minutes or until liquid evaporates. Remove from heat, and cool 5 minutes. Fold in cheese and 2 tbsp of parsley. 

6. Uncover potato; top with onion mixture. Reduce temperature to 350°F. 

7. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes; sprinkle with remaining 2 tbsp parsley. 

Make ahead option: 

This can be prepared through step 5 up to 24 hours before. Remove potatoes from oven, let cool. Keep covered and refrigerate. Cover onion mix and refrigerate. 

When ready to cook, remove from fridge and allow to come back towards room temperature 30-60 minutes. Top potato with onion mixture and cook uncovered at 350°F for 30-40 minutes or until heated through. Finish with parsley as normal. 

What is your favorite make-ahead holiday meal? Favorite holiday potato? 

Easter 2016 - Prep Schedule

I always find big dinner parties and holiday meals so much easier to manage with a schedule. It's one of the reasons I often start my menu planning at finecooking.com - they have a great menu builder in their inspiration section that fills a shopping list and populates a schedule for you. The only drawback is that it doesn't take into account that most home cooks don't have two ovens, so you have to check it really carefully and cross your fingers that your two heart set on recipes don't conflict.

Here's my menu for Easter 2016 - if you like the looks of it, you'll love this schedule and shopping list. ;)

Prep Schedule

Tuesday

If curing your own ham (which you need to if you get a natural ham), start brining it 72 hours before you want to cook it. Since we are sous viding, Brian started this on Tuesday. This is the step you need curing salt for below. If you get a ham a more conventional route (like, a grocery store) you will jump ahead a little and skip the curing salt and liquid smoke on the shopping list. ;)

Friday

Set up the ham to sous vide for 48 hours. (Start by noon or 1pm if serving around 2-3pm).

Make the shopping list

Go shopping

Drink a glass of wine and toast to the culinary adventure to come 

Maybe dust something

Saturday

Bake and frost the carrot cake. 

Steam and peel the eggs for the deviled eggs.

Make the potato gratin, up to the step where you add the onions. Cover and refrigerate. Caramelize the onions, cover and refrigerate. 

Make the cheese sablés, but when it says to make a flat disk and refrigerate, instead roll it into logs, wrap in plastic wrap or parchment, and refrigerate overnight. 

Make sweet tea, if room in the fridge. ;) 

Sunday Morning

Take the gratin out of the fridge to come up towards room temp so you don't shock the dish when you put it in the oven. 

Make sweet tea if no room yesterday - put it where the gratin was. ;)

Sunday - 2 1/2 hours before (11:30am here)

Make the deviled eggs - refrigerate until ready to serve (2pm for appetizers here). 

Prep veggie tray.

Heat the oven to 400°F. 

Cut cheese sablés into 1/4 inch slices, brush with glaze, and bake.

1 and 1/2 hours before

Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. 

Top the potato gratin with caramelized onions and bake for 30-40 minutes, until heated throughout. 

Remove ham from sous vide. Make a glaze from the drippings. 

Make the dressing for the peas and carrots.

1 hour before

Put out the appetizers. ;) 

Make popovers. When gratin removed from oven, increase heat to 425°F. Bake popovers for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350°F, bake for 15 minutes more. 

Once removed from the oven, increase oven temp back up to 450°F.

Steam the baby carrots and sugar snap peas, toss with dressing. 

Make the carrot salad, let sit at room temperature. 

20 minutes before

Put glaze on ham and cook in 450°F oven for 10-20 minutes. 

Just before dinner

Top the carrot salad with the chives.

Slice the ham.

