Squash + Fennel = Delicious Choice

I have mentioned my addiction to farmer's markets and fresh produce before, but it's a very creative addiction too. I was trying to find a use for acorn squash and some fennel bulbs that were going bad and I came across this wonderful recipe. It combines both ingredients plus a few other fun things and next thing you know, you have a delicious side dish coming out of the oven.

Spiced Squash with Fennel
(courtesy of Epicurious, slight changes by me)

1.5 pounds squash (I used acorn, but the original called for butternut)
2 fennel bulbs
1 large onion
3 tbls olive oil
2 tsps cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp tummeric

1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Trim and cut squash, fennel, and onion into wedges of about equal size. Make sure to peel and seed the squash first.
3. Combine squash, fennel, and onion on a sheet pan and toss with oil and spices and salt and pepper as needed.
4. Roast until veggies are tender and lightly browned tossing once. Should take around 45 minutes.

On another note a few coworkers have been handing out baked goods for the holidays. The treats are mediocre at best, but I know they mean well. Most of my coworkers know that I'm a foodie and am planning on a career in the culinary world. Of course they all want me to try grandmas famous cookie recipe or the best muffins ever and I can only say that I will try them later so many times. I'm not a good liar, so I have to practice saying how delicious it was to everyone (I imagine a really good roast chicken or pasta recipe to get the right face).

But here's my question, I was planning on bringing some goodies, but now I'm not sure. I don't want to one-up them or anything, but I want to share some delicious treats of my own. Either way, based on what I'm receiving, I don't think my lemon anise biscotti or nutmeg sugar cookies will be a big hit. But it's the thought that counts, right? So do I bring the baked goods and hope that nobody thinks I'm trying to show off my skills? Or do I just keep them at home and just give a card with something like a piece of Godiva chocolate tapped to it?

Gimme Gimme Gimme, I need, I need, I need!

Name that movie!

So a quick break from my usual recipe goodnes. Don't worry, I have some yummy stuff coming up tomorrow, like squash and fennel! Instead I bring you two amazing things that would make a great Christmas present for yours truely. I mean, if you would so please to reward me for delivering delicious ideas into your computer. And even more exciting, I finally upgraded to a DSLR, so instead of spending all my time getting film printed and then forget to add them to the blog, I can actually take pictures and post them right away! Sounds good to me.

First...
Popchips! My new favourite snack. They are a potato chip that isn't baked or fried, it's popped! It leaves a wonderfully crunchy and satisfying texture. The flavours are perfect as well. Not to strong, but just enough to satisfy when you have a salty craving. The best part to me is that a bag has three servings and one serving is about 120 calories. So if you "accidentally" DEVOUR the entire bag, you haven't ruined your entire day and are still well under 500 calories for your snack. I picked mine up at Target, but I've also seen them at Whole Foods. Seriously, buy me a few bags of each flavour and I'll be happy for a week.

Second...
FoodTees! These are the cutest clothes and accessories you will ever own. I want to own one of each. They are pictures of yummy looking fresh foods with fun sayings underneath. Like a celery stalk and it says "stalker" underneath. Funny, right? So once you pick your funny, you decide where you want said funny, tee-shirt, apron, bag, baby onesies, and so on. Wear your heart on your sleeve, your grocery bag, your "locally-grown" baby, your friends, I could keep going. If you feel like buying me one (hint*hint), I can list my top... well, all of them, in order of want the most to want lots and sizes.

So now that you know what's on my Christmas list, what foodie item do you have on yours?

A healthy little indulgence during the holidays.

First off, if I have any regular readers, sorry I don't update frequently. I'm barely ever online, let alone blogging. I wish I could be like one of those people who blogs all day long. I don't know how they do it! But moving ahead, I made us some muffins that are pretty darn healthy and delicious! Pumpkin Banana Muffins! I like my muffins slightly dry, because in the mornings I warm them up with a little nut butter, which adds moisture. One of these muffins plus a piece of fruit keeps my going until lunch. Plus during the holiday season full of decadence and no time to grab a decent snack, these are wonderful to have on hand. Make a batch or two and freeze them to get you through until 2011.

