Apple Cobbler

Nothing says "All-American" like a nice dutch oven apple cobbler on the Fourth of July--right? 

That's what I told myself at least.  I slightly modified the cobbler topping of Baked Bree, and used delicious apples from our recent field trip to Grandma Hoerners

Apple Cobbler Topping Recipe

1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking powder
6 Tablespoons cold butter
1/4 cup cold water

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugars, salt, and baking powder. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter or a fork. Pour in 1/4 cup cold water. Mix until combined.

Put apples in a dutch oven  (Mine was pre-made, but I would use 4-6 cups of apples, 1-2 T lemon juice, 1/4-1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and 1 T starch.) Spread the apples in a dutch oven
Drop cobbler batter on top of apples by the spoonful to resemble cobbles.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 25 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the apples are bubbly. Or put lid on dutch oven and bake outside with hot coals until golden brown and bubbly. 

Whole Wheat Honey Applesauce Muffins

We needed a snack for a group in a hurry today, these were quick and easy to put together, and delicious.

Whole Wheat Applesauce Spice Muffins
Yields: 12 Muffins 24 mini-muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup honey
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1 cup unsweetened applesauce


Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin pan or place muffin liners. Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a large bowl, set aside. Melt honey in a med bowl.  Whisk in eggs, honey, and applesauce until combined well.  Then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened. Divide batter among muffin cups. Bake until muffins are puffed and golden brown, about 18-20 minutes (13 for minis).  Adapted from this recipe.

Sweet Potato Stuffed Shells

I saw a recipe for butternut squash stuffed pasts shells.  I had sweet potatoes in the house and since the recipe referenced an original version with sweet potato instead, that's what I made.  But I'm sure I'll make it again with butternut squash, because it was very good. I also swapped out the frozen spinach for fresh chard from my garden. 


Sweet Potato Stuffed Shells
1 large sweet potato, (about 2 cups cubed)
6 oz (18-20) jumbo pasta shells
15 oz of ricotta cheese (about 2 cups)
1/3 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg
5 large leaves of Swiss chard, about 3-4 cups chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
5-10 sage leaves
olive oil

Peel sweet potato, cut into 1/2 inch pieces.  Toss in olive oil and a pinch of salt.  Roast in 425F oven for 15-20 minutes--until easily pierced with a fork. 

Cook jumbo pasta shells according to directions.

Chop Swiss chard into 1/2 inch pieces. Saute in 1-2 tablespoons olive oil, until wilted.

In a bowl add ricotta and egg, stir together until smooth.  Add grated cheeses, chard and roasted squash, stir to combine.

Stuff the shells with the mixture and place in a 9x13 baking dish.  Season with salt and pepper.

In a saucepan heat 1/2 cup butter.  Add sage leaves until crisp.  remove leaves and crumble over shells.  Stir butter gently until it begins to brown.  Remove from heat, pour over shells in baking dish.   

Place dish in a 400F oven around 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.

Spring Carrot Cupcakes

It's not Owen's birthday, nor is it his half birthday (they both occur during school breaks) but today we took in cupcakes for Owen's "April Fool's--Not really my birthday--Day". We had a lot of discussion back and forth about what might be a good idea to take in for his special snack, and what was not.  Another idea he had that I was totally on board with was pancakes and syrup--I would totally have let him take in homemade pancakes for his birthday snack.

In the end though, he went with one of my suggestions-- carrot cake cupcakes.  It is technically for the whole class' "morning snack", so I feel good about the veggie content of these treats.  I also thought they would be fun and celebrating spring, since we really didn't need "birthday cupcakes" since it is not actually Owen's birthday. 

The cupcakes are yummy and have frosting made from real butter and cream cheese, and as I piped the little carrots on top for decoration I thought, "Yep, that is quite enough artificial food coloring for one treat."  And as was noted in the comments of my other blog, yes--this non-birthday cupcake makes me a Birthday Scrooge.

So if you are interested in being a birthday scrooge--or if you just want to enjoy a seasonal homemade treat, here is my recipe for Spring Carrot Cupcakes, adapted from Lion House Desserts:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
1 8oz can crushed pineapple (in juice), pressed dry in a strainer
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400*.  Prepare 12 muffin cups with grease or papers.  Combine sugar and oil in a medium mixing bowl.  Add eggs, mix well.  Add grated carrots and pineapple.  Set aside.  In a large bowl sift together flour, salt, soda, and cinnamon.  Make a well,.  Add wet mixture, and mix to combine.  Spoon into muffin cups, and bake for 20 minutes of until they test done.