Shopping List

Produce:

dill

mint

parsley

chives

carrots (4 pounds total)

sugar snap peas (8 oz)

1-2 lemons

1 orange

2 1/2 pounds medium size baking potatoes

2 large onions

Dairy:

eggs (need 18 if doubling popovers and making 8 deviled eggs/16 halves)

1 pound cream cheese

2 cups half and half

3 1/2 oz sharp cheddar

1/2 cup finely grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

4 oz swiss cheese

butter (you'll need about 3 cups, all totaled)

Meat:

country ham

smoked salmon

Dry goods:

chopped walnuts (2 1/2 cups)

vanilla extract

all purpose flour (6 cups)

light brown sugar (2 cups)

1 pound confectioners sugar

raisins (1/2 cup)

dried currants (1/2 cup - sub dried cranberries if you can't find currants)

cream style horseradish (1/2 cup)

untoasted walnut oil (though toasted is fine too)

pink curing salt (we ordered from amazon)

liquid smoke flavor (again, amazon for us)

Probably have at home:

mayonnaise

dijon mustard

salt

pepper

kosher or sea salt

cayenne

onion powder

paprika

milk

sugar

oil (canola, corn, etc - 1 cup)

cinnamon

baking soda

baking powder

ground nutmeg

ground ginger

apple cider vinegar

honey

extra virgin olive oil

balsamic vinegar

It looks like a lot of steps, but it includes all of the temperature changes. Having it all written out takes a lot of guessing and panic out of the day. I do this step blog post or no for big meals. :) Maybe someday I'll be so pro I don't need it, but today is not that day! 

What about you? What is your must do holiday prep step? 

Easter 2016

Easter is such a great holiday. I've seen a lot of naysayers recently complain that it's the new Christmas and ask "when did Easter get so big?" Um, it's kind of a big deal. Christmas has so much pressure to find the perfect gift and has been so commercialized recently, and I hate the arguing about saying "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas" (don't get me started on the red cup hate this year, good grief). Thanksgiving is wonderful but we are always trying to get somewhere in time. We don't really travel for Easter these days. I act like Wendy and collect lost boys around me, many of them from my husband's department, and cook like I'm trying to feed 30 instead of the 3-6 that we usually host. The air is full of promise of warm evenings and bright flowers. All of the trees have bloomed around here and we had the most magnificent sunset tonight, and as I type this at 7:30pm it's still dimly dusk outside.

I love the menu planning process for holidays and dinner parties. I love skimming fine cooking, my cookbook shelves, pinterest, and old menu pages from previous years, remembering joyful moments shared with friends and family, laughing to myself about recipes that flopped, getting hungry remembering the delightful surprises and wild successes.

This is my menu this year. I've dropped a side, added a side, rotated back to a harder version of another one, retreated to the comfortable familiarity of popovers (unlike the awful dinner rolls I tried last year), and of course, I kept the carrot cake.

Easter Menu 2016

Appetizers

Deviled Eggs with Smoked Salmon

Mrs. Lenkh's Cheese Sablés

Vegetable Crudités

Salads and Sides

Carrot Salad with Walnut Oil & Honey

Peas and Carrots with Lemon, Dill, and Mint

Popovers (from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman)

Potato Horseradish Gratin with Caramelized Onions

Main Course

Sous Vide Country Ham

Dessert

Classic Carrot Layer Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Drinks

Champagne

Sparkling Apple Cider

Watermelon Mint Lemonade

Sweet Tea

So, what's cooking at your house this weekend? Do you travel for Easter, host, or order Chinese? Any favorite spring traditions? 

Blueberry Muffins with Streusel topping

The last few weeks we've been making tons of fruit smoothies for breakfast. Let me tell you, I'm hooked. They are such a great way to get in some dairy (make them with natural plain yogurt), and they're perfect for the fruit that is lets say... not quite fruit tray pretty any more, yes?

So we've gone through a TON of fruit! Its been awesome. We've finally cleaned out the section of the freezer that has had frozen fruit in it for AGES. I mean we're talking strawberries from last summer's "how much fruit could a flat of berries really be??" experiment and frozen mix bags from my last smoothie attempts ... they were misguided, and always tasted like frost bitten fruit. It doesn't have to be like that!!

Last week I made the Peach Crisp using (mostly) farmer's market peaches. Delicious. And while I joked about eating leftovers for breakfast, I have restrained myself. That has however left this nagging want for something sweet... fruity... and baked to go with those smoothies in the morning. (Or bacon. You can never go wrong with bacon.)
Enter: THIS MUFFIN. I totally misjudged how much streusel topping I needed last week with the peaches, and I hate throwing perfectly good food/ingredients away... so I went on a muffin hunt. Found Barbara Bakes. Anyone already know her? If not, oh man, go click around her site. It's beautiful and everything looks so yummy and I can practically smell her pictures. (Oh wait, that's the muffins.)

