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!!

Pizza Bubble

Pizza Bubble.  Sounds a bit weird, right?  Well, I, personally, love pizza and variations of pizza, but Evan thought this meal sounded terrible.

Then, I made it, and he apologized.  

I got this recipe from my Aunt Delene last year when I asked for recipes from the people in my family in their own handwriting.  I had never had this dish before, but it is definitely one I will be making again since both my girls declared it delicious!!

(Please forgive me for the few short  pictures I have for this post.  I am so out of practice with this blog. Sorry.)

Ingredients: 

2 cans biscuits (8 or 10); 1 jar of pizza sauce; 1lb roll of sausage; 1lb shredded cheddar cheese; 1 onion, diced.  I added 2 small cans of mushrooms and would have added black olives if I had any as well. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9x13 dish.

After dicing up the onion, brown the sausage and onion together.  Throw in any other pizza "toppings" you'd like to have in your pizza bubble (mushrooms, olives, pepperonis, peppers, etc.) Cook them until the sausage is no longer pink.

                                     

With kitchen scissors, cut up the biscuits.  I ended up using 1.5 cans of biscuits because I didn't want any of the biscuits overlapping and not getting cooked properly. (I then attempted to cook the other biscuits, forgot about them, and burned them. Don't worry, Evan laughed and then quoted Yosemite Sam by declaring, "My biscuits is burnin'! My biscuits is burnin'!"

Once the sausage is cooked and you've drained the grease, pour in the pizza sauce and stir it into the mixture, allowing it to warm through.  Once warmed, poor the pizza toppings on top of the biscuits.  Throw it in the oven for 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes is up, sprinkle the cheese on top of the dish and cook another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

I served ours with steamed broccoli.

This was super yummy.  The biscuits cooked perfectly and didn't get soggy from the pizza toppings.  Next time I will be adding more veggies, but the mushrooms and sausage were really good.  Both my girls like it and ate it and even Evan admitted it was pretty good...for a casserole.   ;)

Enjoy!!

Chicken Pockets

So, you know how much I love the church recipe book I own. I used to own two or three church cookbooks, but the other two ended up having way more icky recipes than good ones, so they got donated to some poor soul who actually liked the weird, icky recipes those cook books offered.

May their families forgive me.

This recipe is from my beloved church cook book and we've actually eaten it a couple of times. Each time it's on the menu, Evan wrinkles his nose and says, "Have you made this before? Cause it sounds weird."

Yeah, Chicken Roll-ups is not a great name. It reminds me of Fruit Roll-ups and it's not fun to think of chicken in a leathery, fruity manner. Maybe Chicken Pockets is better? Hmmm...I shall ponder this name change...

But, this recipe is flipping awesome and easy to assemble. And if you don't microwave it to death, makes great leftovers!

The ingredients:

2-3 cans of crescent rolls; 4 C. cooked chicken; 3 oz. cream cheese; 2 Tbsp. butter; 2 Tbsp. mayonnaise; 1/2 C. chopped celery (which I did not have in my fridge, but thought I had, but totally needed, so make sure you buy it!); 1 Tbsp. pimento; 1 1/2 C. chopped green onions; 1 jar of chicken gravy. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Start by cooking your chicken. I always try to cut the chicken while it's raw and then cook it in small pieces cause it is a helluva lot faster than cooking whole pieces.
Chop up those green onions. I didn't quite chop a cup and a half due to me not liking green onions that much. You'd also be chopping the celery here too, if you didn't forget it like I did.
In a small mixing bowl throw in the pimentos, butter, cream cheese, mayo, celery and green onions.
Once it's done cooking, chop up the chicken even more.
Add it to the small mixing bowl and mix! mix! mix!
Now, with those crescent rolls, take them out of the can and take two triangles and smoosh the edges together to make a square. Please make sure the edges are sealed so there is no leakage.
Take a scoop of the chicken mixture and put it in the middle of the crescent roll square.
Wrap up the crescent roll like it's a present, making sure to seal the edges. I have no worries about prettiness with these because that is not how I roll and I'm just going to dump gravy over the whole thing anyway!
Once you've made all your chicken roll-ups, put them in a 9x13 baking dish. Bake them gravy-less for 10 minutes.
For the life of me, I could not find a stupid jar of chicken gravy at the store. So, I just used 4 cups of chicken broth and heated it in a pot. I mixed 2 Tbsp. of flour with 2 Tbsp. of cold water and whisked it into the hot chicken broth. I stirred it until it was a thick consistency. You might need to add more of the flour/water mixture as needed, but just remember it's Tbsp. for Tbsp. with that mixture.

Mmm...perfect!
Pour the gravy over the chicken roll-ups. Bake them an additional 30 minutes until they're browned like this:
I served ours with green beans and cooked carrots. You do not see cooked carrots on my plate due to my intense dislike of the taste of cooked carrots. (Seriously, they are so much better raw!)
Once he ate them again, Evan remembered that he did, in fact, enjoy this meal! It simple and delicious.

