Butternut Squash and Bleu Cheese Pasta

This meal was yummy.  Seriously seriously excellent.  We had a large swim meet the other weekend, and it took a bit of organizing and planning to have good meals the following week.  I'm not complaining, because I do like being a volunteer at activities my child has chosen, but it's a lot to have 12-16 hour days at a pool on a weekend and turn around and get ready for the week.  Both girls raved about my awesome meals which made me really happy because the weekend prior was CRAZY.

The swim meet was a blast with Olympians swimming along with our age groupers.  There is a bit of added stress with the parking situation, trying to get my girls where they need to be and being the assistant volunteer coordinator.  And baking some potatoes and making dip in between for the coaches.  I shouldn't forget about snow removal duties on the homefront either. Ah...what fun!  And work is really really busy right now:)

I bought a value package of chicken breasts and parceled that out into 3 meals the week following the meet. and this was the other recipe.  The picture doesn't show much squash; however, there was plenty of squash in most helpings as well.

Preventionrd's meals tend to be a good place for me to find a recipe or two. I changed this a bit from her original using skim milk instead of the 2%.

Creamy Butternut Squash Cavatappi
4 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash aka one squash's worth
2 1/2 tsp olive oil, divided
1/2 tsp kosher salt, 
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, 
8 oz uncooked cavatappi
1 cup (~1/2) onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup skim, divided
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 large egg yolks
2 oz blue cheese, crumbled (about 1/2 cup)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Combine squash, 1 1/2 teaspoons oil,  salt, and  pepper on a jelly-roll pan. Bake at 425 F for 24 minutes or until tender, stirring once.

Cook the pasta. Drain pasta; keep warm.

Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion and garlic; sauté 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in 1/2 cup milk. Combine remaining 1/2 cup milk, flour, and yolks in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Slowly add egg mixture to pan, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring frequently with a whisk.

Combine squash, pasta, and milk mixture in a large bowl; toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with cheese.

Pasta with Butternut Squash and Spinach

www.skinnytaste.com

Butternut Squash Spicy Sausage and Spinach Pasta recipe

I thought this sounded like just the yummy thing for a bit of pre-swimming carbs for the girls.  I bought the spinach but ended up using the entire pound in green smoothies....and that's not a bad thing.  Eleanor was fighting a bit of a cold, so I loaded her up on the orange juice, banana, strawberry, and spinach smoothies.  Along with what we call "Paul's concoction" (a not so secret blend of hot water, lemon, and honey), a bit of rest and some Airborne, I think she may be fighting off this bug.  Anyway, all this did mean that I needed to re-load on the baby spinach so I could make this recipe.

As you know, I am struggling with the mid week grocery runs; however, I was "lucky" enough to have a medical appointment mid week above Whole Foods.  Ah, lucky.  It was time for a female exam, something I rate somewhere between poking my eyes out and sitting at the DMV.  I guess that's the reason I have skipped a time or two (no, I didn't make the appointment and not show up....I just didn't schedule it).  I was dreading going to this appointment since I thought I may be reprimanded for:
1.  Not going for a couple years
2.  Drinking coffee
3.  Drinking wine
4. Having jiggly thighs and hairy legs

Ah....none of the above; although I did what I could by shaving my legs the morning of my appointment.   I really really like my GYN.  OK, I have to admit I like her best when I run into her in the hall or the grocery store rather than in stirrups.  But, all is seemingly well.  And, as a bonus, I got to run into Whole Foods to get the spinach! She has a good gift of making you feel OK about things, so I have to revise my ranking scale. like going to see her much better than I had made up for a few months.  She's way way way better than going to the DMV...more efficient and much more pleasant.  I'm not sure how she would feel about that ranking, so I'll have to think on one that's a bit more accurate.  Sometimes I need to meet with her in a work sort of way, and I suspect she puts me in the DMV category at that time too.  Ah, the things we must do!

But, let me get back to the spinach and the tortillas.  I ran to Whole Foods after my appointment before walking back to work and grabbed spinach and tortillas.  Really, I should have gotten a treat for myself too, but I didn't...preferring to get back to work to minimize the time away from my desk so I wouldn't need to stay so late.

The tortillas....Paul's been stepping it up a bit on meals though his tend to focus primarily on the red meat group.  However, we had leftover steak...and some sliced bell peppers in the freezer, and two avocados (I don't remember why), so...with some tortillas we were able to have a fajita night.  Yay.....it came together quickly for a dinner wedged between a violin concert and a swim practice.

This dinner, the pasta with butternut squash and spinach was made by Paul for all of us.  Eleanor and I were at a swim meet and Luisa was at a basketball game.  We all enjoyed this meal though.  Good combination of spicy sausage and the pasta.  

