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dinner

Tasty

Quinoa & Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash

December 9, 2013

Quinoa Sausage Squash

Most Sunday’s result in me being over the whole “cooking thing,” despite the fact I love a great Sunday dinner.  But this past weekend I sucked it up and got to the kitchen and tried a recipe that has been on my mind for awhile.  The best part(s)?  It was quick, beautiful AND delicious.  And guess what – even J ate it (he usually see’s quinoa and runs).

It also was the perfect recipe to take for leftovers the next day!

Filled Acorn Squash

Quinoa & Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash

Adapted from Bite by Michelle

  • 2 acorn squash, halved & seeded
  • 3/4 cup quinoa, cooked according to box’s directions (I used tricolor)
  • 4 links hot Italian turkey sausage, meat removed from links
  • 1/2 yellow onion, diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1/4 cup pecans, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 10 fresh sage leaves, chopped
  • 1 Granny Apple, unpeeled & seeded & chopped
  • 1/4 cup dried Bing cherries
  • Freshly grated Parmesan
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt/Pepper
  1. Line baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment and drizzle with olive oil.
  2. Place squash halves cut side down (I rubbed them around in the olive oil to make sure they were coated well) and roast for 25 minutes until tender.
  3. Heat a skillet over medium high heat (this is the first time I used my cast iron pan… eeeekkk!!) and add a couple tablespoons of olive oil.
  4. Once warm, add onion, bell pepper, garlic, sage and pecans. Saute for 10 minutes.
  5. Add sausage and break up with a spoon (I kept the veggies on one side of the pan and uncooked meat on the other). Once the pinkness is gone, stir the mixture together and remove from heat.
  6. Fold in cooked quinoa, apples and cherries and fill cooked squash halves with mixture.  Top with freshly grated Parmesan and be prepared to have your taste buds become EXTRA happy!

Cranberry Apple Quinoa filled Acorn Squash

*My tip is to chop everything finely and evenly.  It makes it look beautiful and makes the flavors really develop when you truly are getting a taste of each ingredient in every bite!

Bon appetit!

Tasty

Sunday Dinner

December 2, 2013

Goat Cheese Tomato Biscuits

I hosted a family dinner yesterday and was excited to spend the afternoon whipping up some comfort food for my favorite people.

Menu 

Kale Cherry Salad

I have spoken praises of Deb from Smitten Kitchen for quite awhile now and her blog is always at the top of my reading list, so when she came out with a cookbook, I knew I had to get my hands on it.  It is filled with an amazing line-up of yummy dishes and they are the types of meals you want to share with loved ones.  So get yourself a copy and start working your way through her amazing creations!

Tomato Glazed Meatballs

Tomato Glazed Meatballs (Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Glaze

Ingredients:

  • 4 teaspoons vegetable oil
  • ¼ cup tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, and whisk constantly over low hear until well combined.
  2. Remove from heat and set aside while preparing meatballs.

Meatloaves

Ingredients:

  • 2 slices sandwich bread, torn up
  • 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
  • 1 medium stalk celery, coarsely chopped
  • 1 medium carrot, coarsely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt, and more to taste
  • Black pepper, to taste
  • 2 1/2 pounds ground turkey or beef
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

  1. Set the oven at 350 degrees.
  2. Put torn bread pieces into a food processor and pulse until breadcrumbs are formed.
  3. Transfer breadcrumbs to a large bowl.
  4. Pulse the veggies (onion, garlic, celery, and carrot) in the processor until finely chopped.
  5. Coat a large pan in olive oil and heat over medium heat.
  6. Add the vegetable mixture, salt, and pepper.
  7. Cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes – until the vegetables begin to brown.
  8. Mix the vegetables into the breadcrumbs.
  9. Add the meat, tomato paste, paprika, mustard, and Worcestershire.
  10. Use your hands to thoroughly blended mixture (don’t over mix!).
  11. With wet hands, form the mixture into meatballs (about 2-3 inches wide – whatever your preference is)
  12. Place meatballs in a 9×13 baking dish.  Make sure they are at least an inch away from one another.
  13. Brush each meatball with a generous brush of tomato glaze.
  14. Bake for 20 minutes or until they are cooked through.
  15. Serve with additional glaze, atop browned butter mashed potatoes.

Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes (Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

  • 2 lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes
  • 1 stick unsalted butter (8 Tablespoons)
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 tsp table salt
  • Freshly ground pepper
  1. Peel potatoes and chop into 1/6ths.  Immediately transfer to a large pot filled with salted ice water.
  2. Once all potatoes are peeled and transferred to the pot, boil them over high heat until tender (about 20 minutes) – you should be able to easily pierce them with a fork.
  3. Drain potatoes and transfer to a Kitchen Aid bowl.
  4. Brown butter and transfer final product to potatoes.  Also add buttermilk and turn Kitchen Aid on at a low setting.
  5. Stir until combined and add salt/pepper to taste.
  6. Enjoy the most decadent mashed potatoes ever!
Tasty

Hearty Soup

October 30, 2013

Butternut Squash Soup with Pumpkin Seeds

I love the fact that soup is such a versatile food item – it can be a great snack, lunch, starter, dinner… it is relatively easy to make, and (as they say) good for the soul (or is that just chicken soup?!).  One of my favorite soups is my sister Taylor’s homemade Butternut Squash soup.

