Fall foods are beginning...

Spaghetti Squash with Moroccan Spices and Chicken

I have been trying to dive into using more fall produce to take advantage of what our seasons give us. So here is my second attempt (first attempt see Squash soup recipe)! It was amazing. A little spicy and very versatile!

The recipe was taken from Epicurious online and tweaked to Dan and my liking.




Ingredients:

1 Medium Spaghetti Squash

1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2 garlic cloves (flexible for garlic lovers and haters), minced

1 t. ground cumin

1/2 t ground coriander

1/8 t cayenne (for the spicy kick!)

3/4 t salt

2 T chopped fresh cilantro (if you don't have fresh use less dry, but fresh is SO worth it!)




What I added as extra: (I would suggest putting your fav. veggies in this Moroccan Spice Sauce! Make more sauce if you want!)

1 medium scallop

2 chicken breasts

some broccoli (depending entirely on how much you like)

a few zucchini slices

2 corn ears

pepper (we used yellow because that was what was about to go bad), thinly sliced

Sriracha sauce (on the meal at the very end)

2 t olive oil


Cut holes in the squash with a sharp knife all around the outside and set it in a pan to bake in the oven for about 1hr on 375 degrees F. After the squash has been baking for about 15 mins you can start the rest of the cooking.
While the squash is baking, simmer butter with onion and garlic until transparent. Add remaining spices and let simmer. Boil water and put in broccoli and corn. Corn for 3 mins, and broccoli until softened. Fry chicken breasts in oil. Take corn out of water and set aside. After the sauce has been simmering for about 5 mins ad zucchini slices and peppers (or what ever veggies you have ready). Let this simmer on med low for about 10 mins to soften them a little bit.
Take the squash out of the oven and cut it in half the long way. Scoup out the seeds and start using a fork to scrape at the soft flesh. As you are scraping, put the spaghetti looking squash flesh into a separate bowl. When the squash is all scraped out add the sauce, chicken, broccoli, and the corn (we cut the corn off of the cob and mixed it into the whole shebang!). And Serve!

National Free Coffee Day!!

Good excuse to drink a cup of joe! (or two...or more! :) ) Sorry I've been neglectful. Falling behind a bit on sleep and homework. My cup of joe is now teetering between a hot and cold beverage as we are working our way into Autumn.






And in celebration of today I am drinking both the hot and cold beverage as I am typing! Also- here is a little history for those of you who would like to brush up on your coffee savvy!



I have a new favorite, but late-bloomed (due to the season change) iced coffee drink::Vietnamese Iced Coffee. I have been able to enjoy some this morning, but it needs an overnight sleep in the fridge while the coffee steeps, for those of you who want to jump on this coffee drink right now! Check it out! By the way- this is probably one of the most caffeinated iced coffee drink you can make because of the concentration of the cold-press coffee! Yay!



Vietnamese Iced Coffee



Need (my version for others see alternative links):

Pitcher

hot water

cheese cloth or a fine strainer

chicory based coffee (regular works fine too; just not as authentic)

sweetened condensed milk



Now, I have found many varieties for making this drink and I have come up with one that is easy enough for me to make. Here is a recipe that allows you to do it more authentic, but make sure you have some allocated time for preparing it this way. I really like this drink, and I don't have a lot of time to prep this in the morning so I made cold-press coffee with chicory based coffee (its a little spicier than normal coffee; more authentic Vietnamese coffee) ahead of time in a large quantity and put it in a pitcher in the fridge. When I am ready to serve it I use the amount of sweetened condensed milk I would like for that particular cup of coffee. Some days I want it sweeter and some days I want it more bitter!

Pizza Party

Last night my boyfriend Dan and I made some homemade pizza! Dan usually gets roped into my cooking and baking adventures because he likes to cook and we usually have great success cooking together!

We cheated with the pizza a little because we used Boboli ready-to-bake pizza crust. However, I feel that the sauce made the pizza! I didn't think this was going to be a fantastic feat so I didn't take any pictures unfortunately :( . This picture is similar to the slice of heaven it resembled.

Pizza Sauce Ingredients

2 garlic heads (medium sized), roasted*

1 medium onion, diced small

2T extra virgin olive oil

28 oz. can Italian plum tomatoes or 5 to 6 fresh

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1T sugar

Kosher Salt

10 basil stems, whole (leaves reserved for the topping)



In a deep saucepan, combine sweet onion & oil over low heat until the onions are translucent. Crush tomatoes & drain well. Add to pan with sugar, garlic, & cayenne. Season with salt. Place on medium heat for 15 mins., stir occasionally (we used homegrown tomatoes so they had a lot of water still after draining so we let them simmer longer to evaporate some of it). Add basil stems sans the leaves & cook another 5 to 10 mins. Do not puree. Remove the basil stems, adjust seasoning to your taste, and spread on pizza crust!