Just don't forget to come back over here, ok??

You ready?

The BEST Blueberry Streusel Muffins

adapted from Barbara Bakes

Ingredients:

Streusel: 

1/4 cup flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/16 teaspoon salt ...basically a pinch ;)

1/4 stick butter (2 tablespoons)

2 tablespoons rolled oats

2 tablespoons nuts of your choice (I like a mix of pecans and cashews)


Muffins:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

2 cups blueberries, fresh*

*Barbara says you can use frozen. I really really wouldn't. Save your frozen berries for smoothies or oatmeal or tea. These stay suspended in light fluffy batter so perfectly, if they are fresh they pure explode on your tongue with tart sweet juicy perfection. Don't deny yourself that kind of pleasure. 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line your muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.

Prepare your streusel topping and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix first three ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt.)

In a large bowl of stand mixer, beat sugar and softened butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, and milk. Beat briefly. Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined.

Gently stir in blueberries.

Spoon batter into lined muffin tins. You should get somewhere between 12 and 15. They puff up really nice if you are closer to 12, but I was timid about filling my muffin tins. Don't  worry about being timid. It'll all work out either way. ;)

Generously heap streusel topping onto the muffins. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Allow muffins to rest for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.


For the streusel:
Pulse first six ingredients (flour through salt) in food processor. Add butter and pulse again. Add oats and nuts and pulse a final time.


Modifications: The second time I made this I tried half white whole wheat flour and half regular all purpose flour. It still turned out good, so if you're already making that switch it works here. It was definitely a little denser this way, but still tasty. Maybe add a tablespoon or two of oil to keep it moist and up it to two teaspoons of baking powder to help fluff the muffins.

Steamed Eggs

Don't you just hate when the night before you promised egg salad to the church/shower/social event you realize that you used all the eggs you'd been saving* and you were going to have to use new eggs?

*You know, because older eggs are easier to peel when you're doing hard boiled eggs?

Well have I got good news for you. There is a better way to cook eggs for egg salad, deviled eggs, etc. One that just doesn't require long fingernails for picking off tiny flecks of shell, leaving divots in the egg white, or cursing under your breath.

Ready?

Steam them.

Steamed Eggs

from finecooking and seriouseats

Ingredients
Eggs
Water
Ice

Directions
Bring 1-2 inches of water to a boil in a steamer pot.
Fill a bowl with ice and water.
Place eggs in steamer basket. Cook covered 6 minutes for soft boiled, 12 minutes for hard boiled.
Spoon eggs into ice water bath. Let sit for 15 minutes to cool (and stop the cooking). Peel under running cold water.

 


Your turn! 
What's your best time saving (frustration saving!) technique? Does it have a recipe that it really shines for?

Easter Menu and Timeline

Holidays are one of my favorite things. I love cooking for friends and family and spending hours talking over good food. Starting with a detailed plan helps keep things running smooth so it stays fun. I've definitely had dinner parties that stressed me out... so I'm sharing my Easter timeline to help you wrangle the to-do list and keep the stress of entertaining low!

My Easter Dinner Menu: 
Deviled Eggs
Ham
No-Knead Dinner Rolls (dough can be made the day before)
Peas with lemon, mint, and scallion
Balsamic Carrots
Potato Gratin
Carrot Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Sweet Tea


***Important Scheduling Note!! We got a fresh local ham this year, brined it ourselves, and sous vide cooked it for 48 hours, so other than the last minute glaze making, it is excluded from this timeline. Most hams need 3ish hours to be fully heated through. Try this recipe from Pioneer Woman if your ham didn't come with directions. (Full disclosure, I haven't tried her ham recipe, but I trust her as a source.)


