Butternut squash chili

Tonight I made butternut squash chili. I got the idea from my sister-in-law, but that was last year and I didn't get a recipe, but I found this one:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Butternut-Squash-and-Turkey-Chili/Detail.aspx?soid=recs_recipe_seed

I cut up a sweet onion, two cloves of garlic and prepared a butternut squash. I only used half of a large squash, the rest is in the fridge.
I started the onion and garlic in oil, then added the squash. When the onion looked translucent, I started to add the tomatoes, beans (rinsed slightly), and green Chiles. I also defrosted some frozen corn in the microwave and added that instead of hominy. Then I added some cumin and chili powder. I simmered everything for 20minutes, but the squash was still a little hard, so turned up the heat for another 5 minutes. The squash was in 1inch chunks, so smaller chunks might have cooked faster.

I added some shredded cheese and sour cream on top. Served with the multigrain bread, since I have a lot leftover. Cornbread would also taste good with this.

Butternut squash and kale soup

Have barely cooked all week so I still have a fridge full of food. On Wednesday I took the time to peel and chop a butternut squash. This was a good use of time. I was able to quickly prepare one serving for lunch on Friday and two servings for dinner on Friday by microwaving for 3 minutes then mashing with cinnamon.

The whole reason I prepared the squash was to make soup with the kale.

Butternut squash and kale soup
2 large tomatoes, cut into quarters,
1 leek, sliced in half lengthwise, almost to tip, but keep intact
1/4 onion, cut in half
6 garlic cloves whole,
2 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 4-5 pieces
Celery root, peeled and cut into chunks
1 Yukon potato
Olive oil for roasting
6-8 cups chicken stock
3 leaves crinkle kale, cut into small pieces
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs thyme
1 can cannellini beans, rinsed
1 can kidney beans, rinsed

I brushed a jelly roll pan with olive oil, added my vegetables and then add more oil to the vegetables and stirred it around. Maybe a real roasting pan would have been a better choice... easier to stir. Stir a couple times while cooking.

Vegetables roasted at 400degrees for 30minutes, until tender.

I put 5 cups chicken broth in my Dutch oven with the thyme and bay leaf. Brought to a boil.

Picked through the roasted vegetables. Put the onion, garlic without the peel, and tomato into my blender and blended until smooth.

The rest of the vegetables I transferred to the cutting board and sliced into smaller pieces. Maybe I should have roasted them as small pieces, so I didn't have to cut them again while hot. As it was I still had big chunks of vegetables.

I put everything in with the kale and stock, then added the beans. I then added a couple turns of the salt grinders and peppercorn grinder. My stock was low sodium, so not a lot of salt except for what I added.

I simmered this for 15 minutes.

Served hot with crusty French roll. Yum!

Bert liked the soup fine. I thought it was still kind of bland. In my second helping I added some curry powder, and that helped. I like curry flavor. Also need to figure out the right size for the vegetable cut.

Unstuffed Cabbage

They gave me a giant head of cabbage, so I had plenty for another recipe.

Unstuffed Cabbage- makes about 6 servings
1 pound chicken sausage (apple chardonnay flavor)
1/2 onion chopped
14 oz can diced tomatoes
3oz tomato paste
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon chili powder
Salt to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste
5 cups shredded cabbage

In my large non-stick skillet I started by heating the sausage with the onion until the onion was a little soft. I cut the onion into half rings, because I wanted to match the size with the cabbage pieces. Next I added the tomatoes, vinegar, salt and pepper. Then I folded in the cabbage. I cooked that for about 10minutes.

I actually used red chili pepper flakes, which made the dish super spicy so I added a little sugar to try to balance the flavor.

This was okay. I served it with roasted potatoes (which I thought were a little burned). The dish was very spicy. The sausage was tasty. If I made it again I would leave out the red pepper flakes.

We ate this for leftovers a couple nights later. We served it with rice, which really improved the flavor.

Stuffed Pepper

For stuffed peppers tonight I used:

1 cup 10minute Uncle Ben's Brown Rice
1 head of Asian Greens
8oz V8 low sodium vegetable juice
2 chicken sausage links
2 medium tomatoes
3 peppers
Shredded cheese blend, low fat


I started the water boiling for the peppers. While that was boiling, I cleaned and cut the pepper and greens. The greens taste like cabbage.  I also started the rice, which took 10 minutes.