After we spread the sauce on we chose to top last nights pizza with pepperoni, Mexican cheese blend (would have preferred moz. but Mexican was what we had on hand); from my garden the basil, banana peppers, and jalapenos!

After the masterpiece was done we popped it in the pre-set 350 degrees oven for about 15 mins. (or until the cheese melts completely and starts to brown on the edges).



*here is a simple garlic roasting how-to that I found very helpful...and fragrant!


Muy Delicioso!

Cupcake store!

This is the kind of bakery I want! The look the feel.... Mmmmm...

Enjoy Cupcakes located in Santa Barbara, CA has captured this irresistible 1960's flare that I think is just adorable. I love the clean and dainty interior. I would invest in less of a '60's feel and go more towards a fun and whimsical flair with this dainty interior.



...and of course I would have every pastry imaginable! This is a bake shop that I am putting on my list to visit!

Butternut Basil Soup

This week I am going to take advantage of the bright fall produce and I am going to make Butternut Basil Soup. (it is a little different from this picture above, but the color is very much the same!) I pulled this recipe from the Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook.


1 large butternut squash
1 large onion, finely chopped
2T butter
2T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4t dried basil
1 quart well-seasoned veggie or chicken broth
4 slices American or soft cheese
1t balsamic vinegar
Brown sugar, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste


I'll let you know how it goes!!

Top'o the Mornin'

I love breakfast. So, my crazy recipe searching typically is densely geared towards breakfast/brunch. Here is a breakfast that is one of my new favorites! I didn't have flax seed, but it still tasted great. It has such a rich but smooth flavor. The combination of the banana and the vanilla soy milk really bring the whole drink together into a sweet (but not-to-sweet) breakfast drink! If you want it to be more bitter add more cherries! This recipe would work with any fruit! Try it out for yourself.






Cherry Vanilla Flax Smoothie

From Kashi

Makes 2 servings.
Cooking time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

2 tablespoons organic flax seeds
1 cup organic low-fat vanilla soymilk
¼ cup frozen organic dark tart cherries, defrosted (use fresh when available)
½ medium organic banana
3 ice cubes

Directions

Using a coffee grinder, grind flax seeds to a fine powder. Pour the flax powder into a blender and add the remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Nutrition Facts

Number of servings: 2 servings. Serving size: 1 cup, Calories 139, Calories from Fat 47, Total Fat 5.2g, Saturated Fat 0.5g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 65mg, Total Carbohydrate 18.8g, Dietary Fiber 3.7g, Sugars 10.5g, Protein 5.8g, Vitamin A 1%, Vitamin C 6%, Calcium 5%, Iron 7%

Breakfast of Monkeys...

Yesterday morning I made one of my favorite recipes: Monkey Bread. The recipe is a quick way to impress anyone you are serving for. It looks incredible in the end and it is SO easy to make. I am using the recipe from Pillsbury, but I was not happy with their caramel recipe so if you have a favorite I would recommend using that. I will be on a mission to find mine and I will surely substitute it!


Ingredients (pulled from the Pillsbury website)
1/2c. Sugar
1tsp Cinnamon
2 Cans Buttermilk Biscuits (the ones that come in the tubes you pop open)
1c. Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
3/4c. Margarine


First you mix the sugar and cinnamon in a medium size Ziploc bag. Then you cut each individual into quarters and toss them in the bag (about 2 individual biscuits at a time). Shake them to ensure they get coated very well with the cinnamon and sugar. Then place them in a pan. Some people prefer bundt pans because it makes it easier to cut portions, but I personally just like to keep it in a 9x9 glass pan and just dig in. I would use a larger pan than 9x9 or an additional smaller pan like a bread pan (that is what I did::one for work and one for home!) because 2 full biscuits is a lot to fit in one with out it exploding over the edge once it bakes. After you have placed all of the biscuits in the pans drizzle the caramel topping over them and place them in the oven for about 30 mins. with the oven on 350 degrees.


When they are all done they should have a slight crust on the top. Tip them upside down in a pan or on a plate and serve them up! They are the best to eat the day you make them. All fresh out of the oven!!