Two-Seven Days Before: 
Make the menu.
Read all the way through all of the recipes (even if you've made it before).
Add ingredients to shopping list. (Keep count of things like eggs to be sure you have enough by the time you're done with all recipes. I keep a tally in pencil.)
Go shopping.

The Day Before:
Make the bread dough for the dinner rolls, right up through the last mixing step. Cover and let sit in the fridge overnight.
Make and frost the carrot cake.
Make the sweet tea.
Boil the fresh peas (or thaw the frozen peas).

The Morning Of: 
Take the dough out of the fridge to let it come up to room temp for two hours.
Put the ham in the oven.
Hard boil eggs for deviled eggs. Peel, and cool to room temp.
Prepare deviled eggs, refrigerate until serving.

Two-Three Hours Before: 
Roll dinner roll dough into large marbles, placing three in each cup of well greased muffin tins. Cover and allow to rise for 1-2 hours.
Heat oven to 375°F. Clean, peel, and slice potatoes. Layer in gratin dish with cheese and seasonings, pour in heated cream. Bake for 45-50 minutes.

Forty-Five Minutes Before: 
Roast carrots at 400°F for 20 minutes, toss with balsamic glaze, roast for 5 more minutes.
Put dinner rolls in 400°F oven for 17-20 minutes.
Make glaze for ham.
Once carrots and rolls are done, turn oven up to 450°F to final roast sous vide ham.

Twenty Minutes Before: 
Cook peas.
Roast ham at 450°F for 10 minutes.



Day of cooking dishes used:
Roasting pan (ham)
Gratin/Casserole dish (potatoes)
Jellyroll pan/baking sheet with rims (carrots)
2 Muffin tins (dinner rolls)
Medium saucepan (heat heavy cream for potatoes, then peas later)
Steamer basket (eggs - could also do in medium saucepan in AM, clean for potatoes and peas in PM)


Your turn!
What is your classic Easter must have menu item? How early do you start planning and prepping?

Seafood Pot Pie

I came across this recipe card cleaning out the bookshelf recently. I have a problem with ever getting rid of a single recipe card, cooking magazine, cookbook, etc... It's really just best if it doesn't make it in the house if it isn't a winner. Recently I've been on a rampage against all things "Cream of _____ Soup". Its been so frustrating how many slow cooker meals expect a hunk of meat and can of cream of ___ soup. I find it really unappetizing. Anyone else? *Looks around for hand raises*

Cream of ____ soup is a really simple thing to eliminate. Yes, it is fast, but I promise you have the replacement ingredients in your kitchen right now. It really only takes three. Ready? Butter, flour, and milk. That's it! Of course you can get fancy... I usually add in some chicken stock (or broth, or even from bouillon cubes...) and garlic or herbs, but it depends on what you are making with it. This process starts with making a roux.

Don't worry, it's easy and tastes better than that little google provided intro makes it sound. Plus, it comes together almost as fast as opening a can of soup.

Basic Sauce

Ingredients:

• Butter
• Flour
• Chicken Stock
• Milk

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan. 
2. Add flour, stir until smooth paste forms. 
3. Add milk, stir until it starts to thicken. 
4. Add stock, stir until it starts to thicken.
5. Alternate adding milk and stock to get the flavor you're looking for. Season at the end. 

Make sure you start with enough of the roux (flour + butter) in the beginning. Adding flour later to thicken it tends to make the sauce lumpy. For a pot pie you'll need about half a stick of butter (4 tablespoons) and 1/4 cup flour. Pasta for two you can go with about half that. Remember you can mix in seasonings to match the meal. Here are some options to consider:

• salt and pepper
• garlic (minced, powder, or salt)
• dried oregano
• dried basil
• shredded cheese (parmesan for white pasta sauce, cheddar/swiss/gouda/etc for mac and cheese)

So now that you have the basic... see how I apply it in my remake of this recipe card from who knows what grocery store picked up in 2006 if the printing date is to be trusted.

