Butternut Squash Casserole w/ Stewed Apples & Toasted Pecans

If a pumpkin and a sweet potato had a baby - it would be Butternut Squash. And, it's perfect for a casserole. This mellow-yellow, tawny elongated vegetable is packed with its own natural sweetness, NO fat and tons of vitamins and minerals (including Calcium, Folate and Vitamin C.)

BUTTERNUT SQUASH CASSEROLE
w/STEWED APPLES & TOASTED PECANS

It beats out the pumpkin (in my opinion) because it has none of the stringy filling. Roasting a butternut is so easy, and you can cook it and hold it while you decide if you want to serve it in chunks for a risotto, maybe in a frittata, or as a casserole topped with stewed apples, raisins and toasted pecans. Be back in a moment, I just made myself hungry.


{Butternut Squash break....}

As I was saying... This casserole is great as a side dish (wonderful for holidays), but can also be eaten for breakfast. Why not, it certainly has a lot more going for it than a muffin, right?


This particular recipe came about when my family in California joined my sister-in-law from NYC and my In-laws from Chicago to celebrate my Father-in-law's 70th birthday last month. The 11 of us rented a home outside of Las Vegas for 6 days just after the holidays. Can you imagine ELEVEN family members of all ages and (to put it mildly) every variety of personality, staying together for SIX days in one house? Guess what? We had a blast! We had billard matches, a trip into the casino and buffets night, a show night to see LOVE Cirque du Soleil, DVD night, Grill night, Apples to Apples game day, a birthday evening, and what felt like hundreds of meals together. My mother-in-law and I decided we should write a book about how to share a kitchen and cook together because the two of us practically lived in the kitchen. She is an experienced and wonderful cook and together we planned out theme nights and tag-teamed the breakfast mornings so neither of us had to do every early morning meal.

This recipe came from having roasted butternut squash leftover from the soup I made one night and stewed apples leftover from the morning meal she made. We combined them, threw on some toasted pecans and had a healthy, brand new (to our hungry crowd) side dish to go with the Birthday-night Beef Tenderloin meal. Now, it remains in our own Family Collection and voila, a tradition is created.



Recipe: Butternut Squash w/ Stewed Apples & Toasted Pecans

1 Butternut Squash
Drizzle of Olive Oil
salt/pepper
1 Tbls Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Heavy Cream (or Coconut Milk)
1/2 tsp. nutmeg (preferably freshly grated)
1/2 cup pecans - toasted and chopped
Stewed Apples (with raisins)- see Simple Saturday recipe HERE-


1) Cut the butternut squash into fourths, drizzle all sides with olive oil and place cut side down on a baking sheet in a preheated 350F oven for approx. 45 minutes (til fork tender).

2) Cool on tray, then spoon out seeds and fiber (you may want to keep the seeds for roasting, etc.) and discard.

3) Spoon out the roasted and sweet squash into a large bowl,
add the brown sugar, cream, nutmeg and salt/pepper to taste. Puree with Immersion blender or whip until creamy.


4) Butter or oil an 8x8 inch baking dish and pour the squash puree into the dish.
5) Place Stewed Apples (with raisins) over the top, then sprinkle toasted chopped pecans and cook in a preheated 350F oven for approx. 30-40 mins.

Have you ever tag-team cooked with a family member? How'd that go?

Stewed Apples - Simple Saturday

STEWED APPLES

So many family favorites are in the hands and hearts of people we love, but there are no real "recipes" for them. These Stewed Apples are one of the many things my Mother-in-law makes and we all love them on pancakes, over granola, beside scrambled eggs and just a big bowl of them hot from the...microwave? That's right. It's just that easy. When I asked her if she would share her recipe for these, I got an email that said:
******
Hi Cathy,

I have no recipe for the apples as I just put and taste. But, I will do my best.

6 apples peeled and cored and sliced
1/4 cup white or brown sugar
Hand full of raisins
1/2 stick of butter (cut into pats)
1/4 (?) cup water

Put all together, sprinkle with cinnamon and microwave until the right texture.
I suppose you could bake it as well.
******
How wonderfully easy and I can witness to how tender and sweet these are with just the right tang if you use Granny Smith Apples. Plus, I love the term "Put and Taste" and I'm adopting it for my blog. My mom - who is also an inventive and "taste with the heart" kinda cook has always made these amazing soups with whatever she had on hand, using the "Put and Taste" method. Love it!

