Food In Many Forms

This recipe totally made me rethink enchiladas - the nontraditional ingredients really worked well together! I felt like the original recipe could use even more vegetables, so I changed the recipe to double up the veg for next time. Ingredients : 8 (5 inch) corn tortillas 1 unpeeled butternut squash, seeded 1/2 cup water 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 onion, chopped 4 cups fresh spinach, chopped 8 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped 1 cup enchilada sauce 1/4 cup goat cheese,  crumbled 1/4 cup cotija cheese,  crumbled 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves, for garnish (optional) 1/4 cup sour cream, for topping (optional) Directions : 1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). 2. Lay the tortillas flat onto a baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven until crispy, about 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool. Meanwhile, place the butternut squash half into a microwave-safe dish cut-side-down, and pour in the water. Cook in the mic...

 This week was my turn to work the weekend, which meant I had Thursday off, so I spent the day grocery shopping, prepping veggies, making dip and baking lasagna. With the thermometer stuck below 20 degrees, it was too cold to do much else.  I was inspired by a roasted root vegetable lasagna that I had at Kramerbooks in Dupont Circle a few years ago. You wouldn't think that radishes, squash and leeks would make for delicious lasagna, but it did. So I had high hopes for this recipe from "The view from great island" blog. Ingredients: 1/2 butternut squash, peeled and sliced (I used the pre-cut squash) 1 leek, sliced 1 fennel bulb, sliced a couple of handfuls of Brussels sprouts, quartered about a cup and a half of thickly sliced mushrooms 3 garlic cloves,whole with skin on olive oil 1 package of no cook lasagna noodles (I used a little more than half the box) 1 large jar of your favorite tomato sauce, or tomato puree 1 1/2 lb of whole milk ricotta cheese ...

After a late night watching Food Network, I was inspired to try one of Ellie Krieger's Meal Makeovers! Check out this Video, and Get Inspired! First on the list was her "Macaroni and 4 Cheeses" - made with more than a pound of pureed butternut squash and low-fat milk. I stepped it up a notch by using whole wheat pasta, and using half the amount of bread crumb topping.  After reading the reviews, I was concerned that the squash would overpower it, but after trying it, I thought there was a really great balance between subtle squash flavor and cheesy goodness.  I served it with a sprinkle of Old Bay Seasoning for an extra kick, instead of the Cayenne Pepper that Ellie recommends. On the side, I had some fresh asparagus from the University Farmer's Market yesterday. It was absolutely delicious after I brushed it with olive oil, sprinkled on some parmesan cheese and roasted it under the broiler until soft. Ingredients Cooking spray 1 pound whole wheat elbow m...

In my excitement over the beginning of the squash season , I decided to buy a pound and a half of pre-cut butternut squash. I definitely overestimated my squash needs , but now I get to make Lauren and Mary's Pumpkin-Butternut Squash Risotto ! They served it at their fall-themed theme meal, along with roasted acorn squash and a pork stew. Everything was delicious, and since I only got to try a bite of the risotto, I was excited to make it for my self with the scaled-down version of the recipe. Unfortunately, mass-produced meals don't scale down well, so there was some guess work involved. It definitely tasted different from the original meal, but I thought it benefited from a dash of salt.  Ingredients: How can you beat this 300 calorie lunch with 8 grams of fiber? 1/2 lb butternut squash, peeled and cubed 5 fl oz pumpkin, pureed 2/3 cup, onion, coarsely chopped 1 cup arborio rice 4 3/4 cups water 1 Tbsp vegetable broth 2 Tbsp parmesan cheese, grated 2 Tbsp bas...

A week or two ago, one of my classmates in Foodservice lab made a butternut squash and spinach pasta with balsamic vinegar and sage. I tried to copy hers using a recipe from Sandra Lee and it turned out really well. I cooked the squash in the oven, while cooking pasta on the stove. When they were both done, I threw them together in a bowl and covered them with aluminum foil I used on the baking sheet. Then, I quickly cooked the spinach in the pot I used to make pasta with a little bit of Pam. Minimal cleaning required! Ingredients 1 (20-ounce) package peeled cubed butternut squash 2 tablespoons honey 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon lemon pepper seasoning 3 tablespoons olive oil Directions Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl combine all ingredients and mix to coat the squash. Place squash on a nonstick baking sheet or a baking sheet lined with foil. Bake until the squash is tender and brown about 30 to 35 minutes making sure to flip the squash after 15 minutes.

Finally, I got a chance to use my food mill that I got for Christmas and it worked really way to puree the squash and garlic. We tried to follow a recipe but it ended up just being baked, pureed squash with garlic and vegetable broth. Simple and delicious! Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

As promised, here is a picture of the squash risotto recipe. I have started to get into uncharted territory with this recipe, but I invited over my good friend who makes butternut squash all the time. What really threw me off about this recipe was that even though we halved the recipe, we still needed a lot of broth to cook the risotto. We used all 2 cups of the broth plus some cooking wine, and still the risotto was burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan. I think this is one recipe that cannot be cut in half, or else you can't skimp on the broth. Instead of mixing in the parmesan cheese, we sprinkled it on top at the table, and it really had a big impact on the flavor. For dessert, we had more butternut squash with cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg - yum!