Squash Soup

Wolfgang Puck's Squash Soup

I have raved about the "other" squash soup recipe.  You know, the one with apples and apple cider.  I was looking for another one; I still like the original, but I like this one too.  It's just a bit more savory than the other recipe.  We're a squash and pumpkin family, eating both of those items with great frequency in the fall and winter.  As I'm sure you can tell from my recipes, there is plenty of pumpkin and squash to be eaten here.  the curry and apple flavors are delicious, but it's fun to have some other flavors as well.

I like to roast the squash whole with a few fork pricks in it.  None of this trying to chop it in half for me.  That's just crazy.  I remember my mom hitting the squash with a hatchet in the garage before baking the squash halves.  Yikes.....we need to be done with that method.  I'm not sure what crazy person thought of that idea.  The "baked potato" method is much better, so that's what I did for this recipe.  I did not rub the squash with butter either.  I really did use the cream...it did give it some great flavors.

I haven't been a dedicated blogger this fall.  In part because of my full time job status....in part because of computer availability with two teenagers in the house....and I haven't been too creative lately and have been sticking with some old favorites.

I decreased the butter to about half of what the original recipe said.  And the only garnish we had...pumpkin seeds.

I guess I can't have too many good sqaush soup recipes!

Squash Soup

Squash Soup
OK...maybe everyone has this recipe by now.  If so, that's because it's a good one.

1 T butter
2 large onions, chopped
4-5 t curry powder
2 T brown sugar
3 c chicken stock
2 c apple cider
2 1/2-3 lb squash, peeled and chopped (or poke a few holes in it and bake until soft)
2 apples, peeled and chopped
salt and pepper
optional garnishes:  plain yogurt or sour cream, parsley, bleu cheese, chives

Melt butter in stockpot.  Add onion and curry powder.  Cook until onions are soft.  Stir in brown sugar.  Add stock, cider, squash, and apples.  Simmer until tender.  Process until smooth or simply mash in pan.

This one is a classic around here, and I don't think we have had a fall without it in years and years.  A friend of mine was telling me that she enjoys a similar soup at our local City Market; however, theirs does not have apple.  Lucky for her since she has an apple allergy.  That did get me to thinking that this may be good with pears instead...maybe pear juice substituted for the apple cider.  I'm going to try that next time; however, my plan is to omit the brown sugar since pear juice seems a bit sweeter to me.

If you're not a curry fan, this may be a good way to get a bit of good-for-you tumeric into your body:)

White Chicken Lasagna

White Chicken Lasagna adapted from: One Ordinary Day

Recipe:  White Chicken Lasagna

lasagna noodles  (I used no-bake noodles – about one box.)
2 T. butter
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. flour
2 c. chicken broth
2 c. nonfat milk 
2 c. Italian blend cheese, divided  
1/4 c. shredded  Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
1 c. part-skim ricotta cheese
1 1/2 c. cooked and shredded chicken ( I used grilled )
1 small box frozen spinach, thawed and drained; liquid squeezed out
1 small box frozen butternut squash puree, thawed

Melt butter in a large saucepot.  Add onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until translucent.  Add flour, salt, and pepper.  Cook flour mixture 1-2 minutes.  Add chicken broth and milk.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir 1 minute.  Turn off heat and add 1 cup mozzarella cheese.  Stir in dried spices.

Lightly spray a 9×13″ baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Ladle some cheese sauce onto the bottom to thinly cover.  Add a layer of lasagna noodles.  Layer with more cheese sauce, the chicken, and the ricotta cheese.  Add another layer of pasta.  Top with cheese sauce, and spinach.  Add another layer of pasta.  Top with cheese sauce.  Using a spoon, spread the butternut squash puree over the cheese sauce.  Top with remaining 1 c. mozzarella cheese.  Add final layer of lasagna.  Top with remaining cheese sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and continue to cook until bubbly.  If cheese doesn’t brown on top, turn on the broiler for the last couple minutes.  Allow lasagna to sit about 15 minutes before serving for easier slicing.

My recipe significantly decreased the cheese called for in the original (or more original) recipe.  We liked it...so not ever having the really cheesy version....I would say it's a good idea to decrease the fat.   In addition to learning that it is good even with decreased cheese, I learned that squash can be purchased in the frozen vegetable section.  Honestly, I never knew that!  It's probably because I end up with quite a bit in my freezer during squash season.  That's a good thing to know since it may serve as part of a back up plan at some point.

Those grilled chicken breasts sure come in handy since that added some nice flavor to this dish.  It's a great plan to have a few of those frozen for recipes such as this. 

The blog linked above has a gorgeous picture of this lasagna. Although it would be delicious with a salad, I admit that this is all we had for dinner that night.  Paul was skeptical about this but converted to a fan after one bite.

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Beef Stew with Butternut Squash

 Beef Stew with Butternut Squash
Another one of those library finds, The Way We Cook: Recipes from the New American Kitchen

This seemed like just the thing to make for Paul on his return from Asia....I figured he has had his fill of fish and other ocean delights and will be ready for a beef/squash/pepper meal.  It does have rice in it, so he doesn't have to stop his Asian diet cold turkey! Stew is always better the next day, right?  So, if he isn't hungry when he gets home this should work for the next day/week as well. And our Wisconsin stew season is coming to an end as we're possibly getting to spring and lighter meals take over the menu.