Seafood Pot Pie
adapted by joyfulfoodie

Ingredients:
1 cup broccoli, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-1/2 in slices
1 cup peas
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
4 tablespoons of butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk (more or less as needed)
1 cup stock (seafood stock ideal, but chicken or vegetable works fine too) (more or less as needed)
3/4 teaspoon dried dill
2 cups cooked seafood, such as soft-shell crab, shrimp, salmon, and/or halibut.
1 cup shredded swiss cheese (4oz)
1/2 (15oz) package refrigerated pie crust (1 crust) OR 1 sheet of puff pastry (from package of two), thawed while you work on other steps.

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 400°F.
2) Prepare vegetables.
3) Melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and stir to form a paste. When smooth, add approximately 1/4 cup milk and stir until smooth and starting to thicken. Then add approximately 1/4 cup chicken stock and stir until smooth and starting to thicken. Alternate milk and stock until it is a smooth sauce, but not too liquidy. If it seems like you went a little too far, let it simmer for a few minutes to thicken up. As a last resort, mix in a little more flour. (This won't be too terrible a fix in a pot pie, it would be more noticeable over pasta. :))
4) Add dill, vegetables, and seafood. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, to heat seafood and vegetables through. *** Stir in cheese to melt, remove saucepan from heat.
5) Pour mixture into a casserole dish. Unfold pie crust OR puff pastry and lay it over the seafood mixture. For puff pastry I usually have to get a little creative with the arranging if its in my bigger rectangle casserole dish.  Trim any edges that hang over so they are inside the dish again. If using pie crust, cut slits to vent.
6) Bake. Piecrust = 30 minutes, Puff pastry = 40-50 minutes. You want the crust (either kind) to be golden brown.

Serves 6.



***Alternate option at step 4: In a second pan, heat a drizzle of olive oil. Saute mushrooms 3-5 minutes. Add carrots and broccoli, cook 2 minutes longer. Then add all with peas and seafood to the sauce. This will make the vegetables a little more tender and add a little depth of flavor. If you're in a hurry, its fine to skip this step, but I rarely do. :)



In my mind, this combines some of the best things ever. 1) Easy = yay. 2) Pot pie = comfort food = double yay. 3) Seafood = greater than chicken = triple yay.
Your turn! What's the big recipe swap you're into these days? Anyone with me on the cream of _bleh_ rant?

Sausage, Kale, and Couscous Soup and new LIGHTER Sausage, Kale, and Couscous Soup

I've had this image of the perfect winter soup floating around my head over the last few weeks. It was hearty, like a stew, but I needed a change from chicken and beef. I imagined thick chewy gnocci floating on the surface.
So this weekend I started scrounging through the pantry and the vegetable drawer to see what we had to work with. Gnocchi was out, but I will come back to this next time - I still believe gnocchi would be superb in this. If you have some, please sub it in and let me know what you think. :)

Sausage, Kale, and Couscous Soup

A joyfulfoodie original


Servings: 5. Serving size: approx. 1 cup. WWP+: 13 (as is) - see below for lighter option.

Ingredients

3 cups broth (I used chicken stock from my last crockpot chicken)
2 (ish) cups water (as needed to adjust volume and flavor, depending on strength of stock)
8 oz mushrooms, quartered or smaller
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp tomato paste
4-6 cups torn kale (large bite size pieces)
2 local hot* italian sausages (more as desired) **
2 cups dry couscous

a few shakes each:
garlic powder (or 2 minced garlic cloves)
onion powder
dried or fresh parsley
rosemary

Directions

Heat the stock (and some water, as needed) on the stove. While it is coming up to temp, add white beans, mushrooms, tomato paste, and spices. Cook for 5 (ish) minutes while you prep kale (if not done yet).
Slice sausages into bite size pieces (I cut the sausage in half lengthwise and then cut 1/2 inch slices).
Add sausages and kale to the soup. Cook another 5ish minutes.
Add couscous. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until couscous is soft. (I was using a blend - one of the grains didn't soften until almost 20 minutes, couscous was probably fine by 10-12 minutes.)


Serve with wine, if desired. I loved it with Lazy Bones red wine from Trader Joe's.

