Spaghetti Squash

When I purchased this spaghetti squash at the store:

the checkout lady asked me what in the world I planned on doing with it. She said she has seen people buying them and she knows they are edible, "But...how?!"

I told her it is actually ridiculously simple and I will explain to you exactly how I explained it to her.

You take the lovely yellow squash, you give it a quick rinse and you throw it into a preheated 375 degree oven for an hour and you are done.

I know!  It's ridiculously simple, right?!

You will know it is done because a sharp knife will pierce through it like butta. That's the most important part is to make sure it is cooked through.  If you can't slice through it easily, throw it back in for another 10 minutes.

Cut the squash in half and make the comment about how it must be related to pumpkins because the insides are almost identical! (It is, in fact, related to pumpkins.)

Just like you do a pumpkin, scoop out the seeds and the gooey-ish inside.  Using a fork, you will be able to scrape the actual "meat" from the squash and it will separate like individual strands of spaghetti (hence the name). The scraping is the most time consuming part, just to warn you.

Once you have scraped out all the spaghetti squash, throw it onto a skillet over medium-high heat. Toss in some butter (about 2-3 Tbsp, depending on amount of squash), a couple of minced garlic cloves, salt, pepper and some fresh parsley or basil (about 1/4 C).  Give it a good stir and make sure it's all heated together.

Throw it all into a serving bowl and add some parmesan cheese on top (about 1/4 C or so) and stir it until the cheese has melted into the squash.  

I served ours with a salad because spaghetti squash is quite filling.

  My children were leery of the name, but both girls loved it.  Julia ate all of hers and she is 3.  It's supposed to have some crisp crunch to it, so don't be alarmed by the texture.  It's a lovely fall meal and you should definitely go out and try it (especially while they are in season and so cheap at the stores!).

Enjoy!

Gnocchi with Roasted Cauliflower

I have stared at this recipe a million times in my cookbook as I try to figure out what to eat for the week.  It's such a simple recipe and I've always wanted to make it but it's just never made the list.

I finally gave it a chance.  Now, I must share it with you.  You will thank me for doing so, I promise.

Ingredients:

1 small head of cauliflower, cut into small florets; 12 fresh sage leaves (or dried sage if you forgot to buy it at the grocery store); 3 Tbsp olive oil; Kosher salt; black pepper; 1 lb. gnocchi; 1/4 C. grated Parmesan.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Start by cutting up the cauliflower and throwing it into a small bowl.  Sprinkle it with the sage, oil, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Give it a good stir to make sure the cauliflower is coated.

Throw the cauliflower on a baking sheet and roast (make sure and give it a shake so it doesn't stick and burn) until the cauliflower is golden brown and tender.  About 25-30 minutes.

(While the cauliflower is roasting, go ahead and get that pot of water boiling for the gnocchi.)

Mmm...roasted cauliflower.  I could eat the whole sheet of it by myself.  I'm sure my tummy would totally appreciate it later.

Gnocchi is one of my favorite foods.  It takes just minutes to cook.  Once the water is at a low boil (aka: not rolling), throw in the gnocchi and wait for it to float.  It'll take 4-6 minutes.

In your serving bowl, add the gnocchi and cauliflower together.  Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and give it a toss.  The cheese should melt a bit once it meets the hot gnocchi and cauliflower.

I served the Gnocchi with Roasted Cauliflower with canned peaches.

  This was simple and delicious.  It is a very mono-colored dish, but it tastes soooooo good.  And, because gnocchi is so filling, it was more than enough for 2 grown-ups and 2 kids (who also loved it!).  I'd double it if we were having company.

Enjoy!!

Mango

Hi.

It's that time again.

Time for me to tell you about a produce item that might seem intimidating and peer pressure you to purchase it on your next grocery run.

I'm so bossy.

But, I am the first born. It's my birthright to be bossy.

I'd like you to meet Mango.

Elisabeth asks me to buy mango all the time. I have a couple of times and then forgotten to actually cut them up to eat them and then they go rotten. It's tragic. This time, I made sure to eat this mango pronto.

Mango are a beautiful fruit, but I knew nothing about them. So, I googled "how to eat a mango" (cause I'm cool like that) and learned a couple of new things.

1. Mango should not be rock hard when you purchase them nor should they be too squishy.

2. Mango have a pit in the middle of them much like a pineapple. You can't just cut them down the middle like an apple.

3. Mango are yummy (or so google told me).

So, first, take that mango and cut it almost down the middle. You'll end up with 3 pieces, two sides and the middle that's the core or pit. You'll know if you hit the pit because your knife will protest cutting it.
Take one side and make cuts through like a checkerboard, making sure not to go through the mango skin.
Then, push the mango up from the bottom skin part. It'll look like this:
Trim off the chunks you have made with your checkerboard pattern and serve.
Holy crap, mango is delicious. Google was so right. Both Elisabeth and Julia ate them like candy (which they are...they're the candy of nature...sorry, I'm a dork). They are sweet, but not as sweet as pineapple. I really enjoyed the taste and now wonder why I hadn't tried fresh mango sooner. I've eaten dried mango and drank mango smoothies, but have never just bought a fresh mango. Well, that will be changing and at 2 for a $1.00 at the stores, I shall be purchasing more while they are in season.