When cool frost with cream cheese frosting:  1 8-oz package of cream cheese, softened; 1/4 cup butter, softened; 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar.  Cream together in a mixer bowl.  If needed add a teaspoon of hot water at a time to get to spreading consistency.  (I didn't need water--I have a hot kitchen.)

Chocolate Chip Ghost Pancakes

 Happy Halloween!

 We had chocolate chip ghosts for breakfast.

 Whole wheat flour doesn't lend for a very ghostly appearance--but we'll take it anyway. 

 Then we started our day with a flannel board telling of The Chocolate Chip Ghost.  It's a silly story about some ghosts who disobey their mother and end up in a lot of trouble. 

We get it out every year for family home evening around Halloween time.  Here is a free printable version if you're interested.

We'll just be spending the rest of the day having spooky fun and trying to stay out of trouble.

Cardamom Sweet Potato Puree

While visiting my parents I was reminded of my dad's love of cardamom.  (It reminds him of Finland--but that's a story for another day.)  So when I received a sample of the new Knorr Homestlye Stock, with a challenge to use it in a recipe of my own creation, I immediately wondered how I could also use my dad's favorite Cardamom.  This is the recipe I came up with.  My family and I have enjoyed it twice now--I hope you'll give it a try.

Cardamom Pureed Sweet Potatoes
Cook Time: 20 min  ---  Total Time: 35 min
Serves: 8 half cup servings

Ingredients:
2 medium sweet potatoes (1.5 lbs total)
2 cups apple juice
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp cinnamon
Fresh ground pepper

Peel Sweet potatoes with a vegetable peeler, and cut into a half to one inch pieces.

In a three-quart pot bring apple juice and chicken broth to a boil. Add sweet potatoes, cardamom and cinnamon.  Cover and simmer at a low boil for 20 minutes.

Remove from heat.  Puree the sweet potatoes with a stick blender, or in batches in a food processor. 

Serve with a grind of fresh cracked pepper on top.

Variation: For a more rustic texture, omit 1/2 cup apple juice and mash with a potato masher instead of pureeing.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

I generally am not interested in "vegetarian" dishes. Large chunks of tofu or textured vegetable protein marinated in sauces and pretending to be meat. What I am interested in are delicious vegetable-based dishes with interesting and fresh ingredients and flavors that are so satisfying that meat isn't a necessary addition, nor is it missed at all.

These enchiladas fall under that category. We love sweet potatoes. If you trust the CDC's information it's among the most nutritious foods in the vegetable kingdom.  I just know that sweet potatoes are delicious real food that my kids enjoy as much as I do.  And being from Arizona I have a monthly recommended allowance of Southwestern Tex-Mex food, and if I don't meet that requirement I start to get cranky and mopey.  So this recipe is good in our home for many reasons. 

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas

1 pound sweet potatoes peeled and diced, 1/2 inch cubes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp ketchup or tomato sauce
1 can (1 3/4 cup) black beans, drained
1 4 oz can diced green chilies
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
12 corn tortillas
Large (28 oz) can green enchilada sauce
Monterrey Jack Cheese, as desired

 In a bowl, toss diced sweet potatoes, cumin, chili powder, salt, and ketchup.  Spread on an oiled baking sheet. Cook 25 min at 425° or until golden and tender.

Combine the black beans, green chilis, and chopped cilantro with the potatoes.

I started doing a simplified layered enchilada to save time (and curses at cracking tortillas).  Spread some green enchilada sauce on bottom of a 9X13 pan. Lay out 6 corn tortillas on the bottom overlapping a bit and curling up the edges of the pan a bit.  Add the bean mixture, spreading it out over the tortillas. Sprinkle with some cheese.  Pour some enchilada sauce over the bean mixture.  Top with the remaining 6 tortillas.  Top with more cheese and sauce. Bake about 20 min at 350° until hot and bubbly . (Adapted from recipe here.)

When they come out they look like regular mushy enchiladas--but this is an appetizing picture of the pre-baked enchiladas before I put the top layer of tortillas on.  I love the orange sweet potatoes--great natural color always makes food more appetizing.

Red Beet Risotto (And Mushroom Variation)

Jeremy goes to school for 12 straight hours on Mondays, so that meant we definitely did not have some amazing Valentine's Day planned.  In fact a student asked Jeremy what his plans were and he told her he was in class until 7:30.  So she asked what his plans were for after that.  Jeremy said, "I dunno--maybe watch a movie?"