In fact, it was so good, that Julia insisted I take a picture of her eating hers.
It's also an easy meal to make and throw in the fridge to be cooked the next day or to cook and freeze for later consumption.

Enjoy!

Quesadillas!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!! I super enjoy this holiday because our family loves Mexican food and this is a fabulous time to either go to our favorite Mexican restaurant or make some yummy food at home.

A super simple and delicious Mexican dish that the girls really like are quesadillas. And the thing is, I always forget about them.

All you really need to make quesadillas is tortillas of any size and cheese. Warm some oil in a large skillet throw in a tortilla, the cheese and another tortilla, flip it so both sides are cooked and viola! You have quesadillas.

Now, of course, you can always add lots of extras to your quesadillas. We like spinach and chicken in ours. I also enjoy peppers, mushrooms, onions and sometimes beef.

Today, I am going to share with you our spinach quesadillas.

I bought frozen spinach and cooked it in a small skillet.

In a large skillet, I warmed some olive oil (about 2-3 Tbsp.) and used the burrito tortillas I had left over from a previous meal. I put one in the hot oil. (Note: if you don't have a huge pancake flipping spatula like I do, then I'd suggest cutting burrito sized tortillas in half before constructing the quesadilla so you don't make a giant mess in your skillet when you try to flip the super large quesadilla, resulting in you saying a string of swear words in front of your toddler. Just a bit of advise.)
Added some spinach.
A good amount of cheese (a heaping cup is what I used).
Add the other tortilla on top.
Now, be careful not to burn the bottom tortilla. Just use your spatula to check it's doneness before flipping it. I, of course, burned one pretty badly because I am a terrible listener.

I threw my quesadillas on a pizza pan and used my pizza cutter to nicely cut them. It made me feel like a professional, I tell you!

Delicious!
I served our quesadillas with spanish rice and oranges. I also had salsa and sour cream to top the quesadillas with. Honestly, this is such a simple dish and can be totally custom made to your taste buds. Try them immediately!!!

Enjoy!

Caper Chicken

In this house, we love capers. Adding them to a recipe usually makes it an instant hit.

For those of you unawares as to what capers are, they are actually the salted and pickled bud of the caper flower (which is a lovely flower). They add a nice little tart bite to dishes and I love them, especially with chicken. Hence my sharing this recipe with you.

The ingredients:

Olive oil; 3-6 chicken breasts (depending on how many people you are feeding); 1 C. cream; 3 Tbsp. capers; 3 Tbsp. caper juice; 3/4 tsp. oregano; salt and pepper to taste. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Start by heating the oil in a large skillet. Once the oil is hot, brown the chicken on both sides (about 2-3 minutes each side).
Move the chicken to a baking dish. In the same large skillet, add the cream, capers with their juice, oregano and the salt and pepper. Bring this all to a boil and then allow it to simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Pour the sauce over the chicken in the baking dish. Bake the chicken for 45-60 minutes, basting the chicken occasionally with the sauce.
Done! (Sorry this isn't prettier, but sometimes things out of the oven aren't very pretty.)
We ate our caper chicken with rice and green beans.
This chicken was soooo juicy!! And the cream sauce was yummy! I didn't have enough capers and we'll definitely be making sure I have plenty the next time I make this dish. Everyone liked it and it was simple yet very yummy. My favorite kind of meals.

Enjoy!

Fajitas

I don't know why I don't make fajitas more often.

They are unbelievably easy to cook, need very few ingredients, and make my tummy so very, very happy.

If you think you can not make fajitas because you've seen them at restaurants with their fancy shmancy smoking presentation, then you are wrong! You can totally do it!

The ingredients:

olive oil; 1 lb. of chicken (or steak or pork); green and red pepper, sliced; onion, sliced; lime; chili powder; tortillas; salsa; sour cream.

Start by heating up the oil in a large skillet. Once the oil is hot, add in the sliced vegetables and saute them.
While the vegetables are cooking, take the meat of your choice (chicken for us!) and slice it into strips.

Take the vegetables out of the skillet and put them in a dish to wait patiently.
Throw your strips on the still very hot skillet. Sprinkle some chili powder on the meat.
Cook on both sides until browned to your liking (and cooked through if it's chicken or pork). Please note that I did not do a great job of actually cutting my chicken into thin enough strips. Don't be like me. Cut them thinner so they're strips and not slabs. Thank you.
Throw the veggies back in with the meat and give them a good toss together. Then, cut that lime in half and squeeze the juice into the mix.

Mmm...fajitas.
This is how I assemble my fajitas:
Some people might smear the sour cream and salsa on first as if the tortilla were a canvas, but not me. I just glop it on.

Still tastes good to me!
I ended up having way more meat than vegetables, so next time I will use a whole green pepper and a whole red pepper and maybe another onion.

So simple and so yummy. Please make these pronto. You won't be sorry!

Enjoy!