When the large pot of water was boiling I added the greens' stems first, then the peppers (I cut those in half this time so they would fit in the pot). I brought that back to boiling then added the green leaves. After a minute or two I drained off the water and returned it to the large pot so I could add the diced tomato, rice and chicken sausage. Last time I made stuffed peppers, I thought it was dry, so this time I added the vegetable juice.  Seasoned with salt and ground peppercorn.

I scooped the filling into the pepper halves and arranged in a baking dish. I sprinkled cheese on top, covered and baked in the oven, convection setting, for 20minutes. It was heated through after 20minutes.

This took about 1.5 hours, cooking on my own. Not sure Bert would have saved me much time since there was time spent waiting for water to boil.

Ratatouille

I made ratatouille tonight so I can bring my lunch to work this week. I did have to stop by the store to pick up a summer squash, since I realized just today that I didn't actually get one in my box this week! And so ends the summer squash season. The farms might have some for the Farmer's market, but maybe not enough to put in the CSA boxes. Even the grocery store was almost out of zucchini. There was one left.  I didn't take it, but the summer squash looked okay, so I took one of those.

I used
1 large onion
Some garlic cloves
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
The thin eggplant
The summer squash
3 small tomatoes
Salt
Oregano
Basil

I used some suggestions from this recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ratatouille-recipe0.html

I started with the onion and garlic, cooked that a little, then added the eggplant, cooked that a little, then added the rest except tomato and cooked that a little. Then I added the tomatoes, salt, oregano, and basil and covered. It simmered for probably 40minutes. I pulled out an eggplant piece and it was really good! Now it is cooling and then I'll eat it the rest of the week.
I am going to try it with lentils tomorrow, and maybe again for dinner with an egg. I also have crusty French rolls that will taste good with it.

This is before I cooked it down.

Besides the chopping, which I am getting better at, this was fairly quick and easy. Emeril's recipe only cooked it for 5 extra minutes instead of 40minutes, so I could probably save some time there.

I used some of the juice from the ratatouille to flavor my water for the lentils. Should be good!

Stuffed peppers

Tonight I made a new dish! Stuffed peppers.
I had one medium red bell pepper, 1 large green bell pepper, 1 small red bell pepper. Leftover eggplant and squash from the previous recipe and leftover bulgur, already cooked. We also defrosted two chicken sausage links (Thin and Trim brand).

I boiled the peppers in a large pot of boiling water for like 5 minutes. I diced the squash and eggplant that had already been sauteed and seasoned earlier in the day and cut up a medium tomato. I mixed all of my vegetables with sausage pieces together. I cut the soft peppers in half, then filled them with my stuffing. I then sprinkled cheese on the top and baked it in the oven at 350 for maybe 30minutes, took it out, sprinkled on more cheese, and put it in for another 5 minutes. Done.

Bert didn't have any complaints as he shoveled it into his mouth. I thought the stuffing was kind of dry and maybe would taste better with some tomato sauce to bring everything together.

Made enough for four servings (two nights) for us.

We each ate half of the green pepper. Tomorrow we will share the red peppers since those are smaller we can each eat a whole one (or share the halves since the small pepper is very small).

A new dish

Last night I made Summer Tian, recipe here:
https://stillmansfarm.wordpress.com/

This took a little longer to make than I anticipated, probably because I didn't really pay attention to the baking time until I put it in the oven. Oops!
I started making the dish around 6pm and we ate around 7:30pm, a little later than I like.

I sliced the onion and garlic, Bert sauteed it. I then sliced 1 summer squash, 1 skinny eggplant, 2 baby red potatoes, 1 large tomato. It was too much. I had squash and eggplant leftover.  I salted the eggplant a little before adding it to the dish.

I baked it for 30minutes, then added the cheese and baked for another 15minutes. The potatoes were still a little hard, so maybe needs 35-40minutes before adding the cheese. The cheese was crispy after 15minutes. While the cheese baked I made tilapia, fresh, from Trader Joes. Used my grill pan to cook the fish. The fish had a little heat and was pretty tasty.

Overall the tian was okay. An acceptable way to eat eggplant.