I told Jeremy that I'm sure he completely crushed that poor girl's dreams about life after marriage!  Because after you get married you're supposed to have romantic special Valentine's Days forever--right?!

Well since we had zero plans for actually doing anything special I thought the least I could to was make a celebratory dinner.

I saw some ideas online for using beets to make "pink" rice salads for Valentine's Day.  I loved the idea but wanted to be sure it would actually be enjoyable to eat not just look at so I really didn't want to experiment with a new recipe.   I thought about just making rice balls, but since Owen wasn't a huge fan of the beets last time I served them (just steamed with butter and salt) I thought I would need to flavor them a little more.  Then I realized the perfect recipe to use.
 

   Risotto.  My family loves risotto.  It's very basic, but the broth and cheese make it very flavorful--I knew it would be perfect to add beets to.  All I did to make it red was add the raw beets to simmer in the broth and they bled their color into the broth which I was using to cook the rice.  Thus we ended up with striking red rice.  And cute little heart-shaped beets as well. 

And it was as big a hit as I hoped for.  Owen ate the beets up (of course he did have to remind me before trying them that he didn't like beets last time), Jeremy got a special dinner, though it wasn't the candle-lit sit down dinner of anyone's dreams, and I was satisfied with a job well done--it's always nice when things turn out like you hope. 

For the sake of interest, beets aren't the only thing you can cut into hearts either.  I also put heart-shaped carrots in Owen's lunch Monday.

Red Heart Risotto

1 medium beet-washed and peeled
3 tablespoons butter-separated
1/2 cup onion-diced
1 cup rice (traditionally Arborio)
1/2 cup white wine (or substitute with more broth)
4 cups chicken broth
2oz fresh Parmesan cheese--grated (matchbook sized piece ungrated about 1/4 cup grated)

Put 2 tbsp butter in a large saute pan.  Add diced onions and cook until softened.  Meanwhile put broth in a pot over medium low heat an bring to a simmer.  Cut beets and add to simmering broth.

I cut the beet into 1/4 inch round slices.  Then cut each round like a pizza into 6 wedges.  Then shaped each wedge into a heart.  I tossed all the hearts and all the little trimmings into the broth.

When onions are softened, add the rice and stir for 1 minute to absorb any extra butter.  Add the wine and stir until rice has absorbed all the liquid.  Keeping the broth at a low simmer, adding it to the rice 1/2 cup at a time, waiting each time to add more until the liquid is mostly absorbed, stirring often.  The whole process should take about 30 minutes.  With the last 1/2 cup of broth transfer the beets into the rice pan as well.  When all the liquid is mostly absorbed turn off the heat, add the remaining tablespoon of butter and the cheese.  Add salt if needed and pepper.  Serve hot!

This is a good recipe without the beets as well, often I use mushrooms instead.  Put two tablespoons of butter in a different saute pan and 1/2 pound of sliced mushrooms.  I cook those down and add them when I add the cheese.  Delicious and creamy and we'll eat it for our main dish.

Roasted Fall Vegetables --Two ways

In Radical Homemakers the author mentions an essential skill for modern homemakers as "rediscovering the taste of real food." It's an interesting notion to think about.  The prepared foods these days are full of salt sugar and artificial flavorings.  In essence we forget what real food is supposed to taste like.

I suggested a recipe to my sister the other day for roasted fall vegetables.  She told me afterwards that after a few bites she and her husband said to each other, "Meh, it's OK. . ."

But then she said as they continued eating they actually ended up thinking they liked it quite a bit more--they just needed time to get used to the flavors and have them meld in their mouths a bit more. 

We had the roasted vegetables on top of spinach with crumbled goat cheese on top.  Soo delicious--but different.  It doesn't taste like frozen lasagna.  The flavors are mellow and subtle.  You do have to get used to them, introduce yourself to real flavors that occur in nature, and get over a dependence on so much salt.

I'll admit that part of the reason I like real food is because I like the taste, and part of the reason is because I value real food and so I get a satisfaction from eating it that isn't related to taste.  It's a feeling of virtue for eating something I know is so good for me, and it's a feeling of well-being that comes because I (at least in that meal) am living life according to my ideals.

In some real food- taste trumps virtue, but in other foods I still rely heavily on the fact that I know the food is good for me to get me to muscle through the taste. 
. 