If you don't have a microwave, you can old-school it and heat it up in a saucepan on the stove or even bake it in a dish (my preference). Do YOU cook things with the "Put and Taste" technique?

Best Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake - and It's Gluten-Free

This has become one of my favorite and Best Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cakes, and it's also Gluten Free.

GLUTEN FREE BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP COFFEE CAKE

I developed it for a friend, who eats gluten free, but had to give her a "half-cake" because I kept slicing it, toasting it, and eating it for breakfast, snack and dessert before I could get it to her house. I hope when she reads this, she'll laugh as she remembers me decoratively delivering to her a perfect "half-cake" with no explanation about the other half and its absence.

If you already eat Gluten Free, please let me know if you try this and what you think of it. If you've never experienced eating Gluten Free - this recipe requires two flours (coconut and rice) that you may have never used in baking. Instead of letting that deter you, why not try something new? They can both be purchased at many grocery stores, at Whole Foods and online.

A great deal of our population have difficulty digesting gluten, and many are extremely allergic to gluten and have been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. There are others who suffer from digestive problems, headaches, nausea and other symptoms who haven't been tested or realized that perhaps Gluten intolerance is the issue.I've heard a few people comment about Gluten Free eating being a fad or another "trendy food style" of celebrities. This must be so frustrating for the thousands of intelligent people who sometimes have no choice (due to allergies), or have found Gluten Free eating to be a restorative and life saving routine.

I've also heard comments that ask why there is all of a sudden so many people being diagnosed with gluten intolerance. The answer is an exciting one. For years, many people suffered (even developed stomach cancers) without this being considered, but now since it's on the radar they're getting help. It is because of the increased awareness and demand from patients that more and more doctors are testing and researching this challenge. This has also resulted in wonderful new gluten free products and recipes.

I grew up eating everything from garden grown vegetables and farm fresh eggs to time-saving, processed, canned meat on white bread sandwiches. I've even eaten a mud-pie or two (compliments of some older, sneaky cousins convincing me they would taste like moon-pies.) So, I'm not so much preaching about food, as trying to share while I learn and grow healthier.

(this is a great way to use up over-ripe bananas)

The more we learn about our food choices, our options and how ingredients help or challenge our systems, the better quality of life we can have and pass on to our families. There are several wonderful blogs, books and talented writers who can make the learning process and the cooking experience with gluten free products very exciting and delicious. Here are just a few:

Gluten Free Girl and the Chef
The Practical Celiac
Celiac Teen
Tartlette

And there are great recipes out there being developed by Gluten and Gluten Free cooks. Here are a few of those:

The Recipe Girl - Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
ShowFood Chef - Simple Saturday Almond Butter Cookies
Family Fresh Cooking - Coconut Corn Flour Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce
La Fuji Mama - Endive Boats Appetizer with Crab Salad


RECIPE: Best Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake - Gluten Free

1 cup Coconut Flour
1 cup Rice Flour
1 Tbls. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup Coconut oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
4 eggs
4 over-ripe bananas
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1) Sift together the flours, baking powder and salt.
2) In a mixing bowl, beat together the coconut oil and sugars til creamy, then beat in the eggs one at a time, then the bananas until all is mixed well.
3) Beat in the dry ingredients and chocolate chips, just until combined, don't over beat.
4) Pour into a well greased, deep sided 8"- 9" cake pan until 3/4 full. (If you have left-over batter, make muffins or small bundt cakes.)
5) Cook in a preheated oven 350F for approx. 1 hour or until browned and set in the middle. Cool for a few minutes before releasing from the pan and cooling on a rack.

This is particularly good warm and eaten the same day, but wonderful the next day, sliced and toasted, and the next day, and the next day - trust me I ate, uh, tested it.

If there are favorite Gluten Free recipes that you enjoy, leave the link in the comments for us all. Thanks for stopping by - always a pleasure.

Appetizer Prosciutto Cups with Goat Cheese and Fig - Simple Saturday

Question: Need an elegant little appetizer?
Answer: Prosciutto cups with Goat Cheese Whip, Dried Mission Fig and a sprig of Arugula.

Question: Need a fast, simple, throw it together during half-time, taste touch down?
Answer: See Answer Above.