Tonight we ate leftovers. I rolled the leftovers into a whole wheat wrap to add a few more calories. I also boiled the beets, and used the beet water to make bulgur for lunch tomorrow. I didn't get any greens this week, so I was lazy with packing my lunch. A salad is so easy to bring to work! Without a salad I have to come up with other lunch ideas that don't involve leftovers, because I really don't want to cook every night. It is easier when my lunch can be tossed together in the morning. Tomorrow I'll bring in the beets, bulgur and some cucumber... and call it a salad I guess. The bulgur is 10minute variety from TJ's. Cooks up really easy.

Zucchini muffins

I am almost done with the box from last week.
Last night I made pasta. I stir fried the zucchini, then decided to add Italian style stewed tomatoes, and 1 cup white kidney beans. This made enough for two nights. I cut up all my cucumbers for the beach tomorrow and hope they are all eaten.

Tonight I made zucchini muffins. I followed the recipe my mom gave me for zucchini bread. Divided it in half since I didn't need two loaves of bread. I made 12, 1/2 cup muffins.  I had one rather large, but not extra large zucchini. I grated it, then tried to squeeze out the extra water. I used canola oil instead of "Crisco oil" not sure if that is what she meant by Crisco oil or if she meant the thick white paste-like oil. The original recipe called for three eggs, so I used 1 egg and 1 egg white figuring that was about half an egg. There were no instructions about greasing the pan, but I did anyways. I used my canola oil Misto in each cup then wiped up the extra around the edges and the large drops in the middle. Baked at 350 for about 25minutes and they came out golden brown. Can't wait to taste! So far it looks like it was a good idea to grease the pan. After they cooled for a few minutes, I removed the muffins to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Also, I bought organic cotton produce bags to use instead of plastic when we go to the store and for storage at home. Amazon and reviewers of these cotton sacks suggested they could be used for storing lettuce and "keeps lettuce leaves fresh for a long time." Umm, compared to what? We'll just have to wait and see! When I received the bags I washed them in the laundry with cold water, then air dried all but the one I wanted to use for lettuce. The bag was damp, as suggested on the website, and I placed my lettuce leaves in the bag. Today, about two days later the bag was getting dry and the leaves a little wilted, so I wet the bag again. We'll see how the leaves look tomorrow. The leaves were certainly edible today, and I might have been able to revive them a little with a rinse in vinegar/water.


Things left to use
1 bunch kale
1 bunch arugula
A few leaves of red leaf lettuce

And I finished all the pickles, mine and my mom's! My mom's pickles are so much better than the ones I made. I will need to try her recipe for real next time.

Trying to compost

Today's box:
1 giant head of red leaf lettuce
4 cucumbers
4 ears of corn
1 bunch kale
1 bunch arugula
1 bunch small beets (white beets with red veins)
1 pepper
1 onion
2 tomatoes
1/2 pint blueberries

I also picked up: Cisco's Light Sankaty to try.

My mom also left behind two small cucumbers and a handful of green leaf lettuce... and a jar of her refrigerator pickles. Although, I did say it was okay to leave me the lettuce and pickles. I could tell she didn't want to drag them back home with her... and she had just told me that she made another 4 jars before making the trip down, so I knew she had plenty to spare.

After washing all the lettuce I looked at the remaining stump and realized that it was ridiculous for this to all end up in the landfill in a plastic bag! And I feel it is too much for my garbage disposal to take. Especially since I think that the more I use the disposal the greater the chance I am going to break it and need to hire a plumber to fix it. I finally decided to buy into a composting group:
http://bootstrapcompost.com/
They will pick up a 5gallon compost bucket every two weeks. Three times a year I think they return some compost to you or donate it to Boston school gardens. I opted for donation since I don't have my own garden! Can I write off the compost donation on my taxes??

Well, the bucket might arrive too late for today, but hopefully I'll get one later this week.

I peeled the beets and started those roasting. That is when I realized they were white beets with red veins. So far I had only received traditional dark red/purple beets. I have already pulled them out of the oven and tried a few. So tasty and earthy!

Since the oven was on anyway, I kept working and made my mom's Italian Bake.  Not a drop of Italian blood in us, but this is a good use of my CSA! I had scratched out the recipe on a post-it note like 4 years ago. I must have been on the phone with my mom at the time, because there were limited details. This is what I did this time:

Italian Bake
4 small zukes or eggplant
1/2 onion
16oz tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic
Oregano to taste
Shredded cheese
Bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350. I sauteed the onion and garlic in a little oil, then added the tomato sauce until warm. Added some oregano. I used the mandolin to slice my vegetables to 1/4 inch. I used 1 yellow squash, 1 Zuke, 2 thin long eggplant. I sprinkled a little salt on them.