 

The next day we ate the roasted vegetables on pizza.  Our kids will eat anything when it's on pizza.  Pizza is a comfort food.  It can be a nice gateway to real foods (or it can be some of the poorest excuses for food you put in your body--but it's your choice). 

So here is Real Food Friday--it's an invitation, but it's also a challenge.  Get outside your comfort zone, make some food--real food.  It's satisfying to make and healthy to eat. 

Here is my contribution-- one last variation we didn't get to is puree-ing the vegetables with some lemon juice --and chicken stock if you like it thinner-- making it a roasted vegetable soup. 

Roasted Fall Vegetables:
1 lb butternut squash peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 pound red potatoes scrubbed, and quartered
2 small red onions peeled and quartered
1/2 pound carrots halved lengthwise and cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 sprig rosemary
salt and pepper
olive oil

Preheat oven to 450*  Pile vegetables on a large sheet pan.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Toss to coat.  Add garlic and rosemary to pan.  Roast until vegetables are tender and starting to brown, 40-50 minutes, tossing the vegetables halfway through.  Serve hot or at room temperature.

* * * * * * * * * *

October Bento

Happy First of October!

Peanut butter Pumpkin sandwich.  A ghost egg with nori eyes.  Mozzarella moons.  Sweet pepper pumpkins atop black olive fence posts on a bed of spooky orange carrot sticks.

Grape Jelly

Home canning is becoming a lost art. I think it's really sad, because there's nothing quite like the feeling of looking at something you've created with your own hands--particularly something that will provide for the physical well being of your family.

I was asked to teach the teenage girls in our congregation how to can homemade jelly tonight. I've never actually done this (unless you count canning apricot jam at my grandma's house when I was 12) but as I said--lost art--they were unable to find anyone who did have experience except for ladies who claimed they hadn't canned "in 20 years!"

So I decided I needed a test run so I would have a better idea of what I was "teaching" the girls. The girls meet for only an hour so I used a shortcut method for making jelly by purchasing bottled juice. Super easy!

So you need only 100% grape juice (Concord--purple-- is what I saw was recommended, but it might be fun to try a white grape sometime as well), sugar, and pectin.

Pectin is a substance that occurs naturally in many fruits and is what makes the jelly "jell". Powdered pectin is a natural product made from apples and provides enough pectin to help homemade jellies reach the desired consistency.

Follow the recipe in the pectin you buy to measure juice, then add pectin and bring to a boil.

Add sugar and bring back to a hard boil.

Boil 1 minute stirring constantly.

Ladle in to clean jars. Wipe the rims and top with lids and rings.

Submerge in waterbath canner and process for time alloted by your altitude in the instructions.

Remove to a towel to cool. Let sit undisturbed overnight. Mark contents and date on lid (Lids aren't reusable, the rings are. )

Then sit back and admire your beautiful jewel-toned jelly jars!

Homemade Root Beer

I've always loved family traditions. It's great to anticipate the events, activities, decorations and food that come year after year with predictability.

Our family adopted the German celebration to mark the beginning of fall.

OKTOBERFEST!

My family got to enjoy some of the festivities each year while we lived in Germany, and since getting married Jeremy and I have been particularly keen to continue to celebrate the fest.

Generally our celebrations will include some assortment of the following:

• Bratwurst
• Senf (That's mustard, but not the sissy yellow American stuff, it must be brown, speckled, and contain horseradish. . . mmm. . . )
• Kaiser rolls
• Sauerkraut
• Lebkuchen
• Rootbeer

And the most fun kind of root beer is homemade! We enjoyed some this past weekend at our annual celebration.


We've tried homemade rootbeer a number of times, and have found a recipe that gives us good success.

1 bottle Rootbeer extract (2 oz)
5 gallons water
5 pounds sugar
5 pounds dry ice

It's easy to remember the 1-5-5-5 recipe, but usually we only actually use 4 pounds of sugar. (And this time, since it was a small party we halved the recipe.)  Also, we've tried substituting some of the sugar for the more natural, but very flavorful honey.  (Either way at least it isn't high fructose corn syrup.)  I'm sure maple syrup though would be interesting as well, and one day I will make my own root beer extract from my own collection of roots and barks and spices.  But until then. . .

I boiled the sugar in part of the water to dissolve it. This is the first year I've done this but feel it's necessary because the sugar never fully dissolves in cold water.


The water will hold more fizz if it's cold to begin with. So chill it and pour the water, and sugar water into the cooler.

We used some sassafras flavoring this year for the heck of it as well.

Pour flavorings into the water and stir.