Enjoy!

Zucchini Bread

I love zucchini bread. It is moist, delicious and cinnamon-y.

But, in order to make zucchini bread I have to 1.remember to buy the stupid zucchini and 2.love my family enough to grate said zucchini.

I hate grating. It makes my hands hurt. Am I the only one who feels this way? Do I have early arthritis?!?! I shall ponder this....

The ingredients:

3 eggs; 1 tsp. salt; 3 tsp. cinnamon; 3 C. flour; 1 tsp. baking soda; 2 C. sugar; 1/4 tsp. baking powder; 1 C. oil; 1/2 tsp. nutmeg; 2 C. peeled and grated zucchini. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

I had an ENORMOUS zucchini from a friend's garden that I was using to make some soup and I only needed a little less than half of the ENORMOUS zucchini. Not wanting to waste precious zucchini, I decided that I loved my family enough to grate zucchini and make them bread.

I'm such a good person.

First, you peel the zucchini. I just use a vegetable peeler.
Then you get out this fabulous birthday gift from your mother-in-law. Microplanes are a fabulous kitchen tool that I totally recommend you have on hand. But, please please please be careful. I do not want you accidentally grating your fingers. Ew.
My advice is to hold the microplane (or whatever grater you are using) still and move the zucchini over the blades. That way you are in control.
Done.
Now, take the three eggs
the oil
and the sugar and
mix together.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour
salt
cinnamon
baking soda
baking powder
and nutmeg.
Mix.
Now, take the dry ingredients and slowly add some of it to the egg mixture
and then add some of the zucchini to the mix. Alternate until the dry ingredients and the zucchini is gone.
Mix well.
This will make 2 loaves. Make sure and generously grease the loaf pans. Nothing's worse than bread that sticks to the loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour.
Ta da!!!!
I made this bread at 10:00PM and then completely forgot to take a picture of a slice of the bread on a pretty plate. I'm so sorry. I'd take a picture of a slice of it right now, but my family has already devoured an entire loaf.

This bread is unbelievably delicious. The zucchini is the key to this bread being so moist and fabulous. Seriously, it's my favorite bread. You should definitely make some for your friends and family. They will totally love you more. I promise.

Enjoy!!

Artichokes.

Most of you know my love for asparagus. There is no other vegetable that I love as much as that pretty green stalk of goodness.

But, another green veggie does come close. It's the artichoke.

In fact, I love the artichoke so much, I have this hanging in my kitchen:

(Carciofo is Italian for artichoke. I had to look it up after I bought it.)

While I do love throwing a can of artichoke hearts into pastas and other recipes, my favorite way to eat artichokes is to simply steam them.

Artichokes can be kind of pricey, depending on the time of year you buy them. I bought the artichokes pictured in this post for $1 a piece!!!! That is quite the deal.

I realize that artichokes seem to be an intimidating vegetable. Yes, each of those leaves have a little prickle at the end that can be painful, but you can always just snip off all the tips. But, I promise you, this is a delicious and easy side dish for any meal.
Take the artichokes and put them in a steamer. You can always boil them too, but we always steam ours. We steam ours for 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of the artichokes. Smaller ones only need about 30 minutes, but huge ones might need 45 minutes until they're tender.
We ate our artichoke with meatloaf. Artichokes are surprisingly filling, so when we have them, it's our only side dish.
All you do is take off each leaf...
dip it into the dipping sauce of your choice (we either have hollandaise sauce or melted butter with garlic powder and garlic sauce mixed in with the butter) (and, yes, that's my multi-vitamin)...
and then use your bottom teeth to get the artichoke "meat" off of the leaf.

Elisabeth is showing how she got all the white meat off the leaf.
Julia is too young to properly eat artichokes, but she felt left out and asked me to take a picture of her eating an apple.
Once you've eaten all of the leaves, then you're ready to eat the artichoke heart!
You take off all the little leaves that are left.
See all those pretty hairs? Those are called the artichoke's choke. It is called that because if you ate those pretty little hairs, you would...choke. It's pretty self explanatory.
So, take a knife and get off all those prickly hairs.


This is the heart. And it is the best part.
You can eat the whole thing once the choke is off.
I dip it in the sauce. Mmmm....
Elisabeth started eating artichokes with us when she was about 4. Now we have to buy her her own because she was stealing all of ours and there's nothing I hate more than someone stealing my vegetables.