I turned this into a slowcooker recipe by adding only 1 quart water to the slow cooker to the browned onion and meat mixture.  I had roasted the peppers and cut the squash a couple days prior to making this to assist in it coming together quickly.  I added the squash and rice when stopping home about 3pm...eating this around 7:30pm.  So, it probably isn't good for a day when no one is home to throw those ingredients in part way through the day.   Since the squash was cut, I measured the rice and oregano  before leaving in the morning so it took just a few seconds to throw it in....'cause that's all the time I have (time to let the dog out and change into Y clothes).

Let's see.  I adapted this recipe by putting the stew in the crockpot...and decreasing the water.  I decreased the beef a small bit too.  Also, I roasted a red bell pepper with the poblanos and added that.  They were on sale, so I bought a couple red peppers and thought the red would be a pretty addition to this stew.   I used an entire butternut squash which I suspect is more than a pound and cut the chunks a bit larger since I didn't want it to be too squishy after being in the crockpot. Oh, and I used brown rice. It needed a bit of salt and pepper at serving time...but it was tasty.

Sadly enough, as spring in the midwest can be, the day I made this was better suited to grilling than to serving stew; however, it still was cool enough outside that it was tasty.  It is a bit hard to eat stew when smelling neighbor's grills!  Ah, next week will probably bring different weather. I am starting to feel a cooking/planning slump coming on, so I'm hoping I can get out of it quickly!

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Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with dried cranberries and chocolate chips

So, have you discovered Stumbleupon.com yet? If not, you need to go and start stumbling.  Basically this website allows you to pick interest areas and then you click on the "stumble" button and the computer randomly takes you to websites that might interest you.  Totally addicting, but I have found some fun recipes and some fun crafts.

I received another pie pumpkin in the CSA box last week so I decided to try this recipe that I found while stumbling!  I cooked the pumpkin and then created this cookie dough. They were such a hit, that a second batch was made this week and I remembered to take a picture! Last week I made the cookies with pumpkin, this week I used squash...one more interchangeable use! Hopefully my loyal blog followers aren't getting overloaded on squash recipes...I know that I am starting to think we are going to all have an orange tint to our skin soon :)

This makes a lot of cookies, so I made about 2 dozen frozen dough balls for a later baking...I also added about 1/8 cup of flax seed meal to the recipe(ground flax seed) and the flavor wasn't altered at all.  Enjoy!

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Multigrain Pumpkin Pancakes

This recipe was born because of my overabundance of winter squash. I called them pumpkin pancakes because that seems to me to be a more appealing name than Squash pancakes, but I used winter squash not pumpkin.  I have found that the two are very interchangeable, so you may use whatever you like! These are fantastic and we have gone through 2 batches in the last few days.

1 c flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1/4 c ground flax seed
1/2 c oats(either quick or old fashioned)
4 T corn meal
4 T brown sugar
3 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1 t salt
2 c milk
1/2 c pumpkin or winter squash puree
2 T oil
1/2 c egg beaters or 2 eggs

Blend dry ingredients. Blend wet ingredients, add wet to dry and cook on griddle.


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Winter Minestrone

 Winter Minestrone with Swiss Chard and Sausage

 I made a huge pot of this the day after I received both Swiss Chard and Kale in my Fall CSA box.  I altered the recipe a bit, adding summer squash and beans from the freezer, also from my CSA earlier in the year. This is a great, hearty winter soup. My daughter was a bit upset at the inclusion of squash and the inadvertent omission of pasta(when I made this, I omitted the pasta because it was going straight into the freezer), but the rest of us thought it was quite tasty! When I serve it next, I will cook some pasta so everyone can add as much as they would like.  A salad and some fresh bread rounded out a great meal.
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Squash, Chickpea and Red lentil Stew

Photo from Eatingwell.com

 Squash Chickpea and Red Lentil Stew from EatingWell.com


 I found this recipe and thought it might be a great way to use squash and get my family to enjoy it...they love lentils and garbanzo beans, so I thought I had a winner. While I found this quite tasty, no one else did. Jack and Brian ate it but Meghan felt it resembled baby food.  I served it over brown rice and because of my squash abundance, I doubled the recipe! The texture is a bit mushy and the flavor leans to the bland side but given the ingredients, this is what I had expected. Jack's suggestion, which I will employ with the left overs, is to add spicy sausage to give it a kick.

The moral of this story is most of my squash will have to be prepared to be used in pies and breads...I will keep those sweet acorns for lunches for me, but I guess the rest just needs to become puree. My version looked just like the picture above, but my kids didn't think the recipe was blog-worthy so they didn't want me to take a picture. To the author of the recipe and the photographer of the photo above, thanks, I thought it was pretty good!


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