Add dry ice and RUN!!! I mean put a lid on it.

You need to make sure the vessel you're using is large enough that the syrup doesn't start splashing and bubbling out over the sides when you drop the dry ice in. (We and the kitchen floor of "The Burrow" learned that one the hard way.) Also, if you're afraid of your cooler blowing up you can release pressure every once in a while. In about 20 minutes, you have delicious homemade rootbeer.

And I know that our kids will remember this tradition!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Dinner in a pumpkin is a longstanding fall tradition from my own childhood. We loved it as kids, what's not to love about baking a pumpkin whole in the oven?! I made it throughout college as well, introducing Jeremy to the tradition, so we've continued to make it every year since.

Pumpkin has a nice mild flavor, like many of the other winter squashes. You'll probably get the most preferred taste by buying a "pie pumpkin" or "sugar pumpkin." These are smaller pumpkins that are bred for flavor (as opposed to size like jack-o-lanterns) and these days can be found in most supermarkets. Look for a big one so your whole family can be fed. I was able to find one with about a 6 inch diameter.

First put the dad and children in charge of cutting a wide lid off the pumpkin, and cleaning out the seeds.

Preheat oven to 350°. Put 2 T. oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat and add 2 cloves minced garlic, and 1 pound ground beef. Brown the beef.

Next I added 1 small green pepper, chopped (mine was red and green) and ¼ C Finely chopped onion. Add remaining ingredients: 1/2 (15oz) can tomato sauce, 2 eggs, beaten, 1/4 C chopped stuffed green olives, 1/3 C raisins.

Add the seasonings 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp white vinegar, 1/2 tsp ground pepper and 1 ½ tsp salt, then cook until green pepper is tender.

Scoop meat mixture into the middle of the pumpkin and place the lid back on. I also added the rest of the can of tomato sauce since there was room.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour, until squash is soft. You should be able to insert a "butter knife" in the squash easily. I place it on baking sheet to catch any dribbles.

The skin takes on a nice dark color. Serve whole on the table for an instant centerpiece.

To serve scoop some squash with the meat mixture. Look at that pretty delicious squash! I love this dish the sweetness of the raisins against the briny tangy-ness of the olives, the hearty addition of the ground beef aside the smooth clean taste of the pumpkin. Give it a try!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

1 large pie pumpkin

2 T. oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 lb ground beef

1 small green pepper
¼ C finely chopped onion
1/2 (15oz) can tomato sauce
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 C chopped stuffed green olives
1/3 C raisins

1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 ½ tsp salt

Cut a wide lid off the pumpkin, and clean out the seeds.

Preheat oven to 350°. Put 2 T. oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat and add 2 cloves minced garlic, and 1 pound ground beef. Brown the beef.

Add 1 small green pepper, chopped and ¼ C Finely chopped onion. Add remaining ingredients and the seasonings, then cook until green pepper is tender.

Scoop meat mixture into the middle of the pumpkin and place the lid back on.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour, until squash is soft. You should be able to insert a "butter knife" in the squash easily.

To serve scoop some squash with the meat mixture. Serves 6

Apple Sauce

A friend of mine came over on Friday and we canned homemade apple sauce. I have a bit of experience with canning, and most of the right tools, so she wanted to come see how one goes about the whole "canning" experience.

I've never done applesauce before, but I missed peach season due to the woes of early pregnancy, and wanted to do something that the young children we both have would enjoy.

It was pretty simple:

• Peel, core, and slice apples (We did about 12 lbs and chose a variety to get both good taste and texture.)
• Put in a pot and barely cover with water (I also squeezed in the juice of one lemon for preservation of color)
• Simmer 'till soft, then puree (I thought my stick blender might turn it to juice instead of sauce but it actually worked perfectly)
• Eat or "can" or I suppose you could freeze it too(Our batch made 11 pints)

The best part about it was seeing how interested and excited Owen was about the whole thing. The jars were cooling on the counter and Owen wanted to pop one open right then and eat it. We finally caved in for dinner Saturday night and let the boys have some. I'm really pleased with how well it turned out. And Owen's interest in the process makes it all worth it!

Now I have nine more pounds of apples I bought. What should I do next? More applesauce or apple butter? yummm. . . apple butter. . .

Sweet Potato Fries

Over the summer in SLC we were introduced to Rumbi "Island Grill." Maybe we were just shell-shocked from having more than the three choices for fast food joints we have here, but we loved it.