Pumpkin Banana Muffins
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup almond flour (also called almond meal. I use the Bob's Red Barn name brand)
4 tsps baking powder
2 tsps baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbls cinnamon
1 tbls ground nutmeg
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp allspice
3 ripe bananas mashed
15 ounce can pumpkin puree (or 1 3/4 cup fresh pumpkin puree)
1 cup grapeseed oil
4 eggs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 cup chopped and toasted walnuts

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease or line muffin pan with paper liners.
2. Combine flours, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a bowl and mix well.
3. Combine rest of the ingredients aside from the nuts in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth.
4. Gradually beat in dry ingredients until just combined.
5. Spoon into prepared pans with cups being just about full.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.


I hope that with all the hustling and bustling around in what could be bad weather, you're trying to stay healthy and include fruits and veggies in every meal. This is just a quick and easy example of what I try to do during this season. Of course I always have chopped up fruits and veg in my fridge for easy access so I have no excuse for not eating well and taking care of myself. Any other good tips floating around out there? What do you do to stay on track during the holidays?

A Quiche by Any Other Name and so on

Dear Blog World, so sorry that I took an unexpected leave of absence from my lovely blog and reading the blogs out there. Life has gotten so crazy, but it's all good with me. But I'm here to share a new recipe with a story!


One time I went to the farmer's market and stopped by the cheese table. I rarely eat cheese, so it was an odd stop. The man behind the table had the most wonderfully charming southern French accent and I melted a little. He even recognized me from being at the market so often, but never stopping at his table. If he was about forty years younger, I would have married him right there, but alas, he was not. I told him about how I avoid cheese, because of the not so pretty aftershock I experience, but his foods just look so delicious I had to stop. After much chatting about how I work around this unfortunate curse, he pointed to his list of quiches. I had flash backs of my youth. I grew indulging in Quiche Lorraine at least once a week. I do not like eggs, but for some reason, mixed into a quiche with yummy toppings, I gobble down piece after piece. My wonderful French cheese man told me I should try a small quiche Lorraine and come back for more the following week. I gave him a few dollars and he gave me a delicious little piece of love.

I came home and could not wait to open it up and indulge into this adorable savoury pie. As soon as I cut into the quiche I saw some slivers of red. A few nibbles later, I realized I was eating sun dried tomato quiche. Quelle suprise! It was amazing. It was delicious. I gobbled it up in two large bites. That quiche had no chance against me. Part of me wanted my quiche Lorraine, because that is what I bought and that is what the little sticker on the package said, but the other part was so overwhelmed with flavour and texture that I didn't care. The next week I told my French man about the mix up and how much it pleased me. He felt so bad that he gave me the wrong thing that I got one quiche for free. But now I'm on a hunt for the most delicious quiche ever made. Sun dried tomatoes were a great addition, but the salty flavour of pork gives the quiche a better balance. I combined them into the ultimate quiche. Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Dinner, Desert, any time of the day, you will love my quiche. This is the basic recipe I grew up with for years and it's still so perfect and makes a great base for any flavour of quiche. (Next up is a caramelized onion version, with some other type of cheese too, yum.)


Sun Dried Tomato Quiche with Ham

2 frozen pie shells (yes I used frozen and yes I am proud of it)
5 eggs
1 cup half and half
1 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
salt and white pepper to taste
16 oz shredded Swiss cheese
8 oz of diced ham
16 oz of sun dried tomatoes, not in oil, coarsely chopped

1. Beat eggs and half and half until well blended. Stir in nutmeg, white pepper, and salt.
2. Split Swiss cheese equally between two shells. Sprinkle ham and tomatoes even on top of the cheese.
3. Pour egg mixture into pie shells.
4. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes and then turn down temperature to 325 and bake for about 30 minutes. Quiche is done when lightly browned on top, but will still have some "jiggle" in the middle (think, pudding).

Hint - if crust starts browning too quickly, wrap the edges in foil.