*If you don't have hot italian sausage, use whatever kind of sausage strikes your fancy. Consider adding a few shakes of red pepper flakes... the heat in the soup adds a nice dimension to the broth.

** I am in love with all things Nooherooka Natural. They have the best sausages, hot dogs, stew beef, bacon.... we pretty much only buy our meat from this local farm. We discovered them at the farmer's market. Switching over to local meat has been awesome - we find the quality to be immensely better, and it is awesome knowing we are voting for fair animal treatment with our dollars. If you have access to a farmer's market I strongly suggest you seek out the meat people and develop a relationship with them. It has balanced price wise because we eat less meat when we have to plan it all out ahead of time like this! :)



EDIT:
As I've gone back to unofficially doing weight watchers, I'm working to health-ify some of my recipes. Here is the soup lightened up a bit - still super yummy, but a great option if you want to push a few extra veggies!

Lighter Sausage, Kale, and Couscous Soup

A joyfulfoodie original

Servings: 5. Serving size: 1 cup. WWP+: 10 with regular italian sausage, 9 points or less depending on type of chicken sausage.

Ingredients

3 cups broth (I used chicken stock from my last crockpot chicken)
3 (ish) cups water (as needed to adjust volume and flavor, depending on strength of stock). Add bouillon if you push too much water.
16 oz mushrooms, quartered or smaller
1 cup of canned white beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp tomato paste
6 cups torn kale (large bite size pieces)
2 cups peeled and diced butternut squash
1 diced fresh tomato
2 chicken or turkey sausages, italian style
1 cup dry couscous

a few shakes each:
garlic powder (or 2 minced garlic cloves)
onion powder
dried or fresh parsley
rosemary

Directions

Heat the stock (and some water, as needed) on the stove. While it is coming up to temp, add white beans, mushrooms, tomato paste, butternut squash, tomato, and spices. Cook for 5 (ish) minutes while you prep kale (if not done yet).
Slice sausages into bite size pieces (I cut the sausage in half lengthwise and then cut 1/2 inch slices).
Add sausages and kale to the soup. Cook another 5ish minutes.
Add couscous. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until couscous is soft. (I was using a blend - one of the grains didn't soften until almost 20 minutes, couscous was probably fine by 10-12 minutes.)











Your turn! What are you cooking to stay warm this winter?

Pumpkin Sauce with Spaghetti Squash

Last year I found a beautiful picture of a pumpkin pasta recipe. It looked amazing, and I repinned it adding the idea of serving the sauce over spaghetti squash instead. When I tried it later (with just pasta) I found the recipe very disappointing. It had no flavor and was all one texture. This year I found the picture again and decided to make my own recipe. Much better.

Pumpkin Sauce with Spaghetti Squash

a joyful foodie original

Ingredients:
1 large spaghetti squash
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1 cup chicken stock (approx)
1 cup cream or milk (approx)
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup grated parmesan, plus more for garnish
1 tbsp white-wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes

1/2 tsp ground sage

1 tsp fresh rosemary, plus more for garnish

Directions:
Cut spaghetti squash in half. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 350°F for an hour or until it shreds easily with a fork.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp butter in large sauce pan. Add 1 tbsp of flour. Stir to form a paste. Gradually add chicken stock to dissolve the paste. Stir until it thickens, then add more stock. Alternate adding milk/cream and stock until you have mixed in 1 1/2 - 2 cups liquid. It should have a saucy consistency. Do not add too much too fast, or you will have to add more flour and the whole thing will take longer.

Once you have a sauce, mix in the pumpkin, garlic, parmesan, vinegar, red-pepper, sage, rosemary. If sauce is too thick, add more chicken stock.

Shred inside of spaghetti squash halves. Pour sauce over squash, garnish with parmesan and rosemary. Serve.


Variations: 

• Cut up some slices of rotisserie chicken or cooked chicken breast and lay them on the squash before adding the sauce.
• Saute shrimp and add with the sauce.

TIP: Serve extra sauce (if any) over pasta for lunch the next day.

Your turn! What is your favorite fall weeknight meal?