We loved the feel of eating healthier fast food. A huge bowl of brown rice with sauteed vegetables (broccoli, carrot, zucchini, and celery) tossed on, with a delicious serving of Luau Pulled Pork with Hawaiian Teriyaki sauce on top.

(I don't really know how it compares nutritionally to other fast food, but I do know that when I can recognize my whole grains and vegetables just by looking at them it's a good thing.)

The best part by far,however, was the sweet-potato french fries. The first time we went we ordered the Rumbi Fries which is a mix of traditional and sweet potato fries, but from then on it was sweet potato only!


I saw one of those french fries cutter-gadgets at the store the other day, and thought "Cool, I need that!" But then thought it through, realised I didn't, and had a sweet potato epiphany along the way. . .

Just peel the sweet potato.

Chop it in to "fries" with a regular ol' knife and cutting board. Pile on a roasting pan, drizzle with your oil of choice, toss to coat (this keeps the skins from drying out). Spread them out on the pan so they don't touch very much (or else they will steam instead of roasting). Then roast them in the oven at 350° for 20-30 minutes or until they are nice and soft.

Sprinkle with salt if you want--we usually don't--and serve them with Rumbi Fry Sauce. (Ketchup and mayo mixed together.) Delicious, and of course the boys love them too!

Pasta with Butternut Squash, Mushrooms and Asparagus

One of my favorite things about this time of year is delicious fall food! After getting married and feeling more responsible for making healthful nutritious food than I had during singledom, I decided I needed to pay more attention to seasonal produce. Now the point is, nowadays you can get most produce year-round, but it make sense to me that produce would be at it's peak of flavor, and perhaps nutrition, at the time of year that it naturally grows as opposed to when it's growth is forced out of season. Whether or not that is true, here is what definitely is true: Produce is cheapest when it is in season. So I began to explore, and butternut squash jumped out at me!

There's something about butternut squash that makes me want to eat it. Maybe it's the nice shape and pink color of it's skin. Maybe it's the bright orange color of it's flesh. The flavor of butternut is mild, yet sweeter than pumpkin, and it is creamier than pumpkin--not so stringy. The following is a recipe I found that first fall. We loved it and have returned to it every fall since.

Pasta with Butternut Squash, Mushrooms, and Asparagus

3 C sliced shiitake or chanterelle mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T snipped fresh rosemary
1 T olive oil
1/3 C dry white wine
1/3 C broth
1/3 C heavy cream
¼ t. salt
8 ounces bow tie pasta
1 pound butternut squash, cut into ½- inch pieces (about 2 C.)
8 ounces asparagus, cut in 2-inch pieces (about 1 ½ C.)
1/3 C shredded Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet cook and stir mushrooms, garlic, and rosemary in olive oil over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender. Stir in wine, broth, cream and salt. Bring to boiling; reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered, about 4 minutes, or until sauce is the consistency of light cream and is reduced to 1 ½ C.

Meanwhile, in a large pot cook pasta according to package directions, adding the squash during the last 7 minutes of cooking, and adding the asparagus during the last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain, and return to warm pot. Add sauce and Parmesan cheese; toss to coat. Serves: 8

*You can see in my picture--we were a little low on "bow ties," so I mixed in some "spirals." If you want to substitute the white wine you may use broth. Look at how good this dish is to look at! Great color. By the way, this was also the first recipe that really helped me start enjoying mushrooms, another yummy fall treat.

Pumpkin Dip and Halloween Boo-fay

Here was my spread for the Book Club I hosted this month! I love fall food, and treats! The punch was a 2-liter of Sprite, a pint of raspberry sherbet, and half a bag of frozen raspberries--standard, but delicious!

I served delicious pumpkin bars. There are many good recipes for pumpkin bars, I'm sure you have your favorite. I used the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook recipe. And of course, the best thing about it is the cream cheese frosting! Yum....

This great pumpkin dip is from Taste of Home a few years back. In a large mixing bowl beat one 8-oz package of cream cheese with 2 cups powdered Sugar. Add one 15oz can of pureed pumpkin, 3 tsp pumpkin pie spice, and 1 tsp vanilla. It is delicious with apple and pear slices.



This witches cauldron in the fire pit is my favorite aesthetically speaking. Pretzel rods and three colors of delicious sweet peppers make up the fire. The dip is a sour cream onion dip. I bought mine pre-made (there's only so many hours in the day). I looked for a little cauldron bowl for the dip to go in, but alas, I had to settle for a dark bowl, I still think the effect is really nice.
Happy Halloween Treating!