Squash Soup

So make sure to hit up your local farmers market – pick up some butternut squash, celery, onion, carrot, garlic and herbs and get to the kitchen!

From Threads – By Taylor Feezor

TATA’S BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP:

  • 1 butternut squash (halved… or if you are me and have been told many elaborate stories of forewarning injury due to watermelon or squash cutting by your mother…. quartered)
  • 1 head of garlic
  • olive oil
  • sea/ kosher salt
  • fresh thyme
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 1 carrot
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • drizzle of garlic and jalapeno olive oil after the soup is bowled

1. Halve or quarter your squash. The rinds are thick, so BE CAREFUL. I quartered mine because my new knives terrify me (I draped kitchen towels on the other end of them to get a nice grip when cutting down through them… recommend!), and noticed after baking that I might have lost some moisture doing this. The cut edge also was less soft than the inside. Do half if you HAVE THE COURAGE.

2. Take the seeds out, remove as much pith and fiber as you can from them. You are going to put these on the baking sheet and make seeds to use for later. FUN!

3. Drizzle olive oil, rub on the surfaces with your hands, sprinkle salt, stuff the cavity with fresh thyme if you have it, sprinkle whole squash with dried thyme if you don’t.

4. Cut tip off of head of garlic, place in middle of baking sheet. Sprinkle with too much olive oil, too much salt. Mix butternut seeds with this extra, cascading olive oil. Keep the whole bit near center of pan to keep things from burning. Some seeds strayed from the pack and the edge ones got burnt immediately.

5. Bake everything at 425 for 40-60 minutes. Squash is done when a fork goes through easily. You’ll know. During this baking time, I threw in a loaf of parbaked bread from TJ’s (12 minutes), and quartered leeks with olive oil and salt on another pan. They get crispy and taste like onion shoe strings (30 minutes). Great on the side, and this whole party in my oven (squash/seeds/garlic/bread/leeks) helps cut down on the old PG&E Bill.

6. WHILE ITS BAKING:

Pan fry yellow onion, thinly sliced celery and carrots in olive oil until everything becomes soft and translucent in a huge ceramic pot (or something that you will eventually be able to add everything to and run through it with a hand blender). Add 4 cups of chicken stock (trick I like…. add a little more of the bullion base than you should to the water. I think it is what made this so good).

Take out butternut, scrape it with a spoon after its cooled a little, add to your big pot of other stuff. Add 4 cloves of roasted garlic to the soup. Run through everything with a hand blender for about 5 minutes. If you want more protein, add the cubes of turkey breast from Thanksgiving your mom gifted to you when you moved in. Drizzle top with the garlic and jalapeno olive oil, and enjoy!

A big congrats to Christa Pulling – the winner of the PopSugar Must Have Box giveaway!!

Tasty

Mediterranean Meal

September 9, 2013

I was looking for a “healthy” summer dinner that I could put together in under an hour… 4 courses later and with MANY minutes to spare, dinner was on the table!
Greek Meal

Menu:

Halomui Salad

The salad is easy to whip up… I did the following:

  1. Cubed half a watermelon.
  2. Tear about 15 leaves of mint onto watermelon.
  3. Top with 3 slices of grilled halloumi cheese (you want grill marks and will get some yummy, melty cheese)
  4. Squeeze juice of one lemon onto salad.

Giant BeansThe beans are from Trader Joe’s and great warmed up straight out of the jar… I mean I spent hours slaving on them… oh wait…

Watermelon SaladWe also sliced and grilled zucchini on kebabs on the grill while the cheese cooked… a super delicious, light and tasty meal!

Tasty

Nacho Party

August 19, 2013

We were looking for a fun way to mix up Sunday night dinners… so after a morning at the lake and an afternoon in the pool no one was in the mood to slave in the kitchen… so was born – a Nacho Party!

Nachos

I spread chips on a baking sheet and sprinkled beans and shredded cheese on top.  A baked them in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for about 5 minutes (or until cheese is melted).

Tips: 

  • Chips should be medium thickness – greasy or super thin/thick chips will not make for great nachos.  Tostitos Simply Natural or the Organic Trader Joe’s chips are great options. 
  • Cheese that melts well is critical.  I made three separate baking sheets of chips – 1. Monterey Jack/Pepper Jack Blend, 2. Mild Cheddar, 3. Combination of 1 & 2

Chips

Prepare toppings in separate bowls for your guests to choose their own toppings.

Suggestions: 

  • Meat (I bought pre-marinated Carne Asada and Pollo Asada at TJ’s)
  • Guacamole/Salsa/Sour Cream
  • Cilantro
  • Radishes
  • Avocado
  • Diced Tomatoes

Toppings

Fiesta time!!! Stay tuned Friday for a great cocktail recipe to make for your Nacho Party 🙂

Nacho Party