Prosciutto Cups with Goat Cheese Whip, Dried Mission Fig, & Arugula

Not only are these easy and fast, you can bake the cups a day ahead, whip up the goat cheese a day ahead and cut up the dried figs ahead of time, too.

In one bite, you get salty-sweet-crispy-smooth, and healthy greens. I've served these at tray passed Hollywood cocktail parties (while agents and execs played mind games with each other) and on paper plates beside chips and dip on the coffee table (while lounge chair athletes pretended to play while yelling at televised ball games.) When it tastes good and looks good too...it's a winner no matter what the game.

Recipe: Prosciutto Cups w/ Goat Cheese Whip, Dried Mission Fig & Arugula
(makes a dozen)

6 sheets of Italian Prosciutto
4 oz. Goat cheese
3 oz. Heavy whipping cream
1 Tbls. Seasoning (I used minced fresh thyme, but you could use your preference or none)
salt/pepper to taste
6 Dried Figs (I used Mission, you may also try dates)
Small bunch of baby Arugula

1) Cut each slice of Prosciutto in half, and lay each half slice inside a mini-muffin tin, over-lapping the sides as it circles around.

2) Bake in a preheated 375 oven for about 8-10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool for a moment. Place each cup on a paper towel to drain. Hold for filling, or refrigerate til next day. Bring to room temp. before filling and serving.

3) In a bowl, whip together the goat cheese, cream and seasonings. Place in a pastry bag with open tip and pipe whipped goat cheese into each prosciutto cup.

4) Cut the dried figs into grape-size bites and place one on the top of each filled prosciutto cup.

5) Garnish with a sprig of Arugula just before serving.

These can be filled with a variety of options: Ricotta Salada and dried apricots, Scrambled egg custard and a sprig of dill, etc...

Let me know what you experiment with and I'll include it in this posting. Buon Appetito and Go Team!

Authentic Cassoulet - Daring Cooks

I went on a culinary journey without even leaving my kitchen. I took 4 days to create an authentic Duck Confit, Pork Belly, Sausage Cassoulet (rhymes with Hoo-Ray!) I didn't spend every hour of those four days just cooking this, of course. In fact, I just did a little each day while cooking dinner or other food. At the end of the week - Voila, I had a giant pot of comforting Cassoulet for the weekend. For me, it was part of the monthly food blogging challenge called Daring Cooks. A chosen host submits a technique, recipe, cultural aspect of cooking and it is meant to encourage us brave cooks to stretch and grow (and this month was no exception.) Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.

For you, I hope it encourages you to try something new also. This Cassoulet experience was particularly positive because all along the way we were creating separate dishes that could be a welcome addition to a culinary arsenal on their own:

Duck Confit
Duck Fat (incredible for french fries or potato casseroles)
White Northern Beans (cooked with Pork Back and herbs)
Sauteed Italian Sausages with Onions and Garlic Cassoulet Since making this Cassoulet felt like a little journey, I thought I'd give you the recipe like a travel journal. I've listed things as I did them each day. You can use it to follow along when you make this, or create your own way that matches your lifestyle. At the end, I'll include the recipe as given, also. My only regret is that I can't add Click-n-Sniff to this posting because the smells of browning duck, pork, sausages, onions, legumes and herbs along the way were like a daily aromatic amuse bouche for the whole family and had them excited about the weekend bounty they ultimately devoured.

Steps: Day 1-

1) I bought a whole duck, broke it down into leg/thighs, breasts, wings, carcass and fat trimmings.
2) Liberally rubbed Sea Salt all over the leg/thighs and covered with plastic on a plate and refrigerated over night.
3) Trimmed the 2 breasts and held in fridge for another use.
4) Saved carcass and wings for Duck Stock
5) Placed all fat into a deep sided skillet and rendered it for duck fat, cooled it and held in refrigerator.