A little piece of heaven

I think it's pretty obvious that I'm obsessed with Trader Joe's. It's become one of those, if they make it, I buy it, kinds of addictions. But I have an even bigger one that lays silently in all my recipes, Penzey's Spices. I'm lucky enough to live near two of their retail locations and not too far from their main location either. I don't even know where to begin with this addiction love.

First off, their catalogue is great. There are recipes galore along with stories from families. And too makes it better, there are cute pictures from young foodies. The recipes overflow into the store and you can leave there with handfuls of the cards.

Second, the herbs are always at the perfect state. Most chefs know that many dried spices do not measure up to the fresh equivalent. But these are the closest I have ever come. Plus there are usually multiple varieties of a spice or in different forms. Do you want Korintje, China Tung Hing, Vietnamese, or Ceylon cinnamon? Or maybe a blend. Do you want your rosemary whole, cracked, or powdered? These are the important questions you have to consider and Penzey's has you covered. And don't get me started on the salt and pepper collections. I think I have spent multiple paychecks procuring all of the choices in that category.

One of the things that I'm learning to love about cooking that Penzey's offers me is spice blends. I've always been one to think that the best of the cooking world make their own blends, but let's be honest here, nobody has the time for that. Plus I'm  all about trying new things and that's what the blends has given me an opportunity to do. I bought a small jar of the breakfast sausage mix last spring and jar and have come up with my family's favourite breakfast item: apple-shallot chicken breakfast sausage. I never thought about venturing into the sausage making world until I came across this little jar at one of the Penzey's retail outlets. Now I can't live without it.

Last thing I love about Penzey's: the gift giving potential. I have yet to give a Penzey's gift (I know, shame on me), but I'm excited to do it one day! They have loads of gift boxes pre-packaged for particular occasions and for various price ranges. You can also make your own package, which I may do soon. I like the idea of having your own "famous" recipe and then creating a little gift box of four jars of spices for said recipe.


Now to decide, what are my favourite Penzey's products... Like I said, I live off their peppers and salts, because there are a variety and it is an easy way to play with flavour and the breakfast sausage mix. I'm loving on the new Penzey's Cinnamon blend. I put it on my almond butter and toast or my oatmeal for breakfast everyday. We received a few sample of it when it first came out and that little jar lasted me about a week. I have a few jars in my house right now, but I may need a separate pantry just for this yummy cinnamon. For baking, I have the double strength vanilla, which has wowed me with flavour. I can use less than I normally need. I love Mexican food, but need help with balancing flavour, so I have a large jar each of the fajita and taco seasonings. I also have a jar of Chilli 3000 to add kick to anything I cook. And in the land of plain herbs and spices I cannot live without my powdered rosemary, California basil, and whole nutmegs. But as I said, I love all of it, these are just my all time need to have, favs. Try it out everyone!

Happy World Running Day! aka early turkey day

So... did you run today? It is World Running Day after all! I'll be honest, I didn't run today, but that's because I had a race yesterday. I have a whole lot of complaints about the course and poor line up in corrals. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that even running 2/3 the course, I was still running into large groups of walkers. I got myself into the right pace marker and should have been running with with people of similar pace. Yet walkers started very far ahead of me. Ugh. Therefore, my hips hurt from having to run along the side of a hill to avoid all the walkers. I'm not used to running with one side my body at a higher elevation than the rest of my body.

Anywhoodles, the best part of running is the carb loading the night before. I usually stick to basic pasta with loads of tomatoes tossed in. I picked that up back when I was a swimmer in high school. It's not too heavy and easily digested. But today's blog isn't about my favourite carb recipe, because that could takes years to decide, it's about the fact that I accidently made Thanksgiving dinner on a small scale tonight.

Stores are starting to stock their shelves with holiday favourites and my favourite farm had an amazing turkey breast just sitting there waiting for me to buy it. So I made a few favourites and tried out some new recipes. My family is still deciding which side of the family we want to celebrate turkey day with or if we want to do it on our own. But it's never too early to enjoy some of these great foods. As I said, this is small scale and does not include most of my yuumy favs!

