Stuffed Acorn Squash

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

Hi friends, how is everyone’s December treating them? Can you believe that we are only 15 days away from the big day!!? 15 days & let me tell you, I have about 2 gifts actually purchased. Oh boy. How are you guys doing with holiday shopping? This year I am blaming my procrastination on this stupid cold that I have been trying to kick for the past week.

I have tried it all, tea, vitamins, OJ, sleep, the great outdoors, & finally I even succumbed to meds. Uhg I hate taking pills, especially pills that are the size of a nut. Really Mucinex, you can’t make it a little smaller?

Fun fact, I didn’t actually swallow a pill until I was 19 & had mono for three months. Swallowing pills still brings back terrible memories.

Anyway, I pulled up my big girl panties, took some Mucinex for the past few days, slept a little longer than normal & I am hoping that will do the trick.

Since I’ve been feeling so down in the dumps, I haven’t really been in the mood to make big meals, or really even eat them. I’ve actually been so lazy that I even suggested we ordered Dominos last night. Eww. When I have been cooking, I have been sticking to small easy meals that are healthy to try to pick my immune system. Acorn squash, my new fixation, is one of those meals.

This isn’t my favorite version of this amazing little vegetable. I am keeping that one for myself for now, but this is right up there with some of the most amazing things in the world. You know, like pink ponies, meowing kittens, & never ending brownies. Truth is, you can really whip up any concoction you’d like for the filling, & as long as it is as green, & veggie filled as this is, with a little truffle oil on top, I can guarantee it will probably be just as good. Enjoy!

Signature

1 green acrorn squash
6 green onions
1 large garlic clove
½ cup mushrooms, chopped
4 oz spinach
1 Tbsp panko bread crumbs
Salt and pepper
Truffle oil

1. Preheat the oven to 400⁰.
2. Chop green onions, garlic, and mushrooms and place into small pan with olive oil. Cook until mushrooms are tender and add spinach. Cook until spinach is just starting to wilt.
3. With a sharp knife, cut the stem of the squash off and discard. Then, laying the squash on the cut edge, slice the squash down the center to half it.
4. Scrape out the seeds from the middle and throw them away. Drizzle olive oil on the inside of the squash, and salt and pepper. Spread with a brush.
5. Fill the center of both pieces of squash with mushroom and spinach mixture.
6. Place ½ Tbsp of panko bread crumbs onto each squash to cover mushroom and spinach mixture. Drizzle truffle oil onto of panko and salt and pepper.
7. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until top begins to brown.

23Sep2015

Roasted Butternut Squash Pumpkin Soup

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

Happy first day of Fall ya’ll! Only it’s still in the 90s here in SoCal I am sure the rest of you throughout the country aren’t over heating but these temperatures don’t seem like they are every going away here.

Fall is a super nostalgic time for me & since moving to California I haven’t really been able to get a grasp of the new normal I have out here.

As some of you may know I coached high school cheerleading for 8 years, 4 in Connecticut & 4 in California. Fall to me is football games on Friday nights, cozy sweaters, pumpkins in pumpkin patches, & piles of leaves lining the streets. Here it is football games where I need to apply enough sun block that I don’t burn, pumpkins sitting outside grocery stores while you wear a tank top & shorts, & the palm trees being trimmed around town. Not really the quintessential New England fall that I grew up with.

So with all that is in me trying to bring New England fall to sunny So Cal I am going to be dedicating my fall season to all that is pumpkin, orange, & cozy. Today’s recipe is actually a mess up that I made while I was trying to make a simple butternut squash soup. I through a little too much pumpkin and cinnamon flavor in & Chris ended up loving it. It’s not my favorite, because ironically, I am not a huge pumpkin flavor person but if you love pumpkin this is the soup for you.

1 large butternut squash
1 sweet onion
2 celery stalks
3 carrots
1 medium apple, peeled and cored
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 ½ cups chicken broth
1 cup water
½ tsp pumpkin flavoring
1.2 tsp cinnamon
Salt and pepper

1. Cut butternut squash in half long ways and place on cookie tray. Season with 1 Tbsp vegetable oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 60-75 minutes, until top is lightly browned.
2. Remove squash from oven and allow to cool to touch. Peel carrots and chop carrots and celery to 1 inch pieces.
3. Add remaining oil and chopped vegetables to a pot and allow vegetables to cook until tender. 5-8 minutes on medium heat. Stir regularly not allowing the vegetables to burn
4. Remove squash from the skin and discard the skin. Add squash and apples to pot.
5. Add broth, water and spice.
6. With an immersion blender puree all ingredients together until desired consistency. If you don’t have an immersion blender, blend ingredients in a blender in small batches and return to pot when completed.
7. Bring to a boil and lower heat to a simmer. Simmer, covered for 45 minutes.

Spaghetti Squash Mac and Cheese

I was recently looking at some old photos of myself and I realized, I need to jump off the pity party bus and run alongside it in order to lose some weight. I am starting by saying goodbye to any and all fast food and soda. I didn’t realize how much soda I drank. I figured I don’t buy it when I go grocery shopping so that means I don’t drink a lot. Well my friends, when you are purchasing a $1 large coke from Mickey D’s four to five times a week, that’s a lot of soda!! Kind of gross now that I just wrote that down. Anyway, I digress. Besides no fast food and soda I am also trying to cut back on my carb intake. Now I am Italian so I can’t cut it out all together (I’d be one sad Italian) but I can always cut back. Below is a Spaghetti Squash Mac and Cheese recipe I found, and of course changed. I actually tried to follow this recipe, but then when I took a bite of it, I decided it needed a few extra things added in.

1 large spaghetti squash
Pam cooking spray
1 bag frozen broccoli
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 hand full of cheddar cheese
1 hand full of mozzarella cheese
¼ cup parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
Red pepper flakes
Garlic, minced

1. Preheat the oven to 400⁰ and wash the outside of the squash thoroughly.
2. Cut the squash in half, long ways, and spray both sides with Pam. Let cook in oven for 50 minutes. Squash should be tender to the touch of a fork when done.
3. Once squash is out of the oven microwave frozen broccoli for 4-5 minutes, until steamed.
4. While squash is cooling and broccoli is cooking, melt butter in skillet and whisk in flour. Once flour thickens add in shredded cheeses and milk while continuously whisking.
5. Lower heat and quickly scoop insides out of squash and place into bowl.
6. Add in cooked broccoli and top with cheese sauce. Add salt, pepper, red pepper and garlic.

**I added a lot more salt than I normally would for any other meal. I also added Tastefully Simple’s Garlic Garlic but garlic powder or minced garlic would work fine.