Day 2 -

1) Placed the leg/thighs into a baking dish, nestled in a few twigs of thyme and rosemary and a couple cloves of garlic, then covered in melted duck fat.
2) Cooked in the oven 375F for 1 hour.
3) In a deep pot, placed 3 cups of dried Northern White beans and covered with water. I placed those in refrigerator for overnight. Day 3-

1) Drained beans and put them in a large pot with a bouquet garni (a tied selection of parsley and thyme), a bay leaf, a handful of pork rind and about 1 lb pork belly.
2) Heated the bean, etc. to a boil, then reduced to a simmer for 30 minutes, added a little salt/pepper, stirred things up and simmered for another 30 minutes til the beans were tender.
3) Removed the onions and herbs and threw those away. Removed the Pork Belly: cooled, wrapped and held in the refrigerator. Drained the beans: cooled and held the beans and the water separately for later. Removed the pork rind for using when browning the sausages.
4) In a skillet on Med/High, I heated a few ounces of duck fat til very hot and added the sausages to the pan. I browned the sausages, removed and held those on a paper plate while browning the onions, garlic and pork rind from the beans, in the same hot duck fat.
5) In a blender, I added the browned onions, garlic and another tablespoon of duck fat and pureed until smooth. 6) In a large iron pot I put it all together. I started with a bottom layer of slab bacon, latticed together. I added beans, then layered with Sausage (all along the way adding a few spoons of the puree.) I added more beans, then the Pork Belly...more beans, then the Duck Confit, and ended with beans.
The last step was to pour the reserved bean liquid into the pot, just covering the top layer of beans.
I put the whole pot into a preheated oven on 400F for one hour, then reduced the heat to 250F for 1/2 hour. I removed it, let it cool and refrigerated it overnight so all those individual meals would combine their flavors into one giant savory snuggly for my insides.

Day 4 - Cook and Eat Day :D

By now, everyone in the family knew what we were having for dinner, could say "cassoulet" and even helped set the dishes out; talk about excitement.

I preheated the oven to 375F and cooked the Cassoulet for one hour, reduced the temp to 200F and let it simmer for 1/2 hour.
I wish I had the time to tell you how it tasted.......JUST KIDDING, I mean don't you think you can almost taste it yourself by now? There was a warm hardy full-flavored meat in every bite. The sausage had a tiny bit of spice and heat, the duck had that fall apart texture with a little saltiness, the pork belly was so tender and almost sweet, and it was held together with the creamy white beans and pureed onions. Oh good Lord...oh good, Lord. We had two bowls each, and I had earlier scooped out a small casserole for freezing. When I can leave our son with something so good for dinner on the weekend, it makes for a guilt-free date night for my husband and I.
If you start this on a weekend, you could cut this process in half, I think. Or you could do a little each night like I did. I very much like recipes that contain recipes like this one. Here's the recipe as given to me, (from the travel channel Anthony Bourdain ), which I cut in half. Let me know if you've ever made something like this, or if you try one. Thank you for stopping by to read. Hope I made you hungry. :D

Hot Tea Toddy - Simple Saturday

Baby, it's cold outside + It's hot tea toddy time = Baby, it's warm inside.

Hot Tea Toddy

When the golden honey, orange, tea and spicy brandy make a bobsled ride of sweet heat down your winter challenged throat and chest, and those toasted vapors hit your stuffy passages - you just may AHHH out loud.

Let me just say that this simple hot tea toddy will be 100 times better made with fresh brewed "real" tea, brewed for no more than 4 minutes with just below boiling water. However, you can also use a good quality tea bag.

If you've never had a "hot toddy", or you thought it was just something your grandmother's grandmother said when she really meant "moonshine". You need to take 5 minutes and try one of these. There's a reason they've been around for hundreds of years - they're good and they work "fer whut ails ya".

Some hot toddies include butter and frothy egg whites or cream. Those are really fun, too. But, this one is just a simple "make me smile and breathe happy" quickie.HOT TEA TODDY

For each glass:

1) Drizzle a tsp. of honey around the inside of the glass
2) Squeeze a little citrus (I used a Raspberry Blood Orange)
3) Pour in a shot (or two) of any good spicy brandy (you can also use rum or whiskey)
4) Fill the remainder of the glass with fresh brewed hot tea (I used a Mango and Passionfruit Rooibos)
*optionally - stir with a cinnamon stick and leave in glass for infusing while sipping*

Avocado, Grapefruit, Shrimp Tartine

Yes, maybe I did put on a couple of pounds over the holidays (aka: Halloween through Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas and New Years.) But, as the proverbial optimist, I choose to see it as an opportunity to Develop Interesting Eating Tendencies (aka: D.I.E.T, shhhhh.)