Next I layered the vegetables, then tomato/onion mix, then cheese, then repeat. Topped with cheese and breadcrumbs and more oregano.  It is baking as I type. I will let you know how it turns out. I wonder if 1) I should put breadcrumbs within the layers 2) it is better to sauté the onion first, or just boil in the sauce?

We will also make the corn tonight and stir fry some chicken.

Green Pizza

For lunch I have been eating lettuce with cucumber, lentils, roasted beets, low fat feta cheese and low fat Caesar dressing. It is a very filling and tasty salad, but I still eat a peach and maybe some crackers with it.

Tonight I made the Green Pizza from a previous post. I cut up one small onion and 3 cloves of garlic. I used Swiss Chard. I trimmed the stalks from the leaves and sauteed the stalks with the onion and garlic first. After those were tender, I added the damp leaves and covered. I tossed once. I decided to not use the pie pan this time, too many dishes. I was able to put the pan I used for sauteeing into the oven after spreading pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese on top. While that finished off in the oven I prepared a chicken breast for stir fry.  By the time this was all done it was 7:30p. I probably started around 6:20pm.  Luckily I had a snack of melba toasts and hummus before I started!

I still have so many vegetables left!
1 large zucchini
1 small summer squash
1 large cucumber
1 bag green beans
1 bunch of kale
Enough lettuce and a small cucumber for lunch tomorrow
1/2 bag of beet greens
Leftover roasted beets (maybe 2-3 servings)
Leftover squash from Monday
Leftover pizza from tonight

I think I might try refrigerator pickles with the remaining cucumber. I will probably have to gift the squash and maybe the green beans to Bert's mom before I get a new box on Sunday!

The tomatoes and blueberries are coming!

To recap last week, by the time we picked up a new box we had 1 zucchini, 1 bunch beet greens, a small handful of arugula and 1 bunch radishes left. The radishes had gone soft, so I threw those out.

We picked up our box a day early since we were out of town on Sunday. This box
1 small head of leaf lettuce
2 zucchini
3 summer squash
1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 bunch Kale
1 bag green beans
1 bunch beets (5 with greens)
3 cucumbers
2 small tomatoes
1 pint blueberries
1 sprig basil

I saw corn at the market which is super exciting! I would have totally bought some if I knew I was going to be able to eat it that day, but we were heading out, so saved my cash for next time.

We came home late Monday. Bert was ready to order Chef Chow's Chinese take-out, but I convinced him 1) we needed to eat the veggies 2) I could make something faster than delivery. I sauteed last week's zucchini and 1 summer squash. At the end added 1 can of diced tomatoes and some basil. Served over whole wheat pasta. Sauce could have been a little thicker. Probably should have used more oregano. I seasoned with Everyday seasoning and some salt when the squash was dry, before adding to the pan.

For lunch I had lettuce with cucumber and tomato. Had cottage cheese and hummus with Kashi vegetable crackers. Rounded out the meal with a peach. I ate lunch at 2pm and was still hungry by the time I got home for dinner.

Tonight I made a stir-fry with 1 zucchini, 1 squash and 1 block of firm tofu. Island Soyaki sauce from Trader Joe's provided some extra flavor. We served with Goya brown rice mix. Although it has a heart healthy stamp on it, it was very salty tasting. I prefer the plain Jane Uncle Ben's 10minute brown rice better.

To get ready for lunch tomorrow, I prepped lentils and roasted beets tonight. I burned the bottom lentils in the pot since I kind of forgot to check on them and did not set a timer. I remember checking on them and there was still a little bit of water left. I should have taken them off the heat at that point, but no, I thought I would keep them going to the end. I only thought to check on them when I smelled the hint of something burning. I was also multi-tasking, which is a challenge for me in the kitchen. I was busy carefully peeling the beets for roasting. I feel like Lady Macbeth. The beet juice is not washing from my hands very easily.

I hope I can get the burn marks out of my expensive stainless steel pot!

And Bert informed me that two of the peaches I bought at the store on Saturday are already showing mold spots! Such a bummer and a waste!