Mustard-Cider Turkey Breast

About 3 tbls Coleman's Mustard (the dry flour)
About 1 tbls Dijon Mustard
About 2 tbls poultry seasoning (whatever your fav blend is)
About 2 tbls Apple Cider Vinegar
About 1 tbls Apple Cider
Aoubt 2 tbls extra virgin olive oil

1) Mix all of the above together in a bag. But turkey breast in bag and massage marinade onto bird. Let sit for at least one hour, up to 24 hours.
2) Place turkey into large roasting dish with 1 cup chicken (or turkey) stock and 1 cup apple cider. Cover with foil.
3) Roast at 365 for about 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes with juices from bottom of pan. Uncover for last 10 minutes.
4) Turkey will be done when thickest part of the bird reads 180 degrees.
5) Take out of the oven and recover with foil. Let rest 10 minutes before carving.


Leek and Bacon Cornbread Stuffing
I'm going to preface this recipe by saying, I have always loved cornbread stuffing, but can never seem to pull it off. After looking at hundreds of recipes, I decided to take a little help with this one. Thankfully the best place in the world, Trader Joe's, offered my some assistance with an awesome box mix that even came with seasonings. Now that I have made a great recipe, I'm going to start taking it apart and approaching it from a different angle. So this my dear readers, is my jazzed up version of Trader Joe's Cornbread Stuffing mix.

1 Box TJ's Cornbread Stuffing Mix
3 tbls extra virgin olive oil
3 leeks, chopped and cleaned
4 strips bacon, chopped
1/4 cup beer (I used Leinikugel's Oktoberfest)
3-4 cups chicken stock

1) Saute leeks in olive oil over medium heat with salt and pepper. Once everything is well coated, cover with a lid and let leeks cook for 10-15 minutes until very soft.
2) Remove lid, turn up heat to high, and stir in bacon. Once bacon cooks down, stir in beer. Stir well loosening up bits off bottom.
3) Stir in chicken stock and seasoning packet from box mix. Once everything is combined toss with cornbread cubes.
4) Pour into a baking dish (or do like me and cook leeks in a large dutch oven to take it from stove to oven without dirtying more dishes) cover and bake at 350 for thirty minutes, stirring half way through. Take lid off and bake for ten more minutes or until top is lightly browned and crispy.


The New Green Beans Almondine

1 pound green beans
1 tbls butter
1 tbls extra virgin olive oil
1 small shallot chopped finely
1/4 cup thinly sliced almonds

1) Steam green beans, stopping about one minute before done. I did this in the microwave, just because there was a lack of free burners.
2) Sautee shallot in butter and olive oil. When shallot is translucent, but not browned, toss in almonds.
3) Once almonds are barely toasted and shallots start to brown, take off the heat and toss in green beans. Season with salt and pepper if necessary.





So with all of this I served mushroom turkey gravy (pretty mush sautee mushrooms before making gravy), smashed purple potatoes (bright colours make everything yummy) and roasted sweet potato cubes tossed with maple syrup and salt and pepper. Simple and yummy.

Israeli Couscous = YUM

What is it about couscous that makes it so versatile? I have made it so many ways and with basic or Israeli and it is always so good. And it gets eaten up so fast there are never leftovers! I wanted something quick and easy tonight and I had a pork tenderloin sitting in the fridge waiting to be roasted and devoured! A quick and easy side? Israeli couscous loaded with veg of course!

Israeli Couscous with lots of veg

1 large red onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbls fresh parsely, chopped
1 1/3 cup Israeli Couscous
1 3/4 cup water
3 roasted bell peppers, chopped (I roasted them the night before, one each: red, yellow, green)
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tbls fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper

1) Saute red onion seasoned with salt and pepper in olive oil over low heat about 15 minutes. Stir in garlic and turn heat up and saute for about 5 minutes.
2) Stir in couscous 1 tbls of parsely and saute until couscous is toasted.
3) Add peppers and water to pan and bring to boil. Once boiling, turn down heat, and cover cooking for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.
4) Once all the liquid is absorbed, add wine stirring frequently until absorbed. Take off heat and add the rest of the parsley and basil. Add more salt and pepper if needed.