Avocado, Grapefruit, Shrimp Tartine

Just because I'm not eating my weight in Chocolate Marshmallow Santas for lunch anymore, doesn't mean it can't be exciting, colorful and packed with flavor. This past week I read an interesting article at NaturalFoods.com about water based foods that actually help make us feel full and in some cases actually use more calories to digest than they leave behind...well...on my behind.

Grapefruits are one of those miracle fruits that have tons of Vitamin C, Fiber, Antioxidants, Folic Acid, Potassium AND burn fat. It's like eating a little treadmill (aka: "treadmeal" ). When I was growing up, my grandmother used to serve Grapefruit in the morning with a spiked spoon (aka: a grapefruit spoon, but what's fun about that word when you're a kid.) She may have demolished the full health effects of the fruit by absolutely smothering it in white sugar. It was yummy, and kept my dentist employed.

How can you get more "health-packed" than with a California Avocado (aka: super fruit/heart fruit and hair shiner)? Add these to spinach (aka: Popeye's muscle serum, and gives you 200% of Daily Vitamin K in every cup), and thin slices of Green Tea poached Pacific Shrimp and you have a new mind, body and spirit sitting on a plate (aka: over stating it, but it's healthy and tasty.)
Layer those fat-buster's on a thin slice of toasted home-made bread (aka: Rachael of FujiMama's 1 hour Bread) and I'm expecting the pounds to start disappearing as I chew (aka: Mama's gettin' a brand new dress.)
This Tartine (aka: open faced sandwich) was inspired for my pals in the Lets Lunch Bunch (aka: a twitter group of friends who have a virtual lunch together almost every month). For January we're all posting healthy options to start the New Year. Click on the links below to see an entire week's worth of tasty and healthy lunch choices from the "Let's Lunch" bloggers around the world. Next month we're posting "Lucky" lunch ideas as a way of celebrating the Chinese New Year. (aka: Join us!)
*thanks for enjoying my little joke on the uses of "aka" :D 

RECIPE: Avocado, Grapefruit, Shrimp Tartine

1 ripe California avocado (sliced thin)
1 grapefruit (peeled and slice sections out, then squeeze grapefruit and save juice for vinaigrette)
Grapefruit Vinaigrette (recipe below)
Toasted bread slices (or dense bread such as pumpernickel or rye)
Doz or so, Large shrimp (cooked and sliced) [see recipe for tea poaching below]
1 bunch baby spinach, or arugula leaves Grapefruit Vinaigrette :
1/4 cup grapefruit juice
1 Tbls. red onion (minced)
1 tsp. lime juice
1 Tbls. honey
1/3 cup olive oil salt/pepper

1) Whisk together the grapefruit juice, lime juice, minced red onion, honey and a pinch of salt and pepper.
2) Drizzle in the olive oil while continuing to whisk constantly until a nice thick vinaigrette is reached. 
TEA POACHED SHRIMP:
1 Dozen Uncooked Large Shrimp
2 cups brewed green tea
1 tsp. fresh ginger (minced)1) In a deep sided pan, bring brewed green tea, 1/2 tsp. minced fresh ginger to just-short-of simmer (approx. 188F).
2) Place the uncooked shrimp into the hot tea and keep just below a simmer while poaching for 5 minutes. Remove the shrimp with a slotted spoon and allow to cool before slicing for the tartine.

This can be made ahead of time and chilled in the refrigerator.

TO ASSEMBLE the Tartine:
1) Drizzle a spoonful of the vinaigrette over the toast
2) Place alternating slices of avocado, grapefruit and shrimp over the toast open-faced
3) Garnish with the greens (maybe some crushed walnut) and another drizzle of the Grapefruit Vinaigrette.

Also for a summer twist - take a look at many other California Avocado recipes here: Join Dine and Dish and Cookin’ Canuck for the California Avocado 4th of July Blast, sponsored by the California Avocado Commission. 

To keep the healthy glow going, see these Let's Lunch healthy recipes:

CowGirl Chef - Mandarin Orange and Arugula Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

Cooking In The Fruit Bowl - Spicy Cauliflower
Free Range Cookies - Mesquite Date Muffins
Dreaming of Pots and Pans - Quinoa with Grilled Veggies
The Kitchen Trials-Frittata (almost)
Hot Curries and Cold Beer - Curried Black Eyed Peas, Brown Rice and Beer