Peach Crisp

The peaches at the farmer's market these last few weeks have been calling my name. They've been saying "Kristen... pick us! Make us into that fantastic dessert you made the first summer here!"

Of course, that would assume that I kept that recipe. No idea what I did. *sigh* That was the real reason I started this blog, right??

So back to the drawing board. I've done the same thing I did for my apple pie, namely, I've read 1,982,576 recipes and then said "EH! I do what I want!"

This is the result of that rebellious streak. Also, of not having a lemon. Pfft.

Peach Crisp

adapted from the pioneer woman and real simple

Ingredients: 

5 whole To 6 Whole Fresh Peaches (best When Not Overly Ripe Or Soft)
1 cup and 1 tbsp Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup and 1-2 tbsp Light Brown Sugar, Firmly Packed (separated)
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 stick Butter (1/2 Cup) plus some to grease pan
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup nuts of your choice (I like a mix of pecans and cashews)

Directions: 

Heat oven to 350ºF.

Peel and cut peaches into slices. Mix them with 1 tbsp flour and 1-2 tbsp brown sugar. Transfer to a lightly buttered baking dish, ideally 9x9 square or equivalent. Round would work, just don't go for a crazy big rectangle.

Using a food processor or a fork, blend together the flour, sugar, remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Cut butter into small pieces and add to flour mixture until evenly mixed... this is where the food processor is handy. Finally, mix in oats and nuts. Pulse for a fine grain crumble or toss in if you want bigger hunks of nut.

Cover the peaches with the crumbly oat/nut topping. Cover the pan with tin foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove tin foil and bake for 30-45 minutes longer until the topping is crisp. If this is taking awhile, you can always broil it for a few minutes (and not longer!) If your dish is smaller (and therefore filled deeper) it may even be a little longer, so pick a time, check it, and add time accordingly.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. YUM.

PS: This totally counts as breakfast food, right? I think that was my mom's rule. Fruit, grain, dairy... good to go?? That is of course assuming you have leftovers...

BONUS TIP! To easily peel peaches, cut an "x" in the end opposite the stem and immerse in boiling water. The riper the peach the less time it needs... anywhere between 10 seconds and a minute. Set the peach to cool for a moment before peeling and cutting. Remember, be careful with your knife when handling the peaches... they get a little extra slippery when you peel them this way!


Your turn! What summer dessert have you been anticipating? What's your favorite way to eat a peach?

Burgers, 5 ways

Hamburger plans for the fourth feeling a little blah? I love playing around with different burger combos, so I've rounded up a few favorites in case you need a little inspiration.

1) Cheeseburger with bacon, smoked cheddar, and barbeque sauce.  A classic. Remember, everything is made better by bacon. And don't come near my burger with American cheese, 4th of July or not.

2) Burger with feta, fried green tomato, and balsamic glaze. Our local place calls this the "Sweet Southerner". I always order it with extra balsamic, which makes it super messy, but OH SO good.

3) Southwest style. Mix chopped cilantro, cumin, cinnamon, and as much hot sauce as you want in with your ground beef when forming the patties. Top with pepper jack cheese and salsa or guacamole if you want some coolness.

4) Breakfast burger. Top with a fried egg, cheese of your choice, and spinach. If you really want to go all in, serve it on a bagel or with hollandaise sauce.  Just don't do this one often!

5) Caprese burger. This is my current favorite. Top your burger with mozzarella, tomato, and basil. You can also use balsamic here, but if you've got a flavorful tomato it doesn't need it. You could also mix balsamic and dried basil in with the beef, especially if you're having trouble with burgers drying out.

General burger tips:

• Use higher fat beef for burgers. It'll drip out as it cooks. Save the 93% lean stuff for casseroles and tacos. ;) 
• When forming your patties, make them a little concave. They puff in the middle when cooking, and they'll have a more uniform shape this way. 
• Also remember they shrink! Make them a bit bigger than the bun you want to put them on. 

Your turn! What is your favorite way to serve a burger? Is your go-to beef, or does another burger base stand in the spotlight?

Have a happy fourth of July everyone! Remember, be safe